fashionable betting

ok, so we all know plenty of online time-wasters, from reading up on the starlets of tomorrow on celebrity baby blog to checking out the daily offerings on shefinds or dailycandy. well, i've just read about an even bigger, more interactive time waster-- the fantasy fashion league. similar to the fantasy football stuff american men have been playing for years, you sign up, join a team, and set about predicting which designers will get the most 'play' at events like the oscars and emmys. the motivation? besides getting you through a slow friday afternoon at work, the winner gets a $1000 dollar shoe shopping spree at zappos.com.

build-a-bear parisian style

you've seen it in malls across the US-- the cute store that lets you create your very own teddy by picking out his fur, his stuffing, adding a little satan heart, and then watching him get stiched up and come to life. well, enfin, this cuddly concept has arrived in the city of light. galeries lafayette has opened a bulid-a-bear workshop in its haussman store in paris. and if your child should ever loose his/her cherished teddy, the bear has a barcode inside to make sure it gets back to its rightful owner. ahhhh, the comfort of technology.

chic must: sushiland

now this is customer service-- a new sushi resto opened in my 'hood, and we tried it a few months after it opened. since we have the baby, we decided to see if they do take out, which is rare in paris. sushiland (154 rue Faubourg St. Antoine, 12th; 014.46.28.03.22) happily obliged, had our order ready within minutes, included all the relevant condiments, etc., and gave us free beers because our order was to go [often, in France, you pay a cheaper price for things that you take out-- they gave us free drinks instead, which was fine.] food was great too, which makes it all the nicer. went back again by myself last week for the second time, and not only did the guy recognize me and baby lucie, but sat us down, gave me tea and muchies while he prepared the order! vive la sushiland!

chic bust: airfrance airport lounge

so i am a bit obsessed with baby-friendly things at the moment, but i guess that's what happens when you become a new parent.... anyway, baby lucie had her first trip to the US last week. on the way there, we enjoyed the air france business lounge at the de gaulle airport. decent spread of breakfast goodies, nice chairs, etc. overall, not a bad place to wait for your flight. unless you have a cranky baby. who needs to be changed. would there be a baby changing station anywhere nearby? of course not! do they have showers for weary business travellers? sure. would they have something as simple as a foldable changing station that easily mounts on the wall in the bathroom? no! my husband claims that this is because the lounge is really for 'business travellers'-- but i have to say, there were plenty of kids there and babies have to pay to fly too [lucie even has her own frequent flyer card]....

chic bust: inconvienient baby shopping at Okaidi and BHV

ok, we'd assume that those who design stores for babies and kids would have their parents in mind as well, right, as we are the ones with the wallets!? not so....the other day in okaidi [next to square trousseau, paris 12th], i had my 3 month old in a baby carrier. i waltzed in to the big chain store to peruse their baby clothes. not only did i have to walk through the entire 'big kids' department, but then i had to go down to the basement to see the baby stuff. a bit annoying with the baby carrier, as this baby is getting heavy! [the first time i went into the store i had the stroller with me, got annoyed that the baby department was downstairs, and left!] this time, once downstairs, i begin to realize that i'm getting a backache looking at the clothes-- and i realize that it's because the baby clothes have all been hung at baby height-- i.e., 2 feet off the ground! --bending constantly while trying to keep your baby from falling out of the baby carrier, not a fun thing. and what kind of baby would be down there looking at clothes him/herself anyway? baby lucie is very fashionable, but it will be a while before she is checkng out the racks herself....

and now on to BHV, which i frequent regularly. BHV is in the midst of a major renovation, moving thier departments all around, renovating others, etc. so yeah, it is harder to get around that usual with the stroller. but not only did they make the special kiddie/nursery bathroom a 'public' bathroom [meaning that there is always a huge line now], they also moved their baby stuff from the 2nd up to the 5th floor! now, i've practiced taking the stroller up the escalator a bunch, but 5 flights is a bit much... and even if i had a child who was walking, it would be tiresome dragging him/her through the entire store.

would the store designers out there think about making things baby/mommy friendly? after all, moms buy for baby and but also for themselves....and goodness knows that we need all the help we can get when trying to drag a baby around the city to go shopping!

chic must/ chic bust

after living in paris for 3+ years, i've come to see customer service [or lack thereof] and either a "bust," someplace to completely avoid, or a "must," someplace where i'm sure to get the customer service i deserved for my hard-earned euros....with that in mind, i'm going to post on the musts/busts of my daily life in paris, a vous de jouer.....

"vintage" at printemps

as we have seen in countless magazines featuring mk olsen & sadie frost, vintage is big this fall. so instead of scouring the racks of musty duds at your thrift store, you might opt for an easier (albeit, less fun) route. printemps, one of the big grands magasins in paris, has taken the dirty work out of vintage shopping. their expo, tresors vintage, features patent leather bags and shoes, jackets in worn-in velvet, and embroidered 70s looking duds. from sept. 8 to oct. 8, printemps haussman, 64 blvd haussman, 9th.

your own personal sneaker

ok, so monograms are big-- i mean, in the US last christmas, every little thing from a keychain to a ll bean boat-and-tote to a bathrobe could be found with a big swirly monogram. what is the obsession with having something [or everything?] with your initials on it? maybe it's because it looks chic-er-- like it was made just for you, or at least you had put your mark on it somehow. monograms make something ordinary look unique, or at least a bit different from your neighbors. nike now introduces a way for the bold (and those with a modicum of style sense) to go one step further-- nike id allows you to custom choose the colors and design of your bag/watch/shoes to make something truly unique. top it off with your initials, bien sur, and you have an originial piece of fashion history. at least until they go out of style, that is.

chic sports gear

in the US, former models design yoga & exercise gear for brands such as puma-- in france, they go one step further and have real fashion gurus designing the stuff. nathalie rykiel, daughter of grande dame of fashion sonia rykiel, and famous in her own right for her chic sex-toys sold alongside her titilating lingerie, introduces her version of comfy, elegant yoga and pilates gear. the line is called karma rykiel body & soul, and features yummy items as cashemire wrap sweaters, silk jersey workout pants, and even yoga mats. so the truly chic will never have to sacrifice style for good karma. opens sept. 15 at 6, rue de grenelle, paris 7th.

post-baby blogging

as some astute chic shopping fans have noticed, i've been on a bit of a hiatus this summer--well, more of a maternity leave, actually- after the birth of chic bebe lucie. lucie is now 11 weeks old, and finally allowing her mum some time to get back to the blogosphere, so stay tuned for more regular updates on shopping and customer service in the city of light....

up&coming designer sale in montmartre

those-in-the-know know that there are several up&coming designers in the montmartre area of paris....and the best way to discover them all is coming up at a sale from 16-19 june. check out local favorites such as pamp'lune [for kids], gaspard de la butte [women's fashion], emmanuelle zysman [accessories], anis, patricia louisor, and futurware lab, all on sale! a taste of the sales before the big sales.....

location: paroisse de saint-jean de montmartre [access from the rue andre antoine], place des abesses, 18th arrondisement, from june 16-19.

closing of a paris shopping temple

la samaritaine department store, built in 1905 on the banks of the seine at pont neuf, will be closing for at least 6 years, it announced yesterday. apparently the structure of the building is in such bad shape that it will need 3 years to study the structure and another 3 to update and make renovations. so shoppers beware, as of june 15, you'll have to cross the samaritaine off your list. tant pis-- and just before the sales!

the soldes!!

Dreaming of investing in a classic French handbag or drooling over a cute little dress in that left bank boutique? This is the time to go bargain-hunting in Paris. Shops, department stores, and boutiques all over France will be celebrating in the soldes, the government-regulated sale period that takes place twice a year. (Note that sale dates differ by region; dates above are specifically for Paris.) Prices are first dropped by 20-30% and decrease as the weeks go by, often ending up at 70% off the original price. Chic Shopping Paris’ advice: get to the stores early for the best selection; try the items on before the sale period (if possible) to save yourself time during the sale; and dress in layers—fitting room lines are often horrendous and shops are often overheated. Bon shopping!

The details: from 24 june to 23 july [about 6 weeks long] at shops, boutiques, and department stores all over Paris

paris faves?

do you have a favorite paris boutique, museum, or performing arts place? i am in the midst of updating a travel guide on paris, and with a city this size, it is nearly impossible to narrow down the choices! so if you have faves, put up a post and let us know!

chic & cheap at h&m

after lagerfeld's outstanding success designing a line for cheap chic emporium h&m, designer stella mccartney has been tapped to do the same this november.....so mark your calendars, girls, and get ready to line up. [i went to one of the paris branches of h&m on the day lagerfeld's collection launched, and for the most part, it was gone within hours.] happy shopping!

heures d'ouverture [or should i say 'fermature'??]

for the most part, life in france isn't that hard to get used to-- retail wise, that is. there are, however, just a few things that would make life oh-so-much easier for those of us who are errand- and shopping- obsessed.

