...and I love you readers every season!
That little dose of love comes from a favour I must ask: yes, instead of ASK TFFF, I'm cheekily introducing a one-off feature called, TFFF Asks You!.
The deal is, I'm heading to Paris this Friday, followed by a quick hop-and-a-skip to Copenhagen and Amsterdam. I've hit up all three cities before, but the emphasis has always been on food, and booze, and partying, and booze, and culture, yup, definitely culture. Um.
This time around I'd like to swipe my credit card until it melts, and also do a lil' Continental European research to bring back to the blog and share with the world at large. So, does anyone have any recommendations of where to begin, particular chains, boutiques, shopping areas, places to look out for? Predominantly in Paris but recs for the other cities would be good.
Email me, or use the ASK TFFF address, or leave a comment, or send a smoke signal: whatever. When I return I'll write the whole kit'n'caboodle into a post for future reference... and hopefully post pictures of my spoils as well.
Thank you!
Monday, March 10, 2008
I love Paris in the springtime...
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5 comments:
Colette!
Perfect timing for your question, H - I have just come back from Paris and all the spring stock is out on shelves!! Firstly: everything shuts on Sundays. The only area with any life that day is Le Marais, which I highly recommend as a shopping district to wander around after a falafel sandwich!!
HIGH FASHION:
The best way to sample the high end boutiques is simply to walk north along Rue St Honore, starting at:
ELENA MIRO at 195 rue St Honore. (Tuilleries metro is closest). Hopefully they will have some of the Milan show clothing instore – they never seem to when I visit.
SATELLITE (not far along from EM) – amazing beaded and kind of ‘found’ jewellery (sort of like Les Nereides which I think stocks Satellite in London) Great inhouse perfume too.
COLLETTE is at 213 Rue St Honore. Chotchkees are ground level, fashion is level 1. The fashion is well-edited, and includes shoes and accessories. I have to say, there are a lot of imported skin products offered at grossly inflated prices (Aesop/ModelCo) Bien sur, c’est Collette. *shrugs*. One-offs, limited editions, gallery-style shopping.
You'll go past Hotel Costes on your walk (so pop in for a celeb encounter, last I was there Vincent Perez was too) and so many fab boutiques that your head will spin. Don’t stop walking until you get to LANVIN…ahhhh
STREET FASHION:
BEL-AIR - a small boutique chain I just discovered via a store in Le Marais near St Paul metro (opp 55 rue St Antoine). Not strictly plus size, but they are doing lots of gorgeous boho knits, shirts and dresses with cut with plenty of room around the body, although the arms can be a bit tight. Most pieces priced around 120Euros, cute bags too. I did some credit damage in this store!!
H&M - The selection is the same wherever you go - London / Paris / Stockholm all have the same stock right now. The best BIB selection in Paris is downstairs in an arcade near Gare St Lazare, behind Printemp. If you walk down the cobbled street between the Printemp buildings, the arcade is the one with the Wildlife/kiddie science type store at the entrance. If you walk past McDonald's express you've missed the entrance. There is a Gap in the arcade as well, if that helps you find it.
For destination shopping, I recommend:
CAZAK at 4, rue de Marignan 75008 (off the Champs d’Elysee near Franklin metro).
for Gianfranco Ferre and other luxe plus brands. Look beyond the mumsy stuff for the gems, and they have a lot not on racks so ask for whatever you don’t see. Excellent service and english spoken. $$$ The best plus store in Paris.
GRANDIVA at 41 rue Dulong, 75017 Paris has a big selection of corsets and lingerie sized 44-60.
The PALAIS ROYALE is home to the Marc Jacobs boutique, Pierre Hardy shoes and many exquisite vintage shops where you can drool over immaculate Dior et al from decades past. Approach from the inside of the Palais rather than the exterior. Well worth a visit and usually there is a photo shoot of some sort going on as well there – it’s that sort of place! If you want a nice meal in that area, Café Marie is attached to the Louvre, lovely food and not too expensive, and not on the tourist trail which is a plus!!
LES MAGAZINS:
LE BON MARCHE is the most DIVINE shopping in Paris, forget Galleries Lafayette and Printemps, and Samaritan is now closed; this store is a very beautifully edited selection of the best of the best. You will be very tempted in there!!! However, if you must visit the department stores go to the information counter as soon as you arrive at get your 10% discount card for visiting shoppers – every Euro saved there is one you can spend elsewhere ;) Lafayette has the Kodak-friendly dome and a good selection of fashion, and has a fab food hall in the men’s store - good if you want a Selfridge’s/Harrod’s style nosh up.
If you want cheap French toiletries and skin products, try Para – they have full ranges of quality lines like Nux and Caudalie, and my fave eye makeup remover, Klorane. Another good source for that stuff is Monoprix.
As you are only tripping through for a few days, those are my short list. I would also recommend you try a pot of chocolat chaud Africain at Angelina’s, a proper French tearoom (forget Laduree!) next to Hotel Meurice on rue du Rivoli (Tulleries metro) which is also just near Collette.
I expect the department stores in Copenhagen will yield up a lot of plus lines (Zizzi jeans, Samoon, Gerry Webb) because the department stores I've visited in Stockholm seem to source all their plus clothing from Denmark.
Bon voyage!
Downtown Venus has answered pretty thoroughly - but i just wanted to say - buy Embryolisse! It's a super moisturiser, and cheap given the quality.
Right now I'm reading "All you need to be impossibly French" by Helena Frith Powell. I just finished reading the chapter about lingerie. According to Powell, no trip to Paris is complete without buying sexy lingerie at a high quality brassiére.
For the best quality, you will have to spend ridiculous amounts of money. Check out Galeries Lafayette on boulevard Haussmann, Sabbia Rosa in St. Germain-de-Pres, or Chantal Thomass on rue Saint-Honoré.
Because none of your newly purchased outfits will look or feel amazing unless your undergarments are amazing.
Looks like downtown venus has you covered! Love the blog and have a fab trip!
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