On the way back from Disney on Saturday Hermione and I were wrongly accused of shoplifting. Having headed home from Disney earlier than expected we went into my local Monoprix (Denfert-Rochereau) trying to buy popcorn to eat with the scary movie we were planning to watch. They didn't have any popcorn (or we couldn't find it) so we went to leave the supermarket empty handed. As we're about to exit the store the security guard ushers us to the right. We think he wants us to use the next set of doors so go to leave through these doors but he indicates to continue going right. This happens past four sets of doors until he ushers us into a tiny cupboard at the edge of the store where he begins shouting that we have stolen makeup. I stood there in complete disbelief and shock while this huge guy demands that we empty our bags and then our pockets. We tip out the contents of our bags: minnie mouse ears, a disney autograph book, empty water bottles, my metro pass, headphones, a scarf. I explain that we've been at Disneyland all day and he continues to shout at us, convinced that we have been in the makeup aisle (which we hadn't been) and stolen makeup. I recount to him exactly where we had walked in the store and confirmed that we hadn't been anywhere near the makeup aisle. Good job i've been living in Paris for a few months because defending your innocence is not something they teach you in school! After he could quite clearly see that we hadn't stolen any makeup he begrudgingly let us go without even so much as an apology. I don't think anything this outrageous has ever happened to me before. I don't think that I look like a shoplifter and I have certainly never stolen, or tried to steal anything from a shop. The fact that he was so agressive and then did not even apologise when he had quite obviously wrongfully accused us shocked me and I will never be shopping in that Monoprix again.
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Everyone knows that Disneyland is the happiest place on earth. So what better place to spend a happy halloween? I am always excited when I go to Disney, the magic of it all never gets old for me and I am always running like a little kid as soon as I get off the RER at the Marne-la-vallée station. My little sister hasn't been to Disney since we went to Florida and that must have been over 10 years ago so she was also beyond excited although not to the point of running like me. Can you believe i'm going to be 22 in 2 weeks? I can't. Disney on halloween was amazing. The decorations were amazing, there were giant pumpkins everywhere, and Disney charm was just basically put into autumn. I'm going to start this post by sharing with you what was super magical and fabulous and what makes me fall in love with Disney all over again everytime I go back. Then I feel I have to open up about what I am noticing to be less magical as I get older and wiser. Disney is just kind of other worldly. They manage to create these environments where you suddenly don't feel like you're where you are anymore. They just bring their stories to life and I am ashamed to say that seeing Mickey Mouse in the parade bought actual tears to my eyes (or maybe it was because the sun was bright and I forgot my sunglasses?). I love that at Disneyland you just see so many different kinds of people there, from different backgrounds, styles, age groups, families, couples, friends etc. I saw an old man in a Mickey Mouse 1988 sweater with his ears on basically running to a ride with his wife in tow and I thought that is the kind of man I want my husband to be. They didn't even have kids with them. They were just enjoying the magic of Disneyland. It's also amazing that all of this was started from one little cartoon mouse and one man with a big imagination. I know people often criticise Disney for epitomising Americanisation but I think if it teaches you to dream, and to work hard to achieve those dreams then what's wrong with that? Also my sister is often too cool to smile in photos but at Disney even she is beaming from ear to ear, so that can't be a bad thing. Disney on Halloween was magical and amazing BUT... and there is a but, because as much as I love Disney there are some things I feel I need to bring to light to be honest about the experience.
