I Prefer Paris

Joyce Gallery: Chantal Thomass and Paco Rabanne

SAVE THE DATE! Please join me for my live, Facebook Fabulous Food Tour on the Rue des Martyrs on Wednesday, May 19 10am EST (east coast time), 9am Midwest time, 7am, West coast time, and 4pm Paris time.

CLICK HERE to reserve your spot. 

The Joyce Gallery in the Palais Royal always has great windows with the work of fashion designers. A few weeks ago, I spotted an exhibition celebrating the 40 plus years of the designs of French designer Chantal Thomass. An auction of Thomass’s clothes and accessories was held at Drouot on May 6. Thomass is known mostly for her sexy lingerie designs which include garters and corsets and has a lingerie boutique on rue Saint Honore. 

I returned the following week to the Palais Royal and there was a new fashion display at the Joyce Gallery, a sampling of designer Paco Rabanne’s work. The pieces are from Rabanne’s collections designed for the runway, which were collected by pianist Jorge Zulueta and the late Jacobo Romano, who founded the Argentine theater and music company Grupo Acción Instrumenta. The pair used them as costumes for their operas and shows. They originally had a collection of 400 pieces of clothing and 200 accessories and some were sold at auction in 2012 and 2014. The remainder of 182 outfits from the collection will be sold by the auction house Millon on May 31. Rabanne used a mélange of  unconventional materials including silver reflectors, molded plastic, crumpled paper, and hammered metal. 

Joyce Gallery 

168 Galerie de Valois, 75001

https://www.joyce.com/gallery/

Ernesto Neto at Le Bon Marché

Every January Le Bon Marché invites an international artist to create an installation inside the store and in the windows. For the 10^th edition, Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto was chosen,and the only restriction he had was the artwork must be colored white, as per the mandate initiated by Aristide and Marguerite Boucicaut, founders of Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche in the late 1800s.

Neto has created a massive sculpture, the Serpent, made of white and tan colored crocheted fabric, that hangs from the top to the first floor. The Serpent dramatically weaves its way through the escalators and around the perimeter of the backside of the store.

On the second floor, is another Neto piece, crocheted out of white fabric in a tent-like design with colorful bottlecaps hanging from the netting. Guests are invited to walk through the exhibit to explore, but without shoes on. A little boy was hopping from one covered pillow to the next.

Until February 25, 2025

Le Bon Marché

24 rue de Sevres, 75007

https://www.lebonmarche.com/fr/le-la-serpent-ernesto-neto?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIt-L62cn_igMVBgUGAB2e3RpbEAAYASAAEgI4G_D_BwE

Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more.  In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours,Vintage Clothing  Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.

Tours start at 275€ for up to 3 people, and 90€ for each additional person. I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you, my insiders, Paris.

 

Au Grenier de Lucie Vintage Jewelry

One of my favorite shops when I do tours of St. Ouen/Clingancourt flea market is Au Grenier de Lucie Vintage Jewelry. Owned by a delightful, British couple, Heidi and Jason Ellis, Au Grenier de Lucie has a vast and gorgeous selection of high-end vintage jewelry, accessories, and clothing. The glass vitrines are dripping with vintage jewelry from Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, Schiaparelli, Miriam Haskell, Guy Laroche, Lanvin, Trifari, Monet, and Joseff. One of their other specialties is an extensive collection of Haute Couture Christian Lacroix jewelry, with some very rare pieces. 

Living in England and working as schoolteachers, Heidi always had a passion for fashion and in 2009, they took a risk, sold their house, moved to Paris, and opened Au Grenier de Lucie. Jason’s parents already owned two shops in the market, and they helped secure their location. They travel all over Europe and England during the week to find more jewelry treasures. Heidi is tall and thin, with long, brown hair, and she’s the perfect model for their merchandise. Check out the fab earrings she’s wearing in the photo above. 

Please tell Heidi and Jason I said bonjour when you visit. 

Au Grenier de Lucie

Marche Vernaison Alee 1 Stall 25

99 rue de Rosiers, St. Ouen 93400

Open Saturday & Sunday 10am-5pm

Instagram @rarevintagejewellery

https://www.augrenierdelucie.com/

Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more.  In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours,Vintage Clothing  Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.

Tours start at 275€ for up to 3 people, and 90€ for each additional person. I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you, my insiders, Paris.

