Bon Appétit

Enjoyed lunch on the top of Printemps department store today and what a view. 360 degree view of Paris from right in the centre of it. Got my first proper look at the Eiffel tower since i've been here as well. Isn't it a beauty?  Feels more like a holiday than work with this sunny weather. 

I spy with my little eye something beginning with E... 

The rooftops of Paris.

On the other side of the terrace you can see over to Montmartre and the Sacre- Coeur where my little studio is nestled. 

Bon Appétit.

Printemps

I popped in to Printemps for a spot of (window) shopping after work. I am in desperate need of a new mascara so I thought I would treat myself to one from a belle french beauty brand. How could I not find the above display by YSL absolutely charmant? I have had my eye on their new babydoll mascara, advertised by non other than 'it' girl of the moment Cara Delevigne for a while now but it was 29.50. Beautiful as the gold casing and the pink scribble of 'babydoll' is I couldn't justify it. 

So I wandered over to Lancome and my BFF Alber Elbaz.

10/10 to whoever had the idea for that collaboration. Who wouldn't want to buy anything associated with the cutest little man in fashion, creator of the most beautiful dress the eye can behold, now creator of the packaging for the cutest mascara your eyelashes can hold. Sadly these were even more expensive than the YSL mascara and so I left Printemps empty handed.

Walking back to my appartment something really exciting happened. Someone stopped me and asked me for directions in french. This must mean I looked like a Parisian, looked like a local, looked like I would know which way a certain road was. Bubble was burst when I had to apologise and explain I was english and didn't know where anything was.. Just give it time and I'll get there! 

Who's Next

I was pretty excited today when I was told I could accompany Ardika to the Who's Next Pret-à-Porter Trade show. I have never had the chance to go to a fashion trade show before but I've been told before how important they are for designers, buyers, retailers so this was pretty exciting. 

I had to pretend to be Christelle and having been refused on one door for having no ID to prove myself (felt like a 17 year old again, not fun) was luckily waved through at another entrance.

The trade fair basically showcases designers of everything from menswear, womenswear, accessories, to lingerie and swimwear, and it is huge like nothing I have ever seen before (except Glastonbury). I think unless you have a clear idea of what it is you are looking for then it is very easy to wander around for hours and after a while things start to look the same. 

These are a few things that caught my eye... 

It amazes me how these designers can compete with one another or with the big name designers that are already so well known. I saw one stand and it was so-chanel it was ridiculous. You have to wonder how they are going to be able to compete with such an iconic brand by producing clothes that are almost the same yet lacking in the same history, lacking the very essence of what puts a brand like Chanel in a league of it's own.  

I suppose that is where the name of the trade show comes from... Who's next? 

Lambert + Associates

Today was my first day at work with Lambert and Associates- a company that deal with fashion buying between department stores worldwide and designers in Paris. They work with Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Fenwicks, to name a few and have offices in Paris, London, New York, Florence and Milan. Pretty awesome, n'est pas? 

Even office buildings in Paris have so  much more glamour than those in London. It's like stepping into something out of a movie scene, you almost expect an elegant lady dressed in Dior from the 1950s to come floating down the stairs. And if the building wasn't good enough, I was offered coffee as soon as I got into the office. These are my kind of people... 

View from the office. Magnifique. 

Une petite anglaise à Paris

On the 17th November 1993 I was born in Paris. 

And now I'm back. 

Okay, this isn't the first time I have been back to Paris since then but this time it is for 5 weeks, and i'm a lot older, and i'm going to be working, and exploring the city all by myself. Anyone who knows me knows that that I have been obsessed with Paris since forever. I suppose since I was born here! I have canvases in my room of the Eiffel Tower, a map of Paris on my wall, the Eiffel Tower on my necklace, countless items of clothing relating to Paris and/or France etc. So for me to be living here is kind of crazy and almost like a dream come true. And if that weren't good enough the reason that I am here is for an internship with a top fashion company, and everyone knows my second favourite thing after Paris is fashion. So to be working for a fashion company in Paris is extremely exciting and finally it is happening. I am moved in to my petite studio à Paris and I start work at 9.30 tomorrow morning. 

Paris is known as the city of love. I think having been here now 24 hours I can see why. It is so very easy to fall in love with this city. Yesterday I sat down in a cafe with a warm baguette, ordered an orangina and within minutes there is an old lady playing the accordian. So french, so perfect. If only my french was so french and so perfect...

Even the underground system looks chic and Parisian. I think it will making getting on a train at 9am tomorrow morning a bit more bare able for someone who is not usually a morning person. I've also scoped out where I will get my morning pain au raisin on the way to the office. 

Parfait. 

Architecture Project

I just completed a two week project on architecture. If you've been following my blog for a long time you'll notice that I touched on architecture in the exploratory stage and my week of fashion and textiles then. I looked then at New York architecture, hyper modern, angular, glass. Click the link to see that post: Xhttp://libertelibellulelamour.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/fashion-textiles-day-3.html

I loved the angles and strength in the structure of that piece but I wanted to do something different for this new project so I chose to look at Italian Architecture. I created a concept board of images to inspire me for this project. I am very fortunate to have been able to travel around Italy and so all the photos used in my concept board (excluding the fashion images) were taken by me. 

I think the architecture of Italy is absolutely beautiful. There is such intricate detailing in the structure of the buildings and in their adornment. I think the designer in me that loves structure and silhouette felt compelled to take this old architecture and retain the sense of detailing and intricacy but yet update with a more modern feel. I have come to realise that this is what interests and inspires me in design; updating the old with the new. Below is my design development board, showing how I have taken my inspirations and developed these into a final garment. 

This is the first solid garment that I have made yet this year so that was an exciting and complex prospect but one which I think worked out quite well. I used the artist within me to get the papery drawn look similar to my trials on photoshop, by painting onto fabric and then drawing over that, before finally sewing the whole garment together. The detailing and structure of the italian architecture has been kept but the minimalism in the colour and the angles in the shapes bring this into the 21st century. 

I wanted my photo shoot for the garment to link back to the initial inspiration images and to actually show some of the architecture which had inspired the dress. I wanted to used the idea of symmetry to reflect that of architectural drawings which was central to the design of the dress, and also edit the photos so that they looked almost drawn or painted themselves. I chose to focus the styling on renaissance style. These were my final images: 

What do you think? Could I be joining the design team at Dolce and Gabbana anytime soon? 

Accessories Project

We did a two week project based around the idea of taking an everyday household object and making an accessory from this. The emphasis was on something interesting, directional, creative, and not a junk project.

I chose to use wire, partly for its interesting aesthetic and it's flexibility, and also because I like the idea of modern technology taking over our lives and using the wire as a means of visualising this idea.

I filled a sketchbook with design ideas, experiments, inspirations etc. and at the end of we had to create a pitch board to "sell" our accessory.

This details some of my design work along the way and the concept of my piece. I chose to create a more avant garde, less wearable accessory. As a conceptual piece I think it was effective and it reflects the idea of our brains being taken over by modern technology. The strength in the colour of the wire almosts acts as a warning which I think is quite nice. 

I then did a photo shoot of my accessory using my sister. I wanted this to be bold and for the background to contrast the curves in the wire and to make it stand out. Below are the final two images I chose. 

I love the clashing of the colours and the contrast in the angular lines and the curves of the wire. The lack of colour in the model emphasises the idea of technology draining us. Not too bad for someone who is pretty amateur with photoshop! What do you think?