Paris Fashion
Welcome to the epicenter of illusion. Paris absorbs fashion and from it creates style.
Super Chic Paris Souvenirs for 20 Euros or Less!
Can I really afford to be shopping for souvenirs? Of course you can’t. But, on the other hand, how can you go back home, stare your friends in the face, and say, “Yeah, I was in Paris, I had a really great time - and, by the way did you get the postcard I mailed you from CDG? No, that won’t do. But even if your budget for souvenirs is severely limited, a little creative research will find some amazingly cool items available for under 20 Euros.
Coloring Books - Not Just kid stuff
Okay you dragged the kids through the Louvre. The only fair thing to do now is buy a coloring book so they can draw a mustache on Mona. But here’s the scoop. Coloring books are no longer just for kids. In fact, you may decide to stash your souvenir coloring book away in a drawer - because they look far too good to be scribbled upon. Buy one for your kids and one for you.
L’Art a Colorier by Anne Weiss
Price: 5.95 Euros
Starck Crazy
Who says you have to be rich to have a Philippe Starck designed living room? All you need for inspiration is a fly inhabiting your minimalist furniture free apartment. That’s what must have put a bee in Starck’s bonnet when he came up with this super design for a very affordable and USEFUL Paris souvenir:
A fly swatter.
Le Publicis Drugstore
Price: 9 Euros
(Design Lovers July 18-Aubust 28, 2008)
Date: July 20th, 2008 |
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Fashion for Eternity
Today, friends of Yves St. Laurent will say a final goodbye to one of the great couturiers of the 20th century.
It’s hard to figure out what place fashion holds in a world that is changing so quickly. With oil prices soaring and a large part of the world just barely able to eke out an existence, perhaps the whole concept of fashion might seem trivial and superficial.
Yet, when one devotes an entire lifetime to creating wearable art - otherwise known as haute couture, it would be good to think that …
Date: June 4th, 2008 |
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Affordable Parisian Fashion
You don’t have to be rich and famous to find great fashion in Paris. You don’t even have to go to the ‘fashionable parts of town’ to find super boutiques. I was really delighted to stumble upon Nina Kendosa’s boutique at 87 Rue Mouffetard located in the affordable student district, the Latin Quarter.
What drew me to this shop? I noticed that French women were zooming in here like bees heading toward the honeycomb. (Okay maybe that’s a slight exagerration. It happened to be a perfect Sunday afternoon in spring– …
Date: April 28th, 2008 |
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Paris Fashion Guides
In France, fashion is a family affair. Mothers and grandmothers begin giving their daughters (or sons) and granddaughters fashion tips at an early age. In a BCBG family i.e. ‘bon chic, bon genre’ family, daughters’ upbringing (in the past) had been pretty strict when it came to how much jewelry could be worn - in good taste. A simple gold chain necklace, bracelet or the similar style in silver was considered chic.
So, what do you do if you’re an American in Paris - and totally clueless when it …
Date: March 24th, 2008 |
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‘Paris Chic & Trendy’ Book Review
You can learn big things from a little book. So, I’m discovering from the second book I’ve had the pleasure to review in The Little Bookroom publisher’s Paris series:
Paris Chic & Trendy by Adrienne Ribes Tiphaine with photos by Sandrine Alouf.
Paris Chic and Trendy is a guidebook to 54 Parisian designer studios, hip boutiques and vintage shops with an emphasis on addresses that the average visitor might bypass in their rush to Louis Vuitton megastores and Armani emporiums.
Why should you read this book? By using this as your guidebook to explore some of the hundreds of boutiques in Paris, you’ll have a good benchmark of how to judge a shop’s merit in any neighborhood - even in your hometown.
Even though I consider myself to be very familiar with Paris’s neighborhoods and shopping districts, this little book has enticed me to look beyond surfaces and try to analyze a shop’s fashion choices and design. Although I disagree with the opening premise in the intro - “In Paris, fashion comes naturally.” (Fashion is the antithesis of natural). I definitely agree that Parisian women rule the roost when it comes to ‘a certain allure’ and ‘indefineable chic’.
The first thing I learned (after studying the breakdown of these chic and trendy establishments according to arrondissement) is that my ‘hood’ Montparnasse i.e. the 14th arrondisement didn’t make the cut. Neither did Left Bank neighborhoods in the 5th, 13th and 15th arrondissments.
Meanwhile the 1st arrondissement racks up 13 boutiques – a number of shops clustered along the famous Rue St. Honore. From Rue St. Honore to the Palais Royale gardens, there are more designer boutiques than one could possibly digest in a day. Many a day have I been sidetracked from museum going for that somewhat less admirable pastime of window shopping on this street. The prices defy common sense. Enter a shop at your own risk.
Date: March 2nd, 2008 |
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Soldes: Summer ‘08 - Let the Sales Begin!
Summer sales have begun, as of Wednesday, June 25th, 2008. If you’re in Paris, you still have time to find a great deal - until July 8th. These are the ‘official’ sales dates. Parisgirl is getting a late start on shopping - but my neighbor who’s already hit the sales found her ‘bonheur’ a smocked sleeveless chemise at Zara.
There’s branches of the Zara department store in several Paris neighborhoods including Blvd. Haussmann, and here at the Montparnasse shopping center across from the train station.
If you happen to be in the Rue …
Date: June 26th, 2008 |
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Spring Street Fashion 2008
Anne Lise welcomes you at Bouygues (the cell phone company in France who’s name you’ll find the hardest to pronounce) (Bo-eeg). We recently bought a tri-band Sagem here for 1 Euro (plus a 12 month contract naturally).
Photo by Chris Card Fuller ©2008
Pack your ballerina flats and your Converse trainers and you’re ready for Paris. Yesterday at the Gare St. Lazare train station, I saw every variation of ballerina and Converse from gold sparkly ballerinas to pale orange Converse low-tops. Finally Parisians have taken off their boots here on May …
Date: May 7th, 2008 |
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Paris Spring Fashion 2008: Fashion Photo Contest
Pack your best pair of jeans and you can go just about anywhere in Paris, but you may want to do some shopping (quoi?) while in Paris. Or, you can enjoy excellent shopping in France’s major cities which are just a hop, skip and a jump from Paris by train.
This outfit came from a shop in Caen and represents the ‘layered look’. Actually, while trying on this outfit in the store I couldn’t help but think of the Shirley Temple film ‘Heidi’ where Heidi has to peel off layer …
Date: April 10th, 2008 |
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Rue Daguerre Chic
Even though the 14th Arrondissement didn’t make the cut for Adrienne Ribes Tiphaine’s Paris Chic &Trendy listing of designer studios, hip boutiques and vintage shops, I was certain that my home turf must have at least one or two such boutiques which merited a closer look.
Finding a street to begin my search didn’t present a problem. Rue Daguerre, made famous by its film director resident Agnes Varda and her film ‘Daguerrotypes’ is a fun place to browse, primarily for its market, regional products and good butcher shops – but also for design.
I’ve …
Date: March 3rd, 2008 |
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Footwear for Paris
So you’re coming to France this summer – and you want to do a lot of walking – but you don’t want to look like a tourist in clunky running shoes.
The solution is simple. Buy a pair of Converse trainers and you’ll fit right in.
In Peggy Frey’s article for Madame Figaro Magazine, Bien Dans Nos Converse’(Comfy in our Converse) she interviews some of Paris’s top names in the fashion world. They confide to Frey their passion for Converse.
Ines de la Fressange tells Frey her favorite colors – navy …
Date: February 24th, 2008 |
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