Paris in Spring..

Yes..it was a long time ago I did write a blogpost.. Did start one..wasn't satisfied with it..no time during the holiday due to the fact that I was clearing out our house.. and last week I was in Glasgow to finish a schoolproject.

But 3 weeks ago I was now in the train off to Paris with 20 students and my colleague Annemiek (she is such fun to travel with!!). It is the trip we always do with 3th year students. Because there were 3 great fashion exhibitions in Paris we had a busy scedule in the 4 days we went.

We traveled in the most comfortable way: with the superfast Thalys from Schiphol Airport to Paris in about 3hrs (with a little delay).

After checked in into the hotel we took the bus to the metro and off we went to see the most cliche building from Paris: La Tour Eiffel. It was the right time to go there because it was getting darker and suddenly the lights flashed on and a big AAAAHHHH could be heared.

The building itself is a wonder of technique. Beautiful construction and esspecially at night you can see it all well with the big lights on it. We had the plan to go to the 3th floor, but there was a waitingtime from more than 1,5 hour..Instead of that we went to a terrace to have a glass of wine....

Day 2 was about a visit to the exhibition Fashion 1990 -2000 in the Musee Les Arts Décoratifs which is a part of Musee Du Louvre. It wasn't allowed to take pictures but it showed the big changes in fashion over this period. From the minimalism in dresses from Adeline Andre and Helmut lang till the over the top dresses from John Galliano. Beautiful presented with soft light on it. After lunch in the neighborhood we took the metro to the area of the Sacre Coeur to have a look at all fabric stores as Reine and Dreyfus at Marche Saint Pierre. It is piled with fabrics as this one with La Tour Eifel on it.. Simple stripes... Old fashion drawings... At Reine you can see those half scale dollies dressed in Liberty fabric.. In this area are many more fabric stores with names as... or... and.... Esspecially liked this one.. So this all was kind of fabric heaven....

Students than were free to go anywhere and after a quick look at Tati (which is the opposite of the garments we did see in the morning..so cheap, but who did the production???) we went off to the Marais which is such a great part of Paris.

>The Marais is original the Jewish Quarter from Paris but is also one of the most enjoyable places to go. Nice shops (vintage, new,interioraccecories..you name it) and restaurants everywhere and the combination with the jewish traditions makes it a special place to go. I had a very good icecream..saw this embroided bag.. and did find back a store which I visted about 15 years ago when I was for the last time in Paris named Loft. In the window was this outfit I really liked from the moment I saw it. So French with the striped shirt and the soft jeans trousers..and yes.. the next day I bought those 2 with a matching cardi..now I look like a little sailorboy..and that at my age... ;-) Also bought a striped shirt from my favourite Brand Agnes B

After a nice meal together with Annemiek and a view on the Notre Dame by night we went back to the hotel.

On day 3 we visted 2 exhbitions. In the morning we went to see the work of Madame Gres. This exhbition was so wonderful and made such a huge impression on me that I will write a special blogpost about the work and life from this extraordinair woman who made such a spectacular dresses..Inbetween the 2 exhibitions we had a little time for shopping and coffee and cake at Mamie Gateaux and the cake with cherries and pistachio tasted out of this world!!I also bought some nice socks for Bram from Tabio, a Japanes Brand who makes the most stunning socks. Bram is not the person who like to wear plain black or darkblue socks. No, he wants colour, dotts, blocks and even skulls...So he really likes the pair I bought for him.

And in the late afternoon we went to see Rive Gauche about the pret-a-porter collection from Yves Saint Laurent at the Fondation Pierre Bergé/ Yves Saint Laurent. The exhibition was small but made me smile due to the fact that I found some parts relating to my youth and the fashion worn at that time. Everything was placed in a setting as the boutique in Paris was at that time. Red walls and colourful garments from mini dresses till tuxedo's for women. Everything was there.. Yes..in my opinion YSL was a Genius at his time and his designs did fit perfectly at that time. Women must have felt great in his clothes..After that some late night shopping at Galeries Lafayette...had to buy some French clothes for little Jim from Petit Bateau..but at that shop I also wondered why we need all that luxury???I am always so split up in my mind when I am in such a store. I love it, it's big, great building, spectacular dome, beautiful clothes and presentations.... and hate it because I often feel that this world is so unreal: do we really need shoes from 1500 Euro, bags from 2500 Euro??? and is is really worth that price?...always difficult for me..

On the last morning we made a tour among some big fashion houses in the Rue Faubourg as Hermes, Dior, Miyake before heading back by train

When I am doing trips I always try to take pictures from a certain subject.. and try to make as many as possible... This time it was tiles in the metro.

More stories coming soon...about my life, knitting, Bram, the clearing out in the holiday, Glasgow, Red Thread...Promise..it won't take long.. Time to post NOW