Yves Saint Laurent Retrospective

If you are, or will be in Paris between now and August 29th, you must absolutely visit Le Petit Palais.
Over 300 haute-couture and ready-to-wear garments, created over 40 years of creativity, in addition to documents, photographs, videos and more, are displayed there as an overview of Saint Laurent's astounding career.

In the height of tourist season, you may want to purchase your tickets online, and avoid the interminable lines.
www.petitpalais.paris.fr


...and yes, that is Saint Laurent posing nude in 1971 for Jean Loup Sieff. This image became his perfume ad and an inspiration for Tom Ford's YSL ads that ran in early 2000's...


Petit Palais
Avenue Winston Churchill
75008 Paris
+33 (0)1 53 43 40 00
Metro: Champs Elysées Clémenceau

Merci Beaucoup

I wanted to mention Merci - the concept store - because of its sheer awesomeness. It is unusual in that unlike most other concept stores: self indulgent, pretentious, and elitist, Merci lives up to its name and is actually a true concept. It is the first 100% charity store in France. WOW! Unheard of in the world of conspicuous consumption! 100% of the profits go to a charity association helping women and kids in Madagascar, which is one of the poorest countries in the world.

And how do they do that? Well, the couple behind the highly successful brand Bonpoint, apparently decided to give back, and to give us all a moment of huh?! that will most likely inspire, if only for a moment. 

Merci is a 16,000 Sq foot space in an 18th century building close to Bastille. From art, design, to clothes new and vintage, you will find it all. You can enjoy your coffee while browsing books and contributing to something bigger than your id. Known designers caught on as well, so you will be able to find some major mark ups, even as high as 30-40%.
I like it!

111, boulevard Beaumarchais
75011 Paris
France
T. : +33.1.42.77.10.38
www.merci-merci.com

Raw Food Restaurant in Paris

Having flirted with raw foodism for quite a few years now, and being rather privileged, for gaining so much exposure due to the amazing raw food mecca Kryn Calabrese built in my current city, I wanted to also check out the raw food scene in Europe. I visited one restaurant in Amsterdam - but I will skip this account - and than another in Paris. Important to remember the history and standing Frenchie cuisine enjoys. People in France give much attention to their food, they eat small portions, abundant in greens - even though they also include a lot of animal based products. They are proud of their tradiotion and in touch with their stomachs so to speak. Hence, vegetarian,  vegan and raw foods are generally frowned upon, and considered as fads. This said, raw food restaurants, shops, let alone "meccas" are not easy to come by. I have done my research and it was slim pickins. But i did find one I wanted to visit.

 My former boss, producer of CBC Canada's Fashion File, who is as adventurous and curious in about any department as I,  joined me for the raw lunch.

Pousse-Pousse is tiny. like lego construction tiny. thankfully it was a beautiful summer day so we sat at one of the two sidewalk tables.

The restaurant has a very limited menu compared to what I have seen in Florida, NYC and Chicago, but I was happy to be eating raw in Paris. As many raw food restaurants, Pousse-Pousse also sells some items; food and preparation items, again, the selection is pretty limited. But than again, I AM spoiled in the raw deprtment.

Madeleine and I both did shots of wheat grass, and then proceeded with the plat du jour dubbed "santé" it included a variety of grains, greens and nuts. It was good. Not mind blowing, but good. I will definitely return this summer and see what new items they have added.

I did love the very engaging owner and the pioneering spirit of the place. A must for a raw-foodist, or at least an experimentalist in Paris

Santé!

Pousse-Pousse
7, rue Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, 75009
Métro: Notre-Dame-de-Lorette
01 53 16 10 81

A Night At The Museum

This Saturday marks the 6th annual Nuit des Musées; (and I like how the EU's attempt at appearing united squeezed the word Européenne in there somehow) most museums, in Paris at least,  stay open sometimes well past midnight and let visitors in gratuitously. This pleasant mess of a night brings a varied crowd to the streets, from parents with kids who are staying up way past their midnight to absorb culture free of charge, to dazed club kids who enjoy staring at the old masters while rolling. There is no wrong or right formula to soak up the arts. Words of wisdom though, like a soldier ready for attack, come prepared with maps and with a game plan. Otherwise you might end up like me, on the 1st Nuit des Musées, wondering aimlessly, trying to collect scattered friends who all wanted to visit a different spot, than standing in lines forever to never actually discover anything. Although, we did end up RE-discovering a very familiar bar!

http://nuitdesmusees.culture.fr

Vanessa For Chanel

Vanessa Paradis, has not only sustained a lasting love affair with Johnny Depp, the French public, and countless French filmmakers, she has also maintained her love ties to the Chanel maison de couture. Apparently she is a keeper!
I still remember her with long hair and an oversized t-shirt singing Joe Le Taxi - which, by the way, still sounds unbelievably delicious. But Vanessa if off to bigger and better things.
Karl Lagerfeld is working with her for the third time at Chanel, making her the new face of Chanel’s Coco Cocoon bag line. On the side the two also recently collaborated on a special edition Cannes International Film Festival issue of Madame Figaro, which Paradis is guest editing. Sounds like much more than a spring fling and more like muse status.

Here are some shots of the campaign.
http://www.fashionologie.com

But as much I like what Lagerfeld is doing at Chanel, Vanessa Paradis will always remind me of my three month stay in the south of France as a little girl, and her Joe Le Taxi video clip that ran over and over on M6. So, if like me, you are still stuck in the 80's and remember the song, as an au revoir treat, google the Stereo Total version of Joe Le Taxi! Enjoy!

The Unsolved Mystery of Why Paris is Called Paname

My mom luckily has a pretty voice, because she sure does love to sing. While cooking for her friends today, she sang an old Edith Piaf song, and it went; padam, padam, padam....

I know it well. I even think there is an English, and a Polish version, but for some reason today it sounded like Paname. Well, Paname IS after all a slang name for Paris. I have heard it a million times and even referred to it by that name myself. It just dawned on me thought that I never asked why. Why the hell would Paris be called Paname? From Panama? I couldn't believe I never questioned this before. I have just welcomed Paname into my vernacular without doubt or reservation, and what's unlike me, without an ounce of curiosity.

Google search returned few satisfactory results. Wiktionary claims that the name Paname refers to Panama hats worn by men in Paris in the early 20th century, and then proceeds to tell me that it is another name for Paris - without elaborating.

Since I speak fluent french I re-tried the search, but this got me into a convoluted hunt. Looks like most Parisians don't know themselves. From all the forums, blogs and sites I got two most popular versions:

1. The aforementioned hat account
2. The name comes from a slang word popular around 1900's where Panama meant huge, and as Paris is huge, the name caught on

Any other stories, please share.