December 23, 2024
Good morning my friends! I’m feel much more myself, after I slept 12 hours on Thursday night…
What else did I see in Paris? (do you have A MONTH?) It was subdued, more than I can ever remember seeing in December – and remember, before the pandemic, I used to go do Paris every December, so I have some frame of reference.
Maybe the most strikingly uniform thing I noticed was that probably 2/3 of the store windows were featuring party attire that was black with silver – and occasionally – gold accents. Lots of sequins or metallic threads woven in… Things like this:
Star sweatshirt – Any Old Iron; skirt – Open Edit; metallic corduroy blazer – J.Crew; tee shirt – Bluezat
It’s difficult to see in my photographs, but you’d fit right into the Paris party environment if you had a silver sequined jacket, or dress, or pretty much anything sparkly! The bottom photo was taken in BHV – the big department store just across the street from the Paris city hall. It was described as a “party capsule wardrobe” – yes, in English.
The majority of Parisian women that I saw in my neighborhood were wearing variations of four outfits. One I’m not sharing – black tights, the world’s shortest shorts (seriously, body floss…), and a jacket just long enough to leave everyone wondering if she was even WEARING shorts… Best left to someone else, I say!
But tons of jeans and sneakers, with tons of quilted coats. Most coats were black, but a close second was shades of white, ivory, bone or oatmeal.
And red scarves! Maybe a holiday season thing, but it was noticeable:
Coat – L.L.Bean; red scarf – GOBI Mongolian cashmere; ribbed turtleneck – L.L.Bean; jeans – L.L.Bean; sneakers – Nike
Women in Paris are more likely to wear a wool coat that women in Chicago – by a long stretch! I saw lots of sweatpants – I mean LOTS. And UGG boots. And knit hats – many red ones, but also pink, and pretty light blue…
In fact, the second most frequent accent color that I saw was pink. Many pink scarves. But if you wore this every day, nobody would bat an eyelash:
Every time I was in a grocery store or bodega (which was surprisingly often – almost every day; I drank liters of orange juice!), I never saw anybody local take a plastic shopping bag. Never. I saw people with them on the street – maybe 20% of the people? Canvas is where it’s at!
Speaking of wool coats, I saw tons of tweed. Much more than I EVER see in Chicago or New York! And if our heroine wasn’t wearing a bright red scarf, she was wearing burgundy, brick, or rust. Or pink, of course.
Lots of black pants, and black boots. I saw literally only a handful of really wide pants, and they were on very young people. And I saw almost no “ankle pants” which I think of as cold ankle pants… Pants covered socks, with few exceptions. Maybe it was my neighborhood, but trends weren’t a big deal…
Coat – Sam Edelman; scarf – Bellemere New York; black ponte pants – Boden; boots – Vionic; tote – Estia
Favorite store window – Kanelle Vintage. (English language website!)
I share this with no context except a love of pretty things:
But this is an opportune time to share that I saw a LOT of vintage stores, straight up second-hand stores, and consignments shops. Probably ten times as many as I’ve ever seen in Paris before. It’s clearly a thing…
The winner for best facade and windows – Samaritaine:
Inside, there’s a small gift shop (which was excellent fun!), and the rest of the retail space is the same luxury shops you find everywhere. I didn’t go up onto the roof because the security guy assured me that it was so cloudy that there was no view.
One of my favorite pieces of street art:
And other creative things hanging on exterior walls; the bottom image is of Louis XIV – the Sun King. The cross street here from the Rue de Turenne is Rue de Roi Dore – street of the gold king…
Best store facade – might be Hema, which is a Scandinavian store that sells little things – it’s hard to describe! But this time of year it’s chock full of holiday decorations and stocking stuffers… They had a pretty garland around their store sign, and the building facade was lovely enough to make it perfect.
And that weird thing to the right of the doorway, beside the street sign? It’s a water fountain – for filling bottles…
Street art that made me (literally) jump up and down with excitement? Two installations from Shepard Fairey:
You know him from at least two things – the original Barack Obama “Hope” posters, and the scarf that he designed for Echo, and that we looked at last December. I was wearing that scarf when I found both of these – it was absurdly exciting! But it all felt very much like I was the right place at the right time.
