pour l'amour de Paris

Don't be fooled by the title of my blog, my French is terrible. I am just feeling nostalgic since it was a year ago today that my husband and I embarked on a ten day trip to Paris. I took French lessons for awhile last year at Alliance Francaise de Seattle in anticipation of the trip, and completely tortured my classmates with my amazingly bad French. Our kind and patient instructor was encouraging, but alas, after one person told me that my attempts reminded her of being back in high school French class, I knew it was not meant to be. I was able to read it better than I could speak it, the people of Paris appreciated a person making the effort, and the trip was truly amazing.
One of the things I did was keep notes on my iPhone of all the fashion trends that I saw as we walked the streets, sat at cafes, and, of course, shopped. I decided to revisit the notes and see what has arrived here in Seattle in the past year, or, perhaps, been here already. The weather last April was similar to Seattle in the spring, there were some rainy colder days, and some glorious sunny days as well. That being said, in the footwear department there were still lots of boots on the feet of Parisians, mostly black and lots of them sky high, or motorcycle. Ballet flats were also everywhere, which is no surprise, and Converse tennis shoes were EVERYWHERE!! All colors, on all ages--young to old--sold on the streets and in high end stores. Everywhere you looked people were sporting them. Skinny jeans were on men and women, or a very slim cut darker jean. Leggings with dresses, shorts with tights underneath, huge black handbags were carried by many a city girl as well. Lots of hats, dresses with tiered ruffles and shorter coats with a pouf hemline and the sash tied with a one bow loop. And lots and lots of purple, in all hues.
And of course, scarves, scarves, scarves. After a trip to Hermes where I purchased my first (very small) scarf--I asked for their book on how to tie a scarf many ways. I had read in a Paris travel book that they don't offer these little treasures but will give one to you if you ask when you purchase something. It was three people deep to even get to the scarves but I did manage to find a lovely one and also received a small Hermes box that contained the coveted scarf tying secrets--on a deck of cards. And yes, it takes more than a deck of cards to emulate the style of our friends from France, but it felt like a treasure nonetheless.
My conclusion is that you just have to look at a jCrew catalog to know that many of these trends have made their way to us over the past year. And I think we have always been a Converse town, but the choices are much more extensive--sparkly silver Converse anyone? As for my love of Paris--I am continuing to follow its fascinating and fabulous street fashion via the Internet for now, but I think I just may need to make another trip soon--in the name of research...au revoir friends! lisa