Sunday, October 26, 2008

Paris style

I didn't set out to create a photo essay on Paris style; we saw it everywhere we went but found it very difficult to define. I guess it is just that every Parisian knows they live in the most stylish city in the world and they just make sure they live up to that in every choice they make.

We were walking along the Rue du Faubourg St Honore (with its iconic stores: Colette, YSL, Balmain, Hermes Versace etc) and came upon this policewoman directing traffic around the vicinity of the Palais de l'Elysee, home of the French PM. She looked incredible - full catwalk makeup, beautifully cut pants, designer glasses, white white gloves. This is a terrible photo of her. We were too intimidated by her grandeur and hauteur to get any closer.
All those classical style buildings soaked in hundreds of years of civilization call for wardrobes with a neutral palette.

But that doesn't stop taking a creative approach to making a scooter stylish.

Paris is a walker's city. Its 20 arrondisements spiral out from the geographic centre of the old city (Notre Dame), making it possible to walk all over old Paris if you have the time (which we did). We suspect that is what keeps most Parisians looking so fit and trim, an important element of being stylish!

Being stylish is passed from mothers to daughters and fathers to sons. Rob caught this little scene in the beautiful jardin du Palais Royale.

We found Coco Chanel on the Avenue Montaigne and discovered that even the cars parked outside were colour coordinated. This lady had just made a Coco Chanel purchase, no doubt to add to her collection of designer goodies. The boutique showrooms along Avenue Montaigne all had concierges who kept the doors locked. This lady must have got past their vetting system.

Paris will do sushi in style too.

One of our favourite foodie streets in Paris is Rue Montorgueil: great espresso, cafe noisettes, cheeses, seafood, boulangeries, and incredibly stylish people!

Keeping Montmarte stylish (well clean and tidy anyway) takes a small army of maintenance workers.

We found this storybook building in Place Monge near the Jardin des Plantes, on a morning we devoted to checking out the beautiful fresh food markets on the Left Bank. This was not a tourist area so this beautiful painted decoration was just for the benefit of the locals.

We sat and enjoyed a well earned Pelforth bier (brune) at this cafe on the corner of Rue Rambuteau and Rue du Beaubourg (opposite the Pompidou Centre) and saw this well matched older couple waiting for the lights to change. They were Japanese and both dressed similarly in black with lots of soft leather. They looked interestingly stylish!

We loved exploring the passages of central Paris. One day we came across the Galerie Vero Dodat and I got the chance to ogle the Arabian Nights styling of the Christian Laboutin store. I am so ignorant that I didn't know that all Christian Laboutin shoes have red leather soles. This is one of the beautiful old passages that would have seen German and Resistance troops fighting in the last eventful days before Paris's liberation in August 1944.



And a chance to see a retrospective of the iconic design prototypes of Phillipe Stark at the Pompidou Centre - contemporary French style.

And a shot from the rooftop terrace cafe of the Pompidou Centre, looking towards Notre Dame and the Pantheon behind it. Fresh red roses set on the outdoor tables on a rainy day in Paris.

Every evening the roller blade boys of Paris perform for the crowds outside the Hotel de Ville. In 2005 their favourite performance space was outside Notre Dame - maybe they had to move on. They're still as stylish though, and brave.


I saw this opulent collection of stylish and lavish junk at the amazing Marche aux Puces (fleas) at the Porte de Clignancourt, on the northern outskirts of old Paris.

Any city that provides a beautiful park like this next to Le Bon Marche - Le Grand Epicerie Paris, the most amazing Food Hall anywhere in the world, the perfect gourmet picnic lunch setting, has to have style! The Paris Art School is near here so the park was also full of arty young things with their portfolios. Like all young things in Paris they smoked a lot.

Although dressed for the warm weather these two young women at the Musee Rodin had obviously chosen their outfits carefully.

I appreciated that the geraniums perfectly matched the awnings at the iconic Plaza Athenee Hotel on Avenue Montaigne.

One of the most stylish events we were a part of (almost) happened on our last night in Paris just over the road from our apartment on the Rue de Braque. We'd observed the preparations for the exhibition opening throughout our two week stay: the preparation of the gallery, the arrival of the paintings, the to-ing and fro-ing of all the beautiful people, even a few little hissy fits on the part of the Director (some of them loudly over the phone in English!!). It was fun quietly observing the opening night party from our vantage point - so much beer was drunk, so many cigarettes..it went for hours and no food was served or consumed...that's how they stay so thin, but look so stylish!

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