It was super busy. Unsurprisingly, because halloween fell on a Saturday in half term, it was completely packed which meant that the queues for rides were ridiculously long. You can also now only get one fast-track an hour, meaning you have to do more long queues and get to do less rides (boo) Also, on the Disneyland website they had been advertising a Halloween Soirée on the 31st October from 5pm 'til 1am. A ticket for this cost 40€. We paid 69€ for tickets to go to the park all day, thinking this meant we could stay until 1am. We were rather shocked when at 7pm, not possessing the special evenings tickets and hence the stupid orange wristbands we could not go anywhere in the Disney park but the exit. We couldn't even go into the gift shops on the way out, they had staff guarding all the doors! Whilst I understand this means they can have twice as many paying customers on the day this was SO frustrating for us who had to cut short out time at Disney having paid almost twice as much as those people who arrived for just the evening. Staff were so unsympathetic when I tried to explain that it had not been at all clear on their website that a separate ticket was needed for the evening and I do plan to write a proper complaint email to Disney about the whole shambles of a system. It didn't ruin the magic of the day though although I am not sure I would rush to go on a special day again because Disney is magical whatever day of the year! This week I had my lovely littlest sister here visiting me. It was her half term week (unfortunately the week after mine) and I had quite a busy week at uni so she did a lot of entertaining herself but it was still so nice having her here. On Thursday I had an interview with a digital communications agency (will do a post on my search for internships soon) near Versailles so I decided it would be a great opportunity to visit the Chateau. I have been to the gardens before but never into the palace and I have always wanted so that I can see the splendour for itself. Versailles is just so imposing when you approach it. The gates are so gold that they don't even look like they are real. I still don't know if they are actually real gold (?) It's great because if you're under 26 and an EU citizen then entry is free which I think is an amazing way to get young people seeing art and culture and it's obviously great for me as a student on a budget. (I'm sorry that this photo is ever so slightly not straight, I wasn't quite on centre and it's really annoying) The architecture of Versailles is amazing. Everything is so luxurious and splendid and extravagant and oh the symmetry..! There is not enough symmetry in modern buildings. I know that sounds stupid but I just think when you can look directly down the middle or up at something it's so impressive that they were able to build it so precisely and perfectly without any technology or machinery. Modern day building all have flat ceilings and flat walls (probably a huge generalisation) and they just don't have all this intricate detailing and lines that you find in older architecture. Versailles is so ridiculously gold and luxe that you can understand why the starving people of 1700s France got a bit wound up and decided to overthrow the monarchy. That said, it makes for great viewing for tourists of the 2010s so I am grateful to the people of France for having suffered so that I can filter the life out my photos and exploit their instapotential using hashtags like #luxe #architecture #interior to get to more than 12 likes. Having been inside of Versailles, I am even more glad that they didn't let Kim Kardashian and Kanye West get married there. It has enough history of its own and it would have ceased to be the palace of France if they had married there and would have become 'the place where Kim and Kanye got married'. Although it would be a stunning wedding venue so I can't blame Kim for wanting to get married there. The gardens are just as stunning as the Chateau, to be honest. I think they look nicer in the summer because all the flowers are out but the trees are all gorgeous red-heads at the moment so that was equally beautiful. I don't remember appreciating the colours of autumn as much as this last year but this year every time I go outside I'm like 'wow I want to instagram that tree'. See here for the Tuileries in Autumn. The one problem with instagramming autumn photos is knowing whether to #autumn or #fall. You have to be considering the american audience but then also considering the time difference. So for example if you #fall in the morning, Americans will be asleep and you won't get 12 likes. It's a real art. (I'm sure my sister who somehow gets at least 70 likes on each post with no hashtags is laughing/cringing at me right now). There is even symmetry in literally the entire grounds of Versailles. Stunning. They must have some seriously great gardeners.
It was actually quite nice to escape Paris for a day. I recently decided I really quite fancy a trip outside of Paris to a random provincial town. Paris is beautiful but its also nice to see some large open spaces and some air. I plan to go to Bois de Boulogne Park this weekend to take advantage of some open space and the beauty of autumn before all the leaves disappear. before the weather here turned to the dead of winter I managed enjoy some sunshine at the Jardin des Plantes. This was 2 weeks ago and I don't think I have seen the sun since then. I had no idea that Paris can keep such beautiful flowers growing even in October, it was like it was the middle of summer. The colours were just beautiful and it made me think of my grandma and when she took me to Kew gardens when I was younger. Seeing these beautiful flowers a tiny bit made up for the fact that I didn't get to see the gorgeous flower structure at the Dior show. By the way, Raf Simons has left Dior !! Can we just discuss that for a second? I was shocked. He has been at Dior a little over three years and given the universal praise he received for all his collections and for making the house up-to-date and relevant for today I was really surprised and a little sad to hear him leaving already. He had spoken in interviews about the immense pressures of the fashion week calendar and of having turn out a stupid number of collections every year with no real time to creatively develop the process or reflect on concepts or ideas and so I wonder if perhaps that was his personal reason for leaving. When Galliano was fired from Dior following what happened I remember thinking what an idiot he was for having thrown away the opportunity of being at the head of Dior and holding so much creative power. But actually now I can't help but wonder if the very nature of modern fashion is putting a strain on the creative roots of fashion. Now that designers have to churn out as many collections a year as possible to increase revenues, maybe the surpression of their innate and intelligent creativity is driving them all a little mad and so fair enough if Raf wanted out before it all got too much. I have often wandered how Karl Lagerfeld manages Chanel, Fendi, his own label, his cat's modelling career, amongst other things, and somehow remains sane. We'll never know.
