BonjourParis

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It's not that I think all things French are the best in the world.  I think the best things in the world are, uh, the best things and they come from all over. In fact, that's why I wrote a book about it—Where to Buy the Best of Everything.

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Want a fast, easy and fun shopping experience outside of Paris? Recently, Nuit Blanche Tours went on a fun weekend excursion to Brussels, and we discovered a magnificent shopping find: the department store HEMA (pronounced Hey-Ma). Travelers could also do this trip in a day.

La Belle Ecole is a marvelous idea – an organization which provides varying courses on the art of French living.  If any ‘art of living’ required classes, it would be the French, as quality and subtlety of taste is key.  Perhaps Japanese art of living would also become quite refined and academic, but the point is that here the classes are fun.  It was difficult to choose from the courses offered, as there were also intimidating options such as Chocolate and Cheese tasting that I’m sure would have been really challenging.  But I was drawn to this course on “French Gastronomy: the Market Menu: Winter” because during these cold months there isn’t anything like a home- (or school-, as it were) cooked meal.

I’m on the look out for an Asian woman in a grey puffa. It is how Susan Lu, the woman behind the brand new label, Bend Sport Couture, described herself in a scrawled email. Turns out Susan is entirely too self-deprecating. I spot her in an instant, rushing across the road, slim-line, knee-length grey parka draped over a gorgeous silvery knit, charcoal silk Japanese-style slip and chocolate brown cords. Her skin is clear, her sleek black hair straight from a L’Oreal hair commercial and her manners impeccable. She is, in other words, exactly the type of stylish, elegant woman one can imagine launching her own sport-meets-style fashion label to immediate industry interest.

It’s Paris fashion week. All around town trip stylishly-clad, slender young models, shopping, eating and gossiping between shows. But on this sunny September Saturday, it is an entirely different breed of fashion event that has snared my attention. For starters the models (though edibly cute) are a good deal shorter, younger and – it would seem – hungrier: the excitable mini guests ravage a wheelbarrow full of French bon bons in a way that no clothes hanger-esque fashionista would dare. Of course when said guests are hyperactive toddlers at the opening of a hip Parisian children’s nightwear boutique, Le Marchand d’Etoiles, the picture comes in to sharp focus.

From Los Angeles to New York to Paris, fashion industry veteran Amy Lassalle has paid her dues and learned her trade, opening and managing key stores for such prestigious companies as Kenzo, Barbara Bui, Fendi, Bonpoint, and Kenneth Cole.  Now, this top retailer – who also was a personal shopper for tourists - and mother of three has opened her own boutique in the heart of Paris.  In partnership with the founders of Le Marchand d’Etoiles clothing line (in English, The Star Merchant), Lassalle opened, focusing on the soft, beautiful things that truly provide a child with “sweet dreams”. 

By now you’ve seen the Fall trends, right? Wrong. Take another look, Paris-style.