Needing something to look forward to in the midst of the awful student season at work I took off to Paris for two days. In a studio flat in my favourite, the 11th Arrondisement, just down the road from Belleville. Jean Seberg, Simone de Beauvoir, Jean Paul Satre and Serge Ginsbourg at Cimetiere Montparnasse, which was stunning. Not the best thing to do in suede creepers on a rainy grey day, but it was amazing. And the Chloe exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo, which was stunning. I spent about two hours there. The windows that each selection was in worked beautifully and actually getting to see the clothes up close with the embroidery and detail and everything was amazing. This exhibition really let you do that unlike other fashion ones I've been too where the clothes are mostly behind glass or whatever.

Anyway, I don't seem to have that many photos, like the first day was spent mainly shopping - lots of underwear & a jumper from COS - which isn't that interesting. Apart from getting lost in the Galleria les Halles, twice! & having people continuously try to have conversations with me in French which I got through by nodding & saying "Qui" until a point where they needed a reply & I had to default to English. Not much vintage on this trip, I didn't make it to my favorites & the low end Kiliwatch & Episode didn't have the perfect leather skirt I was hunting for. But I guess, I'll always go back to Paris.

Ok I know, I'm sorry, I didn't do any of the things I promised too in the last post. Mainly make some timed posts & read blogs & reply to comments. So basically I suck. But in my defence I've been working & really ill (food poisoning ew) since, interspersed with Paris! So yeah... I hope the fact that I managed to actually take some pictures of Paris makes up for it a little. Maybe? Anywho...top to bottom.

View from the top of Galeries Lafayette after we'd negotiated our way through the canteen & shoe horned ourselves into a window seat. The Christmas Tree plus the whole floor of underwear was totally worth the longish metro journey. 

My favorite stuffed to the brim vintage shop in Paris. I tried on lots of amazing underwear type slip dresses & dressing gowns & teddies. As well as, dresses & uhr... a vintage versace knock off gambling emblem printed skin tight body suit that had the weirdest proportions ever. The body was soooo long. But yes. I only bought a couple of things (one for my mum) but scooped up some less exciting vintage from the cheaper stores that are aplenty in Paris.

We sort of made the mistake of going to Le Bon Marche after the 3 hour Eurostar & a night of no sleep. Which led to me having a little bit of a breakdown in the food section. But... anyway. Some food & a sit down later I was fine. To swan around the clothing section, gawping over Givenchy & Celine, pretending we were genuine customers, not just sneakily on our way to the toy department.

Cute graffiti dotted around everywhere. This particular one in the 4th Arrondissement just around the corner from Cos. I know it's a bit of a cop out, but we don't have one in Bristol so it didn't feel too bad. Roughly translated I'm informed it says, "Who do you follow?/What do you follow?" Something along those lines...

Les Arts Decrotifs in the Lourve is my favorite gallery in Paris. It always has the most amazing exhibits. & has a special place in my heart as the place I finally got to see a Hussein Chalayan exhibition. This time round it was Jean-Paul Goude & Stefan Sagmeister. A total contradiction really. The Goude one was overwhelmingly indulgent & at one point I got stuck in the dark on my own with two motorised Grace Jones heads, one of which unexpectedly opened it's eyes & lit up. The Sagmeister exhibition was much more up my street, having studied him in GCSE art (oh, good times) with little snippits about his experiences of different places. Like how he had to ask a Japanese lady on a train to remove a broken Q-Tip from his ear. What an amazing man.

And finally the lights on the Champs Elysee, pretty much why we wanted to go, to feel all Christmassy & such like. They were a tad disappointing. But the Louis Vuitton windows with a circus theme were fun although the thought, "Why would you want to show your suitcases as being heavier than elephants?" came up... A little pissed to have missed the Karl window though. But we made our way to the Christmas market that was hectic to say the least. But full of vin chaud & uhr...churros. Very French.

Image overload. Word overload. Welcome back!