I guess maybe that Raf's departure explains the extravagant floral structure created for the Dior show. It turns out it was Raf's last. I am intrigued to see who takes the helm post-Raf and will no doubt be eagerly awaiting their first collection come February. Thanks to Raf for helping me to fall in love with a fashion house founded by someone who walked these very same halls as me at Sciences Po. Every year in October, Montmartre celebrates the Fête des Vendages. When I attended the firework display taking place on the Saturday evening I actually didn't know what the Fête was for but I have since done some research (thanks Google!). It turns out there is a vineyard on the hills of Montmartre and every year there is a festival to celebrate the grape and the wine that it produces. There is apparently wine and artisan foods on offer during the day as well as talks, concerts and other merriments. We didn't know any of this so just attended the fireworks in the evening which in hind-sight is a bit of a shame. Although a few days before hand I had walked past one of the men who roasts chesnuts over a trolley (yes, only in Paris) and the smell had reminded me of bonfire night which is on November the 5th in England. I was kind of sad that this isn't a thing in Paris and that I wouldn't get to see any fireworks so the Fête des Vendages came as a nice surprise! The fireworks were pretty good although they kept starting and then stopping so you were never really sure whether they had actually ended and it was completely packed so that you could barely move. Not as good as the Bastille Day fireworks but a nice alternative to Bonfire Night which i'll miss in the UK. I'll have to make sure to try some of the wine at one point this year!
Before the madness of fashion week kicked in I made sure to visit the Hermès pop-up exhibition on the Berges de Seine before it finished. It was a completely mad but completely cool exhibition and journey into the mind of a "flâneur". Flâneur - a man who saunters around observing society The exhibition itself literally encouraged you to wander and observe. It started in a white room with light projections all around and then you go through a giant wardrobe, whilst secretly reliving your childhood dream and hoping Narnia is on the other side. Then you wander along dark corridors with plastic horse heads in glass cabinets displays, sticking their tongues out whilst surrounded by gorgeous Hermès bags. You encounter solitary lamposts, a mix of dark silhouettes and light accents causing you to question the way you see and perceive even everyday objects. The whole way round the exhibition offers your mind the chance to explore and form its own paths of thought of what you are seeing, and where it is taking you, all whilst giving an insight into the mind of Hermès, their strong heritage and history and the very essence of the maison. You round a corner and encouter a brasserie/bar (which I think should have served actual drinks), but its not just a "bar". It showcases jewellery so that they look like captured and preserved specimens in scientific experiments. It utilises tiny digital screens within ordinary, everyday objects such as the paint palette to really give the scene another dimension and a kind of 'out-of-this-world' feeling whilst being completely rooted in an 'everyday' surrouding. You leave the brasserie and round the corner and find you've wandered into downtown Manhattan, and all the walls have been emblazoned with bright graffiti and colour, with a real raw and undone edge, before following the next corner and finding yourself in an Alice in Wonderland enchanted, victorian/edwardian living room where the tea set lifts itself off the table and the chandelier makes you thirsty. I kind of want to describe the whole exhibition as bonkers but brilliant. It made use of modern digital technology to really encapsulate your mind and senses and to transport you a own little journey through not only your own mind but the mind of Hermès, through different places and periods, be they artistic, fashion, everyday life. Hermès has always retained a strong sense of its heritage and roots, and a particular 'savoir-faire' in terms of the quality of its products and I think this was a really great opportunity to not only see this displayed up close but to also have a better insight in to the more abstract side of how Hermès thinks and the notions of really exploring, wandering and discovering.
I would thoroughly have recommended you check this exhibition out but since it has already finished I hope that this post can give you some insight or inspire some of your own thinking and i'll be looking out for any other Hermès popups in the near future. http://lesailes.hermes.com/fr/fr/dansloeilduflaneur So this week was Paris Fashion Week. This was hugely exciting for me because I have never had the chance to be in a city when fashion week is happening, let alone Paris which hosts all my favourite french fashion houses. I've been working with the fashion society at Sciences Po and I created a short teaser video to promote fashion week before it got started: I have spent the week fan-girling outside some of the biggest shows, trying to snap a few pictures of my favourite bloggers/celebrity attendees/industry legends. At times I felt like a complete idiot but I absolutely love the madness of the whole thing and it has been an amazing experience to be able to be so close to it all. I would obviously love to be able to attend and see the shows for myself but for now just being outside, seeing people entering and exciting, hearing the music, etc. will have to do. Check out my different blog posts about the shows I "attended" by clicking below: I also found this cool new feature I can add to my blog so here is my summary of Paris Fashion week in numbers: DAYS
FASHION SHOWS
TWEETS FEATURING PARIS FASHION WEEK IN THE PAST 7 DAYS
TWEETS FEATURING KENDALL (JENNER) IN THE PAST 7 DAYS
We made the final show of the week Valentino, held in the Jardins des Tuileries. I would loved to have gone to Louis Vuitton this morning but alas, I had classes all day. It was actually really nice that it was held in the Tuileries because there was so much open space outside and there wasn't the same rigidness of all these barriers and huge security men as at the other shows. All the guests were walking to the venue on a kind of white carpet which was lined with photographers, general public, fashion week groupies etc. So it meant you had the chance to be really close to people and the looks people were wearing which were just gorgeous. Valentino clothing is so stunning and so wearable. Kristina Bazan was there and this time I asked her for a selfie and she was so nice and stopped to take one with me. I massively fangirled. She's beautiful and was super smiley and friendly, just like she is in her snapchat stories which I watch religiously. I was a little over excited at the selfie that I basically didn't take any other photos of any of the gorgeous 'street style' that was happening. Elena took these photos below and it just gives you an idea of the stunning clothing people were wearing. Below is a picture of backstage at Valentino and front of the venue so you can appreciate the crazy mass of people and also glimpse the behind the scenes that goes into a show. The show music was stunning and when I could hear it I thought it reminded me of some kind of journey, or film soundtrack. The tribal, explorational theme to the collection fitted this perfectly although I am intrigued what people will make of it because Kylie Jenner was given a lot of grief for the time she braided her hair and its "cultural appropriation", and all the models in Valentino had braided hair. P.S. The Tuileries are beautiful at the moment because all the trees are different shades of Autumn. Just watch out for conkers falling if you're walking under them!