 

Holidays in Paris 2024 : Louis Vuitton- Maison Vendome

The festive and fun windows at Louis Vuitton Vendome feature whimsical, carousel animals such as tigers, swans, greyhounds, giraffes, zebras, and snails, painted in brilliant, shiny colors.

Extending the holiday spirit, the figures come alive on a carousel on the Place Vendome, sponsored by Louis Vuitton.

2 Place Vendome, 75001

Holidays in Paris 2024: Printemps

Printemps this season pull out all the stops with its holiday windows with the magical Printemps Express Christmas train by artist Valerie Cuter. Printemps is also celebrating 100 years of animated virtrines and 50 years of window displays in motion.

Actress Juliet Binoche officially launched the windows in mid- November.

Holidays in Paris 2024: Dior Ave. Montaigne

I have seen 20 years of holiday windows in Paris, but the best windows in all those years are the ones at Dior on Ave. Montaigne this season.

I nearly gasped as I looked up at the stunning decorations of the corner façade, festooned with the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, models in Dior outfits, and gigantic, classic Dior handbags.

The windows have exquisitely detailed miniatures in glass snowballs and vintage suitcases of Dior in different scenarios including Christian Dior’s office, his garden at his home in Granville, him with his dog in his salon, a replica of the Ave. Montaigne boutiques, and the workroom, amongst others.

It’s as though you are experiencing the hidden world of Dior come alive.

Do not miss it if you are in Paris in December.

30 Ave. de Montaigne, 75008

EYE PREFER PARIS POSTCARDS FOR HOLIDAY GIFTS

I am offering a holiday sale of free shipping on Eye Prefer Paris Door Postcards. In addition, if you want to send them as a holiday gift, I can handwrite a personalized card for you.

For a set of 18 cards, you will save $12, and for a set of 9 cards, you will save $8.

Just in time for the holidays, the Eye Prefer Paris-Paris Door Collection makes a perfect gift for your Francophile friends and family.

IMPORTANT! You must order your cards before December 12, as I mail them from Paris, and it takes 10 days to 2 weeks to arrive in the U.S.

CLICK HERE to order 18 cards: 3 Red Doors, 3 Blue Doors, 3 Green Doors, 3 Wood Doors, 3 Iron Doors, and 3 Door Knockers. 

Cost: $65 Includes Free Shipping.

CLICK HERE to order 9 postcards: 3 Red Doors, 3 Blue Doors, 3 Green Doors.

Cost: $35 Includes Free shipping

CLICK HERE to order 9 postcards: 3 Wood Doors, 3 Iron Doors, and 3 Door Knockers

Cost: $35 Includes Free shipping 

Postcards are hand-wrapped with love from Paris and mailed in an elegant, French-blue envelope. 

Just in time for the holidays, the Eye Prefer Paris-Paris Door Collection makes a perfect gift for your Francophile friends and family.

Blue Doors

Green Doors

Blue Doors

Metal Doors

Wood Doors

Door Knockers

 

Holidays in Paris 2024: Galeries Lafayette

Here’s my first entry for my annual series of blog posts celebrating the winter holidays in Paris.

Today, it’s Galeries Lafayette, which has cool and flamboyant window displays with Santa dressed in tinsel, big beaked birds with eyes of colored beads, extravagant Baccarat chandeliers, and princesses in shimmering silver.

Celebrating their 130^th anniversary, Galeries Lafayette is doing to the hilt = Kevin Germanier (designer of the special Golden Voyager costume for the closing night of the Paris Olympics) creating delightful and sustainable windows, using upcycled materials. 

Inside, the iconic and immense holiday tree, has 20,000 magical,flashing lights.  

 

L/Uniform Canvas Bags and Accessories

I was walking home from a Saint Germain tour on the Quai Voltaire last week and discovered a wonderful shop. Peering through the window at L/Uniform boutique, I saw a selection of handsome canvas bags and totes trimmed with colored leather. Once inside L/Uniform, I methodically took in all the merchandise lining the shelves and on the display counters. Wallets and change purses in canvas were uniformly stacked in a draw, with appealing multi-color trim, one wall had tote fanny packs with fun-colored straps, and another display had roomy, square bottom totes with thick straps, and long ones with thinner and longer shoulder straps. L/Uniform also had a new collection of back-to-school bags for kids.

