I Prefer Paris

Christmas in Paris 2009: Galeries Lafayette

Animated teddy bears, dolls, and rabbits dressed by Jean Paul Gaultier, Kenzo, Marc by Marc, Maje, Manoush and Zadig & Voltaire are having the time of their life in the windows at Galeries Lafayette this holiday season. Inside the store is a huge fir tree decorated with gingerbread figures, lollipops and  sugar sticks, erected under the dome. 

Galeries Lafayette

40 Blvd. Haussmann, 9th arr. 

Metro: Chaussée-d'Antin

Windows are lit from 9AM-1AM daily 

http://www.galerieslafayette.com/

 

 





   

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte’s professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 3 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Christmas in Paris 2009: Printemps

Christmas holiday magic in Paris is back again this year full steam ahead. The city is awash with mesmerizing lights, enchanting store windows, designer Christmas trees, and a unique ice sculpture show on the Champs Elysees. Since there is such an abundance of visual treats, I am devoting the next two weeks to Christmas time in Paris.

Printemps has outdone itself this year with its Russian fairy tale motif. Eleven storefronts are transformed into stylized dachas and five of them, dedicated to fashion, are inspired by Faberge eggs in an oversized version revealing a mannequin wearing an evening gown and a crystal headdress inspired by the crowns of tsarinas.  The other windows feature a reception with an opulent banquet, a folkloric ball with dancers and musicians, a ride inspired by a carousel and a game of hide-and-seek with giant matryoshka dolls that open and close.

Inside the store are Russian influenced gift ideas including caviar, vodka, pierogi, traditional cakes, Goldken chocolates in the form of gold ingots, and Russian tea by Mariage Frères.

Printemps
64 Blvd. Haussmann,9th arr.
Metro: Havre Caumartin
Open Monday - Saturday, Sunday December 13th & 20th
Tel. 01 42 82 57 87
http://departmentstoreparis.printemps.com/index.aspx

 

 

 

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte’s professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 3 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Quirky Paris Shop Windows 2

Coco Chanel, Alber Elbaz,??

I saw these funny clothes hangers with illustrations of iconic French fashion designers in a shop window near St. Sulpice last week. I can figure out who most of them are but there are a few that I am not sure of. Can you fashion mavens tell me who the missing ones are?

The second series of photos are from am eyeglass boutique on rue de Sevigne in the Marais depicting old Hollywood stars with new sunglasses. The last photo is a satiric political comment on the different governing policies of Obama and Sarkozy. 

Talc, rue de 4 Vents, 6th arr., Metro: Odeon

Lafont, 12 rue de Sevigne,4th arr., Metro: St. Paul

Note to subscribers: My apologies for putting today's title on yesterday's Door of the Month post. I have been testing a new subject line system and got things confused.

Christian LaCroix, Yves. St. Laurent

??, Karl Lagerfeld, Sonia Rykiel

Jean-Paul Gaultier, John Galliano

 

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte’s professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 3 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

World's Largest Ladies Shoe Store at Galeries Lafayette & Manolo Blahnik Spring Preview 2010

To make shoe fanatics jealous, I had the distinct pleasure of attending two major shoe events in the same day a few weeks ago.

While I was in Galeries Lafayette having lunch with Lynn,we visited the new ladies shoe department which is billed as the largest in the world. It's over 34,000 square feet with more than 150 brands of shoes.Each brand has its own shop and brands include Walter Steiger, Pierre Hardy, Prada, Miu Miu, Jimmy Choo,Biondini,Arche,Accessoire, and Repetto. Sizes range from American 3-12. There is also a foot salon to take care of your tootsies with pedicures and foot massages and an artisan cobbler that carries special brushes, shoe creams in all colors, foot-care lotions and more.

After I left Galeries Lafayette, there was a press showing of the Manolo Blahnik spring 2010 shoe collection at Maria Luisa, a ladies high fashion boutique that exclusively sells Manolo's in Paris.The collection was a knockout with high sexy feminine heels and gorgeous color combinations Manolo is famous for.

Many of you don't know this, but I worked in Delman, the fancy ladies shoe salon at Bergdorf Goodman in the early 80s.

Galeries Lafayette
40 Blvd. Haussmann, 9th arr.
Shoe Dept. is on lower level
Metro: Chausee-D'Antin or Opera

www.galerieslafayette.com

Maria Luisa
7 rue Rouget de L"Isle, 1st arr.
Metro: Concorde
Tel. 01 47 03 96 15
http://www.marialuisaparis.com

Don't forget about the Montmartre photo contest.

The contest is for the most unusual and dramatic photo of Montmartre. The contest winner will be announced next Wednesday, November 11. Please send your photos no later than November 10 and you can email them to me at r.nahem@gmail.com. Please send no more than 3 photos in an email. 

Now for the prize. The winner will receive a copy of the new best-selling book What French Women Know by Debra Ollivier. The intriguing book is about love, sex, and other matters of the heart and mind, a witty, insightful exploration of what makes French women tick. Questions like  “How do they make it look so easy?”  and “Why are French women always so incredibly sexy, even if they are physically ordinary?" are answered and explained by Ollivier who lived in Paris for many years and married a Frenchman. Ollivier offers us a refreshing new perspective on the stale ooh-la-la stereotypes about French women, revisiting and challenging old notions about sex, love, dating, marriage, motherhood, body politics, and seduction. A must read book for any man or woman who appreciates the mystique of French women.

If you can't wait to read the book before the contest, click here to order.

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte’s professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 3 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Paris Fashion Week Spring 2010: Vogue Covers on the Champs Elysees

Vogue magazine gloriously celebrates 90 years with 80 of its greatest covers. The magazine has featured some of the most renowned photographers and artists of our time and the blown up covers on the Champs Elysees feature Richard Avedon, Bakst, Cecil Beaton, Benito, Christian Bérard, Guy Bourdin, Salvador Dali, Patrick Demarchelier, Robert Doisneau, David Hockney, Horst, Hoyningen-Huene, William Klein, George Lepape, Man Ray, Mert & Marcus, Joan Miró, Helmut Newton, Irving Penn, Edward Steichen, Mario Testino, Andy Warhol, and Bruce Weber. If you can't get to the exhibit, you can buy the book with an additional 32 covers.  In case that isn't enough Vogue for you, go see the fascinating documentary The September Issue, all about how Anna Wintour and her staff produce the biggest issue of the year.

Till November 1
Champs Elysees,next to the Grand Palais
Metro: Champs Elysees-Clemenceau

To order the book, click here

Elizabeth Taylor

Twiggy  

Catherine Deneuve

 

Princess Caroline of Monaco

Alfred Hitchcock

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook. First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte’s professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 3 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Paris Fashion Week Spring 2010: Aganovich

I met the charming and lovely Nana Aganovich and her partner Brooke Taylor two weeks ago at A Shaded View on Fashion Film Festival. I was immediately taken by their distinct style and they told me they had a clothing line named Aganovich which was being shown in Paris for the first time. They live in London and their colorful backgrounds match their style.

Nana was born in Serbia and immigrated to Copenhagen with her parents, went to design school in Rome, graduated from the prestigious Central St. Martins design school in London, and founded a fashion company in Shanghai. In 2006 she left her company in Shanghai and started Aganovich with Brooke Taylor. Brooke Taylor is American-Irish born in Monte Carlo, educated in England and was a party promoter and journalist during the 90s rave culture.

The spring 2010 collection was artfully shown at a contemporary gallery in the Marais. What I love about the collection is the thoughtfulness and intelligence that went into each garment. A mix of fabrics such as pique and linen, and linen and satin is so smart. Looking closely I could see how well tailored every piece was and how the draping flowed so seamlessly. The odd mannequins and use of sculpture surrounding them gave the showing of the collection another dimension somewhere in between art and fashion.

I wish Nana and Brooke a smashing success with their inventive clothing.

Aganovich

38 Turner StreetLondon E1 2AS

www.aganovich.com

 

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook. First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte’s professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 3 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Paris Fashion Week Spring 2010: Gareth Pugh

Last week kicked off Spring Fashion Week 2010 in Paris and I was lucky to snag an invitation to one of the hottest and most coveted shows, designer Gareth Pugh. Gareth Pugh is a young, bold designer coming into his own who was a protege of the big deal American designer living in Paris Rick Owens. The show was a cool mix of Star Wars meets goth with androgynous models whose faces were painted in pale gray and eyes lined in red.The Cher- like feather head dresses and the outrageous platform shoes and boots gave a surreal look to the collection. However underneath all the pom and circumstance there were beautifully and intricately crafted pieces that were surprisingly wearable.

I lingered after the show to gawk at the crowd which was just as interesting as the show. Rhianna attended the show but I was disappointed I didn't spot her. Here are some photos of the show and my commentary captions about the crowd. 

 

The first model is a man

Super fashion blogger Bryan Boy- Love your Chanel purse, honey

Love the boots, not sure about the blue bloomers

Michele Lamy, wife of Rick Owens on the left and two Boy George groupies from the 80s

Fashion photographer Mario Testino and legendary Vogue editor Grace Coddington

Designer Rick Owens

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook. First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte’s professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 3 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

A Shaded View on Fashion Film Festival

Fashion journalist icon Diane Pernet, who is the editor in chief of the cutting edge fashion site A Shaded View on Fashion, is presenting her second annual fashion, style, and beauty film festival. Diane strives to to push the boundaries of fashion in the realm of the moving image. The festival is a meeting of artistic minds who make and film fashion.

Forty films will be shown in competition with films by and about Rick Owens, Gareth Pugh, Erwin Olaf, Steven Klein, Dita von Teese, Mr Pearl, Chris Cunningham, Benjamin Seroussi, Camille Vivier, Waris Ahluwalia, Joana Preiss . Four awards will be given and the esteemed jury includes Rick Owens (President of the Jury), renowned, visionary American independent designer ; Nan Goldin, legendary photographer ; Maria de Medeiros, Portuguese actress and film director, Eric Tong Cuong, founding member and president of La Chose brand content agency ; Éric Troncy, art critic and curator ; Laurent Goumarre, host of “18/20” radio show on France Culture and culture editor for Têtu Magazine ; Hélène Ségol, producer and head of the music-video department at Wanda Productions.

There will also be some films out of competition such as , AUDREY HEPBURN ATTENDS HUBERT DE G’S 40 YEAR CELEBRATION PARTY by Madeleine Czigler and IRENE WILLIAMS THE QUEEN OF LINCOLN ROAD by Eric Smith (I saw this fabulous and touching documentary  a few years ago about a elderly, very stylish woman living in Miami Beach who made all her own clothes). 

My partner Vincent Gagliostro has done a short film featuring photos taken by Diane in the last 6 months during the film festival world tour using her Samsung ST50 camera.

A Shaded View on Fashion Film Festival
September 25th, 26th and 27th, 2009
Passage du Désir – BETC
85-87 rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin, 10th arr.
Metro: Chateau D'Eau
http://www.ashadedviewonfashionfilm.com/

I was thrilled when The Obeserver Magazine, which is part of the British newspaper The Guardian, asked me to write an article for their travel section about what to do if you've got an hour to spare between trains in Paris.Checkout what I wrote.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/sep/20/paris-spare-hour-between-trains
New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook. First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte’s professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 3 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Funny Windows on Etienne Marcel

Do women make the world go round? The window dresser at the Diesel store on Etienne Marcel  thinks so. I couldn't resist taking photos of these funny windows the other day.

 

Fifi la Poodle

Diesel Dog Food?

A few blocks away on rue Montorgueil, I salivated over the Eiffel Tower made of macarons in the window at the gourmet shop Stohrer. What a concept, eating your favorite monument!

 

Lastly, a giant sneaker in an athletic shoe shop on the rue Pierre Lescot completed my morning of discovering quirky shop windows. 

Diesel Style Lab Store
35 rue Etienne Marcel, 1st arr.

Stohrer
51 rue Montorgueil, 2nd. arr

Sneaker shop
Corner of rue Pierre Lescot & Eteinne Marcel, 2nd arr.

Metro: Etienne Marcel

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook. First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte’s professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 3 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Palais Royal Week: Part 3- Manish Arora Windows

Manish Arora is a brilliant Indian designer who uses the rich Indian color palette to make whimsical, outrageous clothes. Five windows next door to the Ministere de la Culture office
feature some of Arora's best work from his collections of the last two years. The themes from his collections have included Butterfly, Warriors, Space, and Circus.

Every few months curator Christine Albanel gives free reign to artists and designers to create visual wonders for their windows.

Manish Arora Windows
Till July 12
Palais Royal
Metro: Palais Royal-Musee de Louvre
Click here for more info

Manish Arora

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook. First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte’s professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 3 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com