Tuesday morning, 10am, Le Grand Palais, Paris. The Chanel fashion show has to be one of the most highly anticipated shows of the week and with a sneak preview of their invite promising an airline theme (I totally called airport lounge by the way, ask my friends) my excitement was real. Chanel also promised a seriously high-end front row and it did not disappoint. We were situated by a side entrance, behind a hilarious group of British paparazzi guys who you could tell could not care about fashion, joking about some of the more eccentric looks ("She must of not had a mirror when she did her makeup this morning" or "She looks like she was out drinking with me last night"), and being generally entertaining. I had the chance to see and snap some great celebrities though, and I saw Anna Wintour again (*swoons*) I managed to catch Cara Delevigne and Kendall Jenner in a photo exiting the Chanel show (below left) which I think is a pretty big achievement and I got a selfie with the male face of Chanel, Baptiste Giabiconi (below right). A pretty successful morning, even if I couldn't see the show itself (which I have since watched and wow, the set. There is such an incredible mundaneness to these Chanel sets of situations people encounter everyday but they bring such fantasy to it by combining it with Chanel clothes and making it such a spectacle). On Monday evening I attended the Saint Laurent show which was held at Carreau du Temple. We wanted to get there early before the show started at 8pm so that we could get a good view of who was arriving. We had dinner before hand in a place just round the corner which had this really cool, healthy(ish) vibe. It was very fashion week but not very french I would say. I loved the worn-out, white washed interior and the "pizzette" was really tasty. After we'd fuelled on food we installed ourselves outside the entrance to the venue with cameras at the ready. All the guests were very much dressed in the Saint Laurent style, a kind of unique glam grunge, effortless chic, but also a toughness. The venue (below) actually also fits this aesthetic because there's something very raw and tough about a warehouse/marketplace building. (Yes, it was pouring with rain. I am that keen) Lily Donaldson's was my absolute favourite look entering the show. The dress was completely gorgeous and it was full on glittery without looking like a 5 years old's princess dressup costume. She is obviously gorgeous too. By the end of the show and at this point in the week we had started to learn that the "big" names often enter and exit from a side or back entrance to avoid the crazy paparazzi and fans. So once the show had finished we stationed ourself at the side hoping to spot someone leaving (you can laugh, we are losers).
Imagine our excitement when we see Anna Wintour leaving through a side door - her hair is really as amazing in real life as it always looks in photos! She was just so poised. She didn't stop for photos though, that woman means business. We also saw Selma Hayek leave. She walked over to her car, posed for a few photos and then turned to a body guard and said "I can't open the car door myself" ... I was stunned. Do celebrities really think that much of themselves that they won't even open doors themselves? But then someone pointed out she is married to the richest man in France so I guess she doesn't need to open her own doors. We saw an old man leave the side door and we didn't recognise who it was and didn't want to disturb him with our flashes because he looked kind of old. After he'd walked away and was receiving quite a bit of press attention I realised it was only Pierre Bergé, Yves Saint Laurent's partner! So it was pretty cool to see him. I would love to have asked him what he thought of the collection because he would know Yves better than anyone and understand his vision. Managed to also get a selfie (below right) with the super friendly Thomas Brodie-Sangster who played the kid in Love Actually. His airport scene is one of my absolute favourites and just brings me so much happiness so seeing him was unexpectedly cool. |