I am a major fan of the French health system. I had brain surgery here at one of the best hospitals in Europe, and the only bill I ever saw was for using the telephone. French doctors love me. “What? You only get 23 Euros for an appointment? You deserve more than that!” They don’t get to [...]
BHV is an institution here in Paris. It is really just a big, rather dumpy department store, but it is also something else. I mean something surprising and vexing at once. For example, BHV has a huge hardware store in its basement. While we were finishing our apartment we made weekly trips to the basement [...]
There’s been a lot of buzz lately in the press and the blogosphere about Merci, a new boutique in the 3rd arrondissement that is the brainchild of Marie-France Cohen, founder of Bonpoint, that temple to gorgeous children’s clothing and dare I say it, complete excess. Housed in a rehabbed factory, Merci is serving up clothes, [...]
The waiters in the Café de la Mairie have such an outsize helping of amour propre (self respect). There’s this waiter, a toreador. He studies himself in the mirror at the back of the room that makes the place look bigger, inflates his chest, pulls down his waistcoat, goes into battle. There’s this English guy sitting at the next table (not a tourist). The waiter goes [...]
There was a bit of dustup over the new film about Coco Chanel. The film, which opened last week, tells the story of the legendary couturier’s rise to fame and is being advertised all over town. Too bad the posters slated for buses and the subway showed the actress Audrey Tautou smoking. Under the Evin [...]
A Paris court has decided to permenantly shut down the controversial “Our Body” exhibition in the city. Several groups had protested about the ethics of displaying sliced and preserved dead bodies, particularly as it is suspected that several may be executed Chinese prisoners. Last Tuesday, the Judge Louis-Marie Raingeard decided to order the closure of this event, subject to [...]
Martin Margiela loves everything white and if he had his way he would paint the entire world white. How fortunate that his vision in white is being fulfilled at the Elle Deco Suite at the Cite de L’Architecture. Elle Decor magazine has given him carte blanche to decorate the former apartment of Jacques Carlu, [...]
On Romain Colors website, a silhouettes fairy guides you through Romaine’s range of organic products and his natural haircare philosophy. His non-fairyland salon’s located in 7th, in the smart quarter between Montparnasse and the Eiffel Tower. The salon is relaxed and welcoming if slightly cluttered (wooden Buddhas, dried grasses, trellis fencing and real trees are [...]
