As a child, I remember spending hours and hours waiting while my parents shopped for antique furniture. They used to bribe me with Famous Five novels, but those books had no chance of lasting long enough for my speedy eyes and their lengthy negotiations. As I sat in dark corners illicitly popping bubble wrap, I [...]
Grab your knitting needles, embroidery threads, patchwork and hoops. The Paris Needlework Fair (l’Aiguille en Fête) takes place in February (February 9 and 12, 2012). The fair is not restricted to age or gender. The men are knitting along side the women and there is even a sporting event: Speed Knitting! The annual Paris needlework [...]
Having worked for Chanel, Robert Clergerie and Loewe, shoes and accessories designer Avril Gau went on to set up her own eponymous brand in 2002. At the end of 2010, she opened her first boutique in Paris’ chic St Germain – a charming and cosy two-floor shop stocking her collection of bags, shoes and wallets [...]
Au Nom de la Rose specializes in everything roses. When I pass by the shop, there are always the most vividly colored bouquets and arrangements spilling on to the street. They make smart arrangements in mini- watering cans and do an adorable one with either a single, double, or triple rose configuration in a tiny [...]
Pamela from Frogblog discovered a welcome jolt of color in the gray city of Paris recently, when out with a French friend: We stop short, drawn like magpies to a shop window bursting with bright cheery girliness in the form of funky, colorful leather clogs, bags and other goodies. I’m so starved for color in [...]
A lot of what foreigners think of as Parisian stylishness looks a great deal like conformism. When I first moved here, I thought the other mothers at my children’s school were wearing a uniform. They weren’t, not exactly; but they did all have the same coat. All the children also wore the same coat. If [...]
Paris only has two officially sanctioned sales during the year — in January just after the Christmas break and in July just before the August holiday. The 2012 sale season begins Janaury 11 and runs through February 14. Stores are open, exceptionally, on Sundays. While it seems impossible, French law only allows sales during this time period; otherwise [...]
Banana Republic, the American fashion brand for classics at affordable prices, opened its first French store on Paris’ iconic Champs Elysees this week. Founded in California in 1978 by two avid travelers who brought back safari gear from the four corners of the world, the brand, now owned by Gap, continues in its globetrotting by [...]
There’s something about the crisp fall weather in Paris that makes it particularly pleasant for browsing the city’s flea markets. One of the bigger upcoming brocantes takes place November 25-27 in the painfully hip North Marais district, along the Rue Spuller, Rue Perrée, Rue Debelleyme, Rue Caffarelli, Rue de Bretagne and Rue de Picardie. There [...]
With only around 40 days left until Christmas, it is already time to do your shopping! If you have to buy presents for children, make sure to visit the Sol En Si pop-up shop. Leading brands have donated stock for sale with all proceeds going to the Sol En Si charity, which helps HIV infected [...]
