Architectural Beauties of Paris

Montmarte

June 12, we took a tour up this famous hill where we saw many landmarks on the way and an extremely amazing view of the city at the top. On the way up, I saw the place where Vinent Van Gogh lived and views from which he painted, as well as a location for a popular French short story and its monument, as well as vineyards. The walk up the huge hill did not seem too bad because of all of the interesting stops on the way up. Once we did reach the top, however, I got to see the inside of St. Pierre de Montmarte, one of the churches that claims to be the oldest in Paris due to some of its extremely old pillars inside. After seeing this church, I climbed many stairs and entered another church, the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, or the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Paris. This was one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen, from the inside and out. The wait to just get inside took about fifteen minutes! And on the way down the hill we got to see Moulin Rouge.

Vincent Van Gogh's home

Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Paris

View from the top of the hill

Arc de Triomphe

The best view I have seen of Paris, considering I never did go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, was from the top of the Arc de Triomphe, or the Triumphal Arch. It was built to honor soldiers who fought in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Too bad we didn't get the subway quite right because we had to walk more than half an hour down Avenue des Champs-Élysées, a long, seemingly never-ending, street of luxury shops, including a glamorous Abercrombie & Fitch, go figure. Because after that walk, we had to climb up almost 300 steps to get to the top. But it was worth it, as you can see the gorgeous 360 degree view of the city.

Arc de Triomphe

View from the top

Palace of Versailles


We took our own day trip to this city, expecting it would take all day to walk through, but it only took a couple hours. Oh and there was basically a monsoon that day while we had to wait in line outside, making us each completely soaking wet. You can tell from the gigantic rain cloud in the picture just about how bad it was. However, we didn't let this ruin our day since the entire palace is filled with glamour and gigantic paintings. And of course it would be since it was once the center of politic power in France, built by Louis XIV.

A room inside the palace

The gardens of Versailles are just as beautiful and large as the palace itself.

Gardens of Versailles

We also tried to visit Marie Antoinette's quarters, but they are located so far from the palace itself, it would have taken over half an hour just to walk there.


Notre Dame Cathedral


This is a gothic style Catholic cathedral my friends and I visited. The outside and inside are equally magnificent. There was stained glass covering the inside, and a clearly very tall cieling. Many people were visiting, while others lit candles and had a seat to pray. Visiting this monumental cathedral was very touching.

"French" Fries

Parisienne food. All I really have to say about that is.. baguettes. Every corner someone was carrying home a baguette or two. Every restaurant served bread with each meal. Just bread. No butter. Bread and cheese was a common meal. With about every kind of cheese. Which is easy to get tired of so by the end of my ten days in Paris I can definitely say I was done eating just bread. I'm also not really sure how Parisiennes stay so skinny with all of the carbs and glasses of wine they consume each day. It must be their fruits and vegetables, which are the freshest I have ever seen!

I've tried everything from the typical croque monsieur, the hot ham and cheese, to Thai in a Box to McDonald's, which I must say was somewhat different and still very delicious. They give away a special white sauce to put on their fries and have a special grilled ham and cheese sandwich. The Paris McDonald's also has a cheeseburger with special bread (of course) white sauce, onions, fresh tomatoes, two kinds of cheeses, and ketchup, which I got and was DELICIOUS! And their fries are the same as American fries, but they have a choice of potato fries as well. I am now on a mission to try the Italian McDonald's specialty meal.

McDonald's mmm

Chicken curry

As for desert here, that's a whole other story! From crêpes to chocolates to crème brûlée to macaroons I tried them all, including Nutella crêpes which seem to be the most popular. Each one was amazing. I went a chocolate tour and learned to make macaroons in a cooking class, which I will talk about later!

