Some Paris vintage shops

Paris! I didn't take as many pictures as I anticipated, but I do have some recommendations for you. First up: vintage shops. Paris is the very best city for vintage. You'll find everything: cheap piles of clothes, mid range vintage, consignment stores selling recent second hand from the more costly French brands, vintage paradises stocked with mignon hats and purses and a few high end am-I-allowed-to-touch-this? shops. I want to tell you about three stores in particular.

The first was Chez Mamie in the Rue de Rochechouart. The website is for two seperate shops: Mamie and Mamie Blue, located right next to one another.

The first, Mamie, is a three floor treasury. You'll find some amazing things here, but overall, we found the prices were much too steep. 100+ euros for a tiny purