Wardrobe Wednesday- Chanel

One of my big enjoyments in life is fashion.  I also personally think that fashion and travel go hand in hand, and that one doesn't have to get on a plane to go and visit a foreign land.  One of the best (and my favorite) examples of fashion travel would be Chanel.  My favorite Chanel collections tend to be the destination based ones like Paris-Shanghai, Paris-Edimbourg, etc.  I love pieces that take elements of different cities and incorporate them into a wearable bit of whimsy that can make you think for a second that you just might be in the location in question.  Today, I'm going to keep things a little more localized and focus on traveling to Paris via Chanel.  

There are many newer designers that I feel capture the essence of Paris through their clothing, but the most iconic encapsulation for me will always be Chanel.  It is because of the simple jersey dresses that Coco Chanel debuted in the 1920's that the Paris aesthetic of today is so sleek and modern.  Typical Parisian dress is always more relaxed and low-key with a palette that tends to lean towards versatile blacks and neutrals.  This is not the land of heavily layering bracelets or rings or any kind of accessory.  Items are carefully chosen to complement the outfit without complicating things and making them too busy and try hard.  It is because of this simplicity that I feel Chanel is so timeless and Parisian.

My other favorite thing about Chanel would be Coco Chanel herself, someone who understood that great voyages could be made without even leaving the comforts of home.  I am obsessed with Coco's apartment and its incredible mix of styles from Asia, Baroque Europe, and modern times.  Her apartment for me epitomizes just how closely related travel and fashion truly are, and how travel can inspire someone to create ethereal pieces of art that allow the owner to take a voyage for themselves, either back in time, or to another world.  I also just love Baroque or Asian-influenced style in general so for me her apartment is like a dream world!

 The Chanel designs for me always capture the opulence of Paris aside from the simplicity.  The designs themselves remain true to Coco's simpler aesthetic, but when Chanel goes ornate, it is with a capital O.  In these designs I can see the history of Marie Antoinette, the Eiffel Tower, the grand avenues, gold plated wrought iron, opulent hotels, the 20's, the 40's, all the elements that so many people seek out in Paris.  I find that fairytale Paris through fashion, since for me, that is the only place that it truly exists, in the artistic world of interpretation and imagination, and sometimes we must call on oracles like Coco Chanel and now Karl Lagerfeld to pull these places into the realm of reality.

 

Victoire's View: Paris (Neighborhoods)

When I travel, I like to get a feel for the real city that I'm visiting rather than the tourist version of the city.  Recently, I came across a discussion about how some people who have visited Paris were disappointed with what they saw because it didn't live up to the incredible fairytale-like hype that Paris has had for decades.  We've all heard about that Paris, the one where you sit at a cafe eating pastel colored macaroons watching the Eiffel Tower glitter at night and walking through rows of pink cherry blossoms on your way to the Arc de Triomphe.  That's not Paris.  I feel like too many people forget that Paris is a real, functioning city that people inhabit, it isn't Disneyland.  I find Paris very whimsical and magical, but that vibe for me has absolutely nothing to do with the Eiffel Tower or pastries.  

With that being said, I would like to talk about "my" Paris, the one that I fell in love with, and what I believe to be the REAL Paris.  I'll start with neighborhoods.  I know many people who think that the most Parisian parts of Paris are Montmartre and Invalides.  I'm not a fan of either of these areas, I just find them really cheesy and touristy rather than charming.  My substitutes for these are Saint Germain and the Marais.  Both can also be touristy (well all of Paris is touristy, it's a major city) but I find them to be so much more real.  Saint Germain is my favorite area not only because it's my old neighborhood but also because it's a great mix of the different sides that Paris has.  Half of Saint Germain is very chic and flashy, especially being so close to Invalides, but the other half is historic and weird.  Saint Germain is the land of boutiques (rather than large flagship stores), small bookshops, and tiny cafes on streets from the 1600's.  I feel the same way about the Marais but the difference is that Saint Germain has more of a balance between old and new while the Marais is more historic in my opinion. Saint Germain is probably best known for being the capital neighborhood of 60's bohemians and 20th Century bon vivants who put Café de Flore and Les Deux Magots on the map, but to me the area just has a charm to it that makes me prefer it over the other areas.  It's also incredibly central.  My friend asked me recently why I said I barely ever used the Metro while in Paris and the answer is simply because I didn't need to.  You can walk to almost everything from Saint Germain. It's bordered by Invalides (Eiffel Tower, Musée Rodin), Quartier Latin (Sorbonne, le Cluny), and Montparnasse (Catacombs). While a lot of the main sights around Saint Germain are officially in other areas, I consider a lot to still be Saint Germain. The Louvre is right across the river, Notre Dame, Jardin de Luxembourg, Jardin de Tuileries etc.  Saint Germain is an ideal home base for exploration.  

My other favorite area is Bastille.  I've said it a million times and ill say it again, I love Bastille.  As a nightlife girl, and specifically an NYC nightlife girl, I seek out places like Bastille.  It reminds me a lot of places I go to here at home (mostly I'm in the Meat Packing District) and the bars tend to have a bit of New York flair to them.  I also love the convenience of Bastille, if you get bored of one bar on Rue de Lappe, go to the one next door or across the street until you find one that suits you.  As someone who likes to do multiple bars in a night (that's the Roman in me) it's an ideal street.  I also like that the area means business, it's not filled with cafes for older couples or quiet little restaurants, these are party bars and I love it.  I like quaint restaurants and things during the day but at night I like to go all out and be with other people my age. 

Aside from the bars, Bastille is filled with historic little gems and oddities that you can find by wandering around. I remember a few years ago I found a bunch of space invaders graffitied on a random building, I love things like that!  Bastille just has a vibe that I go for, I know it might not be for everyone but for me it's amazing.  I always remember being on the metro with my Parisian friend who told me "Every time I see someone who's oddly dressed, they get off at Bastille"

Other areas I find charming-

- Canal St Martin (so many great restaurants!)

- Île Saint Louis 

3 Days in Paris

While in London, my friend and I planned a short getaway to Paris.  This was my first time taking the EuroStar and I was surprised by how quick it was!  We were in Paris in about 2 hours and set out to explore Saint Germain, my old neighborhood, the first day.  It was ridiculously hot, as they were experiencing a heatwave at the time, but it was still great to be back in Paris wandering around.  

Le Bon Marché department store hiding behind the trees

I did a bit of shopping at Zara, and then we went to Le Bon Marché, which I love.  It was pretty empty at the time, and air conditioned (I would have been happy to move in there at that moment to be honest, the heat was killing me) and I love to wander around the maze-like boutiques that surround the main floors.  It's just such a different store, it reminds me of being in the 1960's and 80's all at the same time.

Notre Dame

Lunch at Café Buci

Down the Rabbit Hole...

After our day exploring Saint Germain, we decided to stick with that area for nightlife as well since it's the area I know the best aside from Bastille.  We thought Bastille would better be conquered the following day when we had had a proper rest (we had to be up at 5:30am to get the train from London to Paris).  First, we went to Cafe le Petit Pont, across from Notre Dame.  The place is pretty touristy but we went because my friend told me she had gotten flaming mojitos there once (they put some kind of big sparkler in the drink) so we wanted them, but sadly they didn't seem to have them!  We got regular mojitos instead

Afterwards, we headed over to one of my favorite bars, The Long Hop, because that was much more of a party bar.  It was just how I remembered it except that they now have a Foosball table where they used to set up beer pong.  We had a good night there and got a bunch of glow sticks for our drinks so that kind of made up for missing the flaming mojitos!

The following day, we went to Montmartre since it is my friend's favorite area in Paris.  Honestly, I cannot stand Montmartre.  It's out of the way, overloaded with tourists and cheesy tourist shops, and just not the real Paris to me.  I feel like it's like Times Square, it's just not really a representative of the real city.  There's also a lot of sketchy characters who hang out there and we had our own bit of a run in with some, but I'm not going to go into detail on that.  So anyway, Montmartre really isn't my favorite place, but it makes for some great pictures!

Lunch in Pigalle

Sacré Cœur and views of Paris

Back Streets

Down the Rabbit Hole...

For our second night out, we got to do the one thing I had been wanting to do the most in Paris- go out in Bastille.  I've talked before about my love for the area, I just always have such a good, wild time when I go out there,  I love it.  We headed over to Rue de Lappe, which is a street completely filled with bars, and decided on a place called Charlotte Bar.  I was intrigued because my guinea pig is named Charlotte!  and also because the bars on Rue de Lappe change pretty frequently, I had never been to this one.  It reminded me a lot of New York style bars, it had air conditioning (my elation was unmatched when I found this out) and inside the look was very modern red and black decor mixed with massive wall collages of all types of iconic pop culture images.  The music was mostly American hip hop which isn't really my style but we met some great people and had a fun night

 

Jay Z and Kanye above the bar

The ceiling!

Epic awesome wall

After Charlotte Bar was Balajo (which I believe used to be called Balajo Latino), a place I know but had never actually been to before.  The inside is really hard to describe, they had these weird decorations on the wall that were like things out of one of those Halloween fun houses.  It was such a surreal experience!  I don't have any pics from there as it was really late at night and we were wrapping things up, but it was interesting!

A bit of whimsy at home after a long night

The next day was our last, so we didn't do much, but we grabbed lunch at a cafe at the end of our street called La Barrique, and they literally had the best cheeseburger I have ever had in my life!  Definitely recommend it!

Vintage Vault- A Visit to the World's Fair, 1940

Ford Pavilion

I'm lucky enough to have an extensive collection of old photographs from both of my grandmothers.  My Nana (Marie) was born in 1916, and my Grandma (Sophie) was born in 1920, so the photos that I have go back quite some time.  The oldest two I would say I have are of my great-grandmother in 1912 and my grandma at age 3 in 1923.  Naturally, with such a large collection of vintage photos, you're bound to stumble across snaps from iconic cultural and historic events.  For me, this includes many WW2 photos of my grandfathers and great uncles (as well as every single letter that my Nana and Grandpa wrote to each other during the war- she saved them all, and I now have them), and any random trips that they went on.  My Nana actually had a real passion for photography, I remember once I found a box in her house that was filled with just about every major camera model from the 1950s to modern day.  She had everything, and when I asked her why she had so many she simply said, "I like them".  My Nana would photograph a lot of random things, and I know what my father's (Nana is my father's mother) childhood home looked like in great detail because Nana would photograph all the furniture when no one was home.  She loved documentary type photos while my grandma mainly took pictures of family and friends, etc.  While going through some of Nana's old photos recently I came across a set that was clearly something very grand and important, but I had no idea what it was because unfortunately, my Nana never labeled anything.  I think I have maybe 3 photos of hers that actually have a date written on the back, and that's it. So anyway, I decided I would try to investigate the building in the picture by Google-ing as many details about it as I could find relevant.  It turns out that the photos I have recently found are from the 1939/1940 New York World's Fair!  

From what I have read and researched, the theme of the 1940 fair was "the Future", and many of the exhibits had very Metropolis-like art deco decorations on the exterior buildings.  I love the photo above of the Ford pavilion with the robotic Apollo or whichever god it's supposed to be, it's such weird 1940's nonsense!  Apparently one of the areas at the fair was a transportation area where many of the major car manufacturers had showrooms for new models.

General Motors Pavilion (I think the man posing is one of my great uncles bc I have a lot of pictures of him, but because of the no labeling I can't be sure.  He's related to me somehow! lol)

The photo below shows a huge mural on the wall of an exhibition hall that matches the same futuristic look as the Ford man.  I love this type of artwork!

Entrance showing the tram car that took visitors around

British Pavilion

Trylon and Perisphere 

 The Perisphere (round building) was apparently home to a "World of Tomorrow" exhibit!

USSR Pavilion

My Nana, the photographer

I plan to do more "Vintage Vault" posts like this, I think next will be my grandpa's photos from Japan during WW2 when he stayed in a really nice hotel!  Oh, and my Paris post is coming soon, I haven't forgotten!  

More info on the 1939/1940 World's Fair

Paris Preview

Lili in London (Part 2)

East End Adventures

I love the East End.  It really fits my personality and it's what I picture in my head when I think "London".  I first ventured into this part of the city on a Jack the Ripper tour, since I have been fascinated by the Ripper case for almost my entire life.  I was even Jack for Halloween one year!  I was really excited to get to go and see the streets where everything happened, and was surprised by what actually survived from that time.  While I know the story of Jack the Ripper extensively well, what I was surprised by on the tour was the area.  The tour went through Whitechapel, since that is where Jack was active during his time, and I just loved the vibe of the place.  I went down small alleys and back streets, and also past Spitalfields Market and the assortment of bars and shops around it, and I just fell in love.  The area has so much character, it somehow feels like the 1800's and 1960's both left permanent tattoos on this arm of the city and together it has made for a rather unique piece of artwork.  The window in the pictur above I just loved, it's so weird and 60's mod yet it also looks so 19th century!  To me, that embodies the East End.  I would love to revisit London one day and spend the majority of my time in this area.

Need I say more?

 

 Mitre Square, location of a Ripper murder

The Tower of London

As someone who loves ghosts and ghost tours etc, I was super excited to finally get to see the Tower of London!  Sadly, I didn't see any ghosts that day, but I really enjoyed wandering the property and learning all the stories from the tour guide.  I liked that you had the option to wander around by yourself or take the tour (for no extra charge) and could leave at any time.  I stayed with the guided tour until I felt that I had a good knowledge of what I was looking at, then branched off to go into the individual buildings.

The White Tower

 

 The famous ravens!

Inside the White Tower, an armory museum

Tower Bridge

Modern London