My nutella crepe and I

Creme brulee

YSL and Pierre Cardin

Yves Saint Laurent was one of the exhibitions that I got to see in Paris, featuring outfits throughout the years, as well as jewelry, gloves, and other accessories. YSL took couture and made it ready to wear which was clear through the progression of pieces in the exhibit. There were over 300 dresses, drawings, and a background film showing. Of course the gift shop was just as epic, with posters available representing the collections from many different years. Here is the website of the exhibition for more pictures and information:

http://www.yslretrospective.com/

Another museum I had the honor of visiting, on June 16, and receiving a personal group tour was Pierre Cardin. The tour consisted of hundreds of his pieces, including space age outfits to exquisite jewelry to interesting pieces of furniture that I would kill to have at home! Pierre Cardin was once a cabinet maker, although he made these after becoming a fashion designer. There were 210 staged models throughout the museum all the way from when he worked with Christian Dior for four years. 1952 was the year he created the jacket that made him popular in the states. Many of the pieces had shapes molded in the fabric, which he did by heating the synthetic fiber material so the shapes would not wear out. He also tended to insert hard and plastic materials in his clothes in order to create outstanding shapes in the garment. From 1966 til 1968, Jean Paul Gualtier inspired his collection where after he created the body suits for men and women. Overall the style was very avant-garde and looked very space age-esque.

Pierre Cardin Museum

Trend Forecasting

Fashion throughout the world is somewhat predictable. To a certain extent. And because of this, we have trend forecasting companies to thank for figuring out what's going to be the next hot thing. I now have quite an idea of some trends that will be coming up for fall and winter 2013, as they are generally made about two years in advance. Visiting three main forecasting companies here in Paris, it has been interesting to compare what one company has predicted to happen compared to another, although the similarities are sure to be the top trends, ranging from soft colors to bright patterns.

Page from a Nelly Rodi womenswear trend book

Slide from a Nelly Rodi trend video

For anyone that is not completely sure what a forecasting company does, well it's pretty much just like the name. They predict upcoming trends from short to long-term, as fashion often works in cycles. These companies have experts that research the trends in specific countries based on art, architecture, music, movies, basically anything can inspire the trends. These experts heavily rely on their intuition to make these predictions. The trends and ideas are reported back to the office, where they are translated into mood boards, videos, and eventually a trend book done by highly talented graphic and fashion designers.

Nelly Rodi is the first trend lab that I attended, focusing on fashion, beauty, and lifestyle since 1985. This is a company of about 35 employees in Paris, 70 experts researching trends, and 30 agents in 23 other countries specializes in publications containing the trends, as well as consulting with companies.  These publications include colors, inspiring photos, and of course textiles and fabrics.  At the consulting meetings, advice is given to a company regarding behavior studies, product development, and other areas they may want help in. Some major companies Nelly Rodi works with are Nivea, Sony, Samsung, and L'Oreal Paris. And no wonder these companies are working with Nelly Rodi, as it was named the "leader of trend agencies," by Le Figaro Magazine.

After Nelly Rodi, I visited Trend Union, where I even received my own trend book to keep! The trend video shown here was incredible and as most trend forecasting companies seem to be, this place was beautifully decorated. A photography exhibit was even being displayed upstairs, focusing on the crisis on Japan.

Inside Trend Union

French Fashion

I used to think New York City was the fashion capitol of the world. Until I came to Paris.

Everywhere I look I see Chanel, Hermes, Christian Louboutin, Louis Vuitton, and in the most elaborate buildings.  I even went into the Chanel and Louis flagship. Amazing, just to say the least. Of course it kills me walking by each store and not being able to afford all of these beautiful items.

Even Dior looks 10x better than any other!

And of course, every single Parisian from the adorable two year old running around in a perfectly matched dress, sweater, and flats, to the elderly woman who still straightens her hair and wears the most expensive brands, each impeccably dressed. It makes America look disgusting.  Every boy has adorable sweaters, cropped pants, leather shoes, and collared shirts. A Parisian woman would never leave her home in Pink sweatpants and sneakers. I don't think I've even seen a single pair of flip-flops. Unless of course it was a tourist. This has inspired me to dress well every day and even though I cannot afford all of the clothing here, I am absorbing it in order to recreate what I see when I come back home.

Uhh.. yeah.

The vintage shops here do not lack either, as they carry the best names and don't require digging to find. Especially at flea markets, like the one I visited on June 19th, it won't be hard to find a pair of vintage Chanel earrings or Christian Loubouton heels. Maybe one day I will be buying one of these myself!

Vintage Chanel, Lanvin, YSL, Gucci

Later in the trip, I was photographed in Paris for a fashion website that takes pictures of fashionable men and women on the streets in major cities.  http://spottinstyle.heroku.com/gallery/17/photos#main_photo

I also wound up buying a pair of Prada wedges for my birthday in Milan!