if they asked me how to give the french retail economy a boost, my first idea would be to make all lunch closing hours the same. now, i don't mean that there should be some big legislation on when merchants can and cannot close-- we already have plenty of red tape going on here in france-- but it would be nice, say, if merchants would talk to their neighbors and just kind of agree to all keep the same hours. this would clear up mountains of confusion for the working folks who try to squeeze in an errand or two after lunch, and it would cut down on frustration too. i walked to a shop on the other side of my arrondisement the other day at 2.15pm, thinking i was safe from the dreaded lunch hour closed door. no luck. they didn't open back up until 2.30pm. now, if this wasn't a rainy day and i weren't 7+ months pregnant, i would've waited it out. instead, i huffed and puffed my way home, vowing never to go back. the worst part was that all the surrounding shops were open.

the other big debate is sunday shopping... after being here for 3 years, i 'd like to think that i've gotten used to nearly everything being closed on sunday, but i haven't. it is just plain frustrant to want to be able to get some groceries or drop off the drycleaning on a sunday afternoon, and not be able to. even a half day on sunday would do, and i swear businesses would boom. just look at the few sundays a year when the shops are open, during the sales. stores are packed, customers happy and shiney. so please, someone out there, think towards the future, towards keeping the little shops open....or we will all be forced to drive out to the burbs to go to the huge hypermarche that is open 7/7.

provencal fabrics at l'isle sur la sorgue
Posted by Hello

marche at l'isle sur la sorgue
Posted by Hello

the chic shopper does provence

Along with fabulous food, inviting sunshine, and chilled rosé wine, Provence holds many treasures for the shopper. Before your trip, check the website of the ville you are visiting or stop by the tourist office when you arrive to get the weekly marché schedule—markets in Provence are particularly inviting and are a bargain hunter’s delight.

At the markets, you’ll find great deals on everything from handmade soaps [including the famous savon de Marseille] and lavender sachets & bouquets to gorgeous Provencal fabrics by the meter and made up into table clothes, baguette holders, pillows and more. The south of France is also the place to stock up on Provencal pottery with its bright colors and patterns and the santon figurines that are used in Christmas nativity scenes.

Don’t forget to leave some room in your carryon for the delicieux artisanal jams, pestos [called “pistou” in these parts], and tapenades—all the yummy flavors of the south, packaged for you to enjoy later chez vous or at an impromptu picnic. Large bags of herbes de provence, a blend of several different herbs used in Provencal cuisine, also make great gifts.

Other regional foodie specialties include calissons from Aix-en-Provence [diamond-shaped sweets made from preserved melon and almonds], Avignon’s papalines [oregano liqueur chocolates], and Carpentras’ berlingots [hard candies in various flavors]. Olive oil is also a big production in this region, along with wine [especially rosé], and liquorish-flavored Pastis.

To carry it all home? Buy a traditional market basket with leather handles or some of the newer versions in fun, bright colors. And if you aren’t over your weight limits yet, snatch up a set of Petanque [or “boules”] to play in your yard when you get back, to remind you of the laid back lifestyle in this part of France.

the scents of paris

Paris has long been known for its famous perfumes—and, indeed, it is probably one of the most purchased souvenirs from the City of Light. While you can find a wide range of the popular names at the grands magasins (or even at duty free!), the off-the-beaten-path perfumeries hold scented treasures that are not to be missed.

In the left bank’s St. Germain area, start with cult-status favorite Iunx (48-50 rue de l'Université, 7th), which sells over 60 unique fruity and woodsy fragrances that you won’t find all over town. Touch a button or lever to spritz the scent into the air or try one of the sniffing stations in this sleek modern boutique. Looking for something a bit more traditional? Stop into the bourgeois boutique Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier (84bis rue de Grenelle, 7th) to sample some intoxicating fragrances, inspired by travel and nature and using only the highest quality ingredients. An added bonus? They also sell beautiful gloves, in honor of the 17th century tradition of a king’s advisor selling both items to tout Paris.

For some more interesting olfactory research, pop over to Frederic Malle (37 rue de Grenelle, 7th). Monsieur Malle considers himself an “editor” of perfumes and has gathered nine top noses to create scents under his brand, Editions de Parfums. The vendeuse in the shop will ask you about your current fragrance habits, the type of scents you like, etc., and will then propose a few perfumes for you to try. Don’t get too excited though—while the scents are strong and very unique, you probably won’t be allowed to smell them all, for fear of contaminating your nez.