Other art that I saw everyday, because it was literally at the corner of the Rue de Turenne and the Rue de Jarente, where my hotel was located:
Speaking of my hotel (Hotel Jeanne d’Arc le Marais), I slept like the night of the dead here:
So, until your Christmas Gift Present on Wednesday, I leave you with two thoughts from Paris. The first is a lovely inclusive statement from a brand with which I was completely unfamiliar – LR3. Their landing page is more philosophy like this…
I posted this image on Instagram, but I don’t want anyone to miss this:
And my wish for your winter holiday season is that you get to sit close with a friend and sip some coffee (or hot chocolate, or tea!):
much love,
Janice
p.s. Ten years ago, I showed a couple of ways to wear a “citrus bright” winter coat. Still appropriate…
So glad you had fun in Paris, it must have been wonderful to be back there after so long. BTW, Hema is a Dutch company, not Scandinavian! It’s one of those places I remember from my childhood visiting family in Holland. Wishing you and yours and all your followers a very happy Christmas ❤️
Applause! For the statement of LR3. And for your nice report of Paris.
I wondered: HEMA is very dutch to me…. I had to be sure and looked on the Internet. It is, the Hollandsche Eenheidsprijzen Maatschappij Amsterdam (Dutch Unity prizes Company Amsterdam) since 1926.
Poster simultaneously with amandar :)
What a lovely, day-brightening post! Thank you!
Happy Holidays to everyone.
Your best post ever! I felt like I was there. Thank you! Merry Christmas.
Wish youngsters here would wear shorts over tights. Camel foot is not a good look and neither is the transparency when tights are stretched across the rear quarters.
I’m so happy that you had such a wonderful time and I’m imagining that your nearest and dearest might be opening some delightful gifts from Paris on Wednesday. 🥰.
Thank you for sharing the fashions and sights of Paris so that we could experience a little bit of it too! That water-bottle filling fountain is SO Old World Meets Modern Needs.
Thank you for your insightful observations. The street art seems to be calling us to reflect upon our direction. Let’s hope the thrift shop trend isn’t just a fad. I recently read an article about the billions of clothing items that end up in landfills. Fast “fashion” is choking the planet. I’m kind of hopeful that tweed might be making its way back into shops. Talk about a classic! I remember a brown/cream tweed coat I had as a little kid. I’m pretty sure it was worn by a few cousins and a sister before it got to me! Back to your trip: great cities are an incubator of ideas and Paris surely brings us some of the best.
Thanks for the paris update, so lovely.
Unfortunately there is 1 mistake. HEMA is Dutch, originally situated in Holland but since a couple of years also in other european countries. Everybody shops at Hema 🥰
I’m so happy everyone caught this mistake – I didn’t look up HEMA – I was just assuming, based on the vibe and general style of their merchandise. Always good to learn things!
love,
Janice
I was in Paris 2 weeks ago and was amazed at the amount of orange shown in shop windows…orange clothing, coats, scarves, eyeglasses, shoes. Everything. It will be interesting to see if orange shows up in the US this spring or next fall.
I love all that you captured with your photos! And, the classic winter outerwear stylings! Merry Christmas!
I am in very rural France and even in my little town quite a few shorts over tights in the evening. I remember back in the 60’s going out for New Year’s Eve in Northern England wearing the shortest mini dress over tights, so I can’t criticise!
Thank you for sharing this.
Extra wide pants just are not practical in winter weather – that much more fabric to get wet from rain or snow or slush, that you then have to wear the rest of the day. Also all that openness is cold!
Thank you for this juicy report! You have a wonderful eye and I enjoyed seeing what you were able to see.
Best wishes for 2025.
In a way it’s sad that Parisienne women have given up chic and stylish for dull and shabby jeans, trackies (sweatpants), trainers (sneakers), Ugg boots and quilted coats. Was there a particular age group that wore these or was it like a uniform?
Paris chic was always something to aspire to – to be well dressed no matter what your budget. To set yourself apart from the crowd. This is probably why vintage shops flourish – beautiful clothes at affordable prices.
Thank you for this post – I consider it one of my best Christmas presents
Wow….after all that I want a tweed jacket. I’ll have to keep my eye out. I’m excited for your Christmas post and so glad you had a great time in Paris.
That looks like a Wallace fountain in front of the Hema. In addition to being beautiful, they have a fascinating history. If anyone is interested, here it is:
https://wallacefountains.org/information/
Thank you for sharing your trip with us Janice, and I hope you’ll be un-jetlagged and feeling merry at Christmas time!
It is indeed a Wallace fountain – thanks for being so well-informed, and so kind as to share the link with us. I think it’s still in use – is that possible?
love,
Janice
Merci beaucoup Janice
Janice this is such a beautiful post!! I want to go to Paris again now!
Thank you!!
Yes Beth T, my thoughts (almost) I’m ok with jeans, trainers, and quilted coats, but I was quite surprised to hear about the sweatpants. WOW. That’s typical here in US, and in Seattle we even see a fair amount of flannel pj’s being worn out and about as if they were “real” pants, but I expected a little more in Paris! 😂😂 Thanks for this post – it was a joy to read.