Paris, Day 7: Friday at L'Opera

Today was our last day in Paris, and we decided it was fitting to devote it to shopping. I did *have* to take us to some picturesque background for the fashion photo of the day. So here I am at the Opera house. The weather was utterly variable today--a little bit rainy, a little bit hot. I could have worn footless tights and sandals, but eh, I was ok in full tights and mary janes. The skirt is the same fabric as the DVFish dress, and the line suits the blouse much more than the fuller navy skirt. At home I have never in my life tied a layer around my neck, but I felt very insouciant and Parisian tying my denim jacket over my shoulders. Everyone does it here. Well, with sweaters, not denim jackets. But I was still an approximation of Parisian.



S's husband had requested (!) that she buy a dress in Paris so she, you know, reluctantly agreed. As for me, on my very first visit to Paris when I was 17 years old I promised myself a Parisian dress. I was on a package tour with my less-than-mobile grandmother and I didn't get a chance to fulfill my wish.

Then when I came back three years ago just for 24 hours at the tail end of my Scandinavia trip because I was feeling the itch for Paris my Parisienne friend Rebecca took me to some boutiques where I discreetly suffered a heart attack at the 100E+ prices and luckily nothing fit--trop grande a la poitrine. You'd think with the alleged French appreciation for petite boobies I wouldn't have the same trouble I have at home of everything being too big in the bust, but it was the same.

I had my two cuts of fabric that will become dresses, but the promise I made to myself umpty-hum-over-a-decade years ago was still outstanding, so I was casually looking as well. Our first stop was Printemps, which S had been lulled by the guidebooks into believing was the "affordable" Paris department store. *cough* It was amazing to see high end designers up close (I went straight for the Sonia Rykiel, as I love *everything* she sends down the runway) but she quickly concluded that Printemps was a bit out of our price range. I was pleased while wearing my yoked blouse with tucks that there was a whole lot of yoking and tucking going on in the latest styles by the latest designers.

Instead, we went to the little mall next door and the cheap shops across the street where she found a cute linen dress and a top. I wasn't sure about buying my dress after all. Everything is in the current babydoll/trapeze line, which is very trendy but (1) the perpetual sewist's refrain of "I could make that" was echoing in my head, and (2) my vaunted Paris dress will have a life cycle of two years max if I buy now.

We later went to Rue de Levis (there is a Levi's store on there, but we don't know if it was named after blue jeans, somebody else named Levi, or the ancient Jewish tribe) where I tried on a mod/flapper rayon stretch dress with a drop waist that just made me a little too uncomfortable about the hip fluff to pay $50 for it.

I did, though, finally buy my Paris dress. It is in a trapeze line, and I will have to take it in a little under the arms because even the S was too big in the bust, but it's a lovely navy linen (which just happens to go with the wardrobe), made in Europe (Italy), and every time I wear it I will relish that I am finally, finally in my Paris Dress! (And at 29E, I don't feel so bad that it's a trendy line. Though I'm trying to avoid converting that into dollars in my head.)

This picture is horrid--the girls have both left and this is me at the end of a 7th long day of sightseeing using the self timer with the camera on a shelf inside the cabinet that holds wine glasses and without any kind of video editing program. But after all that talk, I felt like I couldn't leave you totally hanging.



I leave very early in the morning for the airport, and then it will be "Au revoir, mon Paris"...for, um, a week. I'll be back for work less than 7 days after I get home. Weird, right? BUT! My mom is leaving the country for the first time in well over a decade and it just so happens that she's coming to Paris and it just so happens that I can arrange my work trip so we overlap for a day. Isn't that tres cool? I won't have a computer/internet for that trip, but I'll try to do some fashion pics to post when I get home.

Paris, Day 6: Thursday at Centre Pompidou

Our run of good weather came to end yesterday evening at about 7 when the skies opened up. We had checked the weather and were prepared with our umbrellas, while the locals cowered at the foot of the metro stairs, unable to emerge out onto the street. Today continued cloudy and cool (though very little rain, thank goodness). This afternoon it cleared up and warmed up, so I'm hoping tomorrow (last day, sob) will be nice.

I wore jeans and boots to deal with the cold and wet, and topped my Vogue reissue from 1935 with the perfect little sweater I found at Goodwill(!) for $5. I'd gone to Goodwill hoping to find a wool sweater in an appropriate color that I could felt and shrink and then make into a shrug. I did that too, but this little one went with my wardrobe so well I decided to bring it as a layering piece.

We went to the Centre Pompidou to see the building and eat our crepes in the (surprisingly terrible) courtyard. We opted not to go in, but I had to visit the famous fountain. The fountain is on a much smaller scale than it appears in photos, one of the only things in Paris that has that effect, I've found.



From there we headed to Monmartre, and I had to stop into Reine (thank goodness it was open today). I got one cut of a beautiful embroidered cotton batiste. I spent a lot of time fondling the Liberty of London prints, but ultimately couldn't cough up the 21,95E/metre. I took a couple of surreptitious pictures of the mannequins.

Paris, Day 5: Wednesday at Notre Dame

Though I met Karen by Notre Dame on Monday, I hadn't had the chance to go in or climb the tower. We decided that we should climb the tower (all 400 steps) first thing today while we were still fresh. It was a good call, as the steps were no problem for us, so that we could enjoy the spectacular views and getting up close and personal with the gargoyles.



Even though I had generously provisioned myself with a pain au chocolat to go with my yogurt for breakfast (approximate calorie count: 1000) I was pretty well wrung out after the climb and needed to reboot the calories. Luckily we were only a few blocks from Berthillon, probably Paris's most famous ice cream maker. I got a double cone--caramel with salt and butter and strawberry gelato. They were divine. I couldn't stop eating long enough to have my picture taken.

When packing, I was debating a little whether to actually include the eyelet BWOF skirt. I like it, but it doesn't look great with the Simplicity yoked top and having a skirt that matches only one top (the 1935 reissue) is kind of pointless. I dug deep into my closet and produced this top, from my UFO Watch 2008 project. It was perfect for the theme and looked great with the skirt. This was the first time I'd had a chance to wear it. Note that the way I posed made it snow down south. Oops.

Paris, Day 4: Tuesday at the Musee Rodin

By yesterday evening it had gotten cloudy, cool, and windy and I think I felt a little spit of rain so I wanted something that wouldn't be too chilly in the evening. It has sleeves and is a little below my knees so I decided on my Vogue DVF-knockoff for the day. This dress is very cute but easy to wear and even in wind there's no danger of flashing because the skirt is full and overlaps quite a bit. I felt very cute in my "Target" dress (the print reminds me very much of Target) and rtw hat I got from Filene's that goes with the wardrobe perfectly.

Paris, Day 3: Monday at Montmartre

Karen and I met up for some fabric shopping today. Unfortunately, it was a public holiday and Reine and its creepy half-size mannequins were closed. We did manage to sate our fabric appetites at Dreyfus, though. Here's what I was wearing (it's number 128 from the April BWOF plus section; I used a top pattern from 8/07 with the same shape in my size and the collar/scarf from the 4/08 magazine):



And here are Karen, Isabelle, and me at a cafe, taken by a very attractive waiter. I kind of wanted to ask him to take a picture with me, but that would have been weird, right? Right?

Paris, Day 2: Sunday at Versailles

I spent the morning shuttling back and forth between the airport to pick up my luggage. The first thing I did was put on sandals to go with...the Lilly Lemon knockoff! It ain't perfect, folks. I'll talk about its flaws in more detail when I get home and take photos and write it up. But from a distance and to the untrained eye, it looks pretty darn cute.



And here's the back, complete with the little bow (I think that's my favorite part):

Paris: Day 1, Saturday at the Tour Eiffel

So the apartment we've rented comes complete with a computer and high speed internet so I thought it would be fun to post my Paris wardrobe as I go. I don't have an arrival picture because my flight was an unbelievable ordeal (12 hours later I was still in New York) and I'm pretty sure you could have smelled me through the screen by the time I arrived...sans luggage.

So the first day was not part of my Paris wardrobe, but a rather cute jersey top/dress (top on her 5'7" self, dress on my 5'1" self) co-opted from one of my travel companions. It's so cute that I may have to try to copy it when I get home, if I can ever find any plain cotton or cotton blend jersey that I like. I am so fussy about it. Here I am at the Tour Eiffel. Please note the boots. They take up so much room in the suitcase that I wore them on the plane to save space. This was a decision I would come to regret after wearing them for about 30 hours straight. Please note that it was about 80 degrees in Paris. Oy.