The merchandise is produced in Portugal with the quadrille canvas coming from Italy. There are two grades of canvas, cotton and cotton mixed with linen. L/Uniform can apply initials or symbols on any piece to customize it, and it takes about 15 minutes. They make great gifts, especially with the initials.

1 Quai Voltaire, 75007

https://luniform.com/en?_gl=1*1aya9qm*_up*MQ..&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9rS-6_2tiAMVKmdBAh2MfAyjEAAYASAAEgKXXfD_BwE

 

Messy Nessy’s Cabinet

Vanessa Grall is the voice, author, and editor of Messy Nessy Chic, a Paris blog with a cult following. She started the blog in 2010, and it has a huge fan club and following. Over the years, Grall has parlayed the blog into a mini empire, with a series of insider city guidebooks, Don’t be a Tourist in Paris, London, Copenhagen, and New York, online city guides, products, a private online club, and consulting services. The blog is a mix of quirky and obscure findings about Paris and many other things, done with humor and sometimes a wink of the eye.

Messy Nessy Chic has once again expanded its empire with the opening of a retail shop in the Latin Quarter, Messy Nessy’s Cabinet. I popped over there two weeks ago and met Vanessa, who was cool and laid back

The boutique is what you would expect, if you know the blog: quirky, offbeat, fun, interesting, and eccentric. Wood shelves are lined with books about travel, history, novels and memoirs about Paris, a trivia card game Parisian Pursuit. Other curiosity items include Seine River water in a bottle, antiques, Surreal eyeglasses, paintings, and baseball hats. There’s a fun series of mini-curiosity cabinets hung inside of empty frames.

Vanessa is usually in the shop, as she lives nearby and her office is in the back, so stop by and say Eye Prefer Paris sent you.

19 rue de Bievre, 75005

https://shop.messynessychic.com/pages/contact-us

Deeya Paris Boutique

A few weeks ago, Vincent my partner raved about a new, super cool clothing and accessory boutique in the Marais and he said I must check it out for Eye Prefer Paris.

Vincent is pretty much always on the money when he suggests things for me to do, and he was absolutely right this time

Deeya Paris is a fantastic boutique celebrating the craftsman and artisans of India, featuring clothing, accessories, jewelry, and home design. The shop bursts with alive colors, great designs, and a cool vibe. Racks and shelves are chock full of winning, eye popping, and appealing items which make you want to buy everything in the shop.

I spoke with one of the owners, Matthieu Foss, who co-owns the boutique with his wife Marielou, and he shared with me that the boutique stocks only merchandise produced in India, with about 15 Indian designers. Many of the clothing and accessories have hand embroidery or hand sewing on them.

In the rear of the boutique is a gallery specializing photos of Indian photographers and the current show has black and white photos of an Art Deco movie theater.

Matthieu and Marielou have pooled their talents from their former careers to open Deeya.

Marielou, originally from Bombay, worked closely with Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel for 15 years and in 2017 she started working with environmentally conscious labels and promoting Indian craftsmen.

Matthieu was one of the founders of Paris Photo and moved to Mumbai in 2005 to open the first photo gallery in the city. Now back in Paris, Matthieu continues promote Indian culture involving photographs, fashion, and design.

21 rue du Bourg Tibourg, 75004 https://deeyaparis.com/collections/all

Matthieu Foss

Paolo Roversi at Dover Street Market

Photographer Paolo Roversi is having quite a year in Paris. 

On March 26, the Palais Galliera opened a major retrospective of Roversi, focusing on his incredible career of 40+ years with 140 astonishing images of his fashion and beauty photos. Now there’s a second tribute to Roversi in Paris. 

Last week the Dover Street Market opened in the former, 17^th century palace of Madame Sevigne. The new space is much more than another fashion shop in the Marais; it not only houses fashion and accessory collections of upcoming, young creators, it’s also a cultural center with live events and a gallery space. 

Walking through the cobblestone courtyard other day, I was stunned by the striking, columns adorned with Roversi’s photos. The light wood columns were designed by Rei Kawakubo, the founder of the iconic Comme des Garcons label and she also designed the minimalist interiors of the building. 

Another wonderful surprise was a beautifully curated exhibit of Roversi’s work on the lower level of the cultural center. The photographs are displayed on a cylinder-shaped wall in a dark room with just the photos illuminated. 

Dover Street Market

35-37 rue des Francs Bourgeois, 75003

https://www.doverstreetmarketparis.com/