Tag Archives: Chanel

Paris Fashion Week Trendsetters: femme frippery to letting fly the frou

25 Friday Jan 2013

Posted by in Paris guide, Paris photos, Paris tips

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fashion_Paris

Spring 2013, a potpourri of styles on the runways: sheer plaids, soft florals, ruffles, pink and blue, soft pink and gold, metallic threading, grunge, fur, denim, tie-dye, checkerboard, honeycomb, sweet collars, black gauze, red leather, lace, knee-length skirts and dresses (finally), a solar panel runway, tweeds, boucles, aubergine, pretty pink, violet, stripy platform sandals, red shiny shoes, oversized pearls, tassels, bows, voluminous shapes. Something for everyone, anything goes? Room for you to put together your own sense of style. Be different, it’s all about attitude and carrying off what you wear proudly even if it’s nothing at all.

Add to that street fashion trends you’ll pick up on while strutting your stuff on your Paris outings guided by the “No Worries Paris” guidebook. Hipsters, minimalists, bohos, fashionistas, visitors from around the world: enjoy the show.

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Parisian window dressing

06 Saturday Oct 2012

Posted by in Paris Wanderings

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From the pages of No Worries Paris: a photographic walking guide:

“Beginning as a medieval dirt road from Paris to the village of Roule, Rue du Faubourg-St. Honore became fashionable early, under reign of Louis IV. Today it is the prime address for high-end fashion designers. You’ll find elegant hotels, embassies, state residences, and a who’s who in the world of fashion lining both sides of the street. Look for Versace, Saint Laurent, Guy Laroche, Cardin, Dior, Cartier, Hermes, Chanel, Prada, Lancôme, Ungaro, Valentino, Ferregamo, Givenchy, and newcomers who are making it big.

Walk up Rue du Faubourg-St. HHonore, pick a turn-around, and double back to Rue Royale.

Along Faubourg-St. Honore, look for House of Lanvin at #22, which was set up by Jeanne Lanvin in 1890, an early benchmark in haute couture elegance. Hermes is at #24, worth a look to see the saddles that were an early trademark. At #29 is a former residence of Coco Chanel in 1925, where she kept an extra room for buddy Pablo Picasso.

The British Embassy is located at #35, the birthplace of author Somerset Maugham, giving him an early start on a globetrotting career. The armed police you may see outside #55 are guarding the French President, who sometimes resides at the huge grounds of the Palais de l’Elysee. Farther down at #118 is where Pierre Cardin worked for Christian Dior in the 1950s, before launching an empire of stores in 100 countries—a move that became the trend among haute couture houses.”

Ritzy Place Vendome

25 Tuesday Sep 2012

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The aroma of perfumed money wafts the 300-yard expanse of cobblestones at Place Vendome, among the most chi-chi and mighty of Parisian addresses since it was laid out in 1702. But this square of uniformly arcaded facades has not lacked turmoil. An equestrian statue of Louis XIV was torn down after the monarchy fell. A statue of the emperor atop Colonne Napoleon was toppled in 1871, when Napoleon III was living out the last 20 years of his life in seclusion on the upper level of #26. The current 144-foot-high bronze column, which rises in a spiral of friezes, was modeled after Rome’s Trajan and was made from 1,200 enemy cannons that were captured at the Battle of Austerlitz.

The most illustrious landmark on Place Vendome is the hotel at #15, opened in 1898 by Cesar Ritz. Poet Andre Farque observed some 20 years later, “And what do rich girls dream about? And what is Paris? The Ritz.” Coco Chanel lived here at the time of her death, F. Scott and Zelda raved of the private baths, and Hemingway held down a stool so often he got the bar named after himself. Fred Astaire preferred Hotel Vendome during visits in the late 1930s. J. P. Morgan roughed it at Hotel Bristol during his stays, around 1910. Composer Chopin’s death bed in 1849 was at his residence at #12. Residing currently on the place are Dior, Chanel, DeBeers, Cartier and other purveyors of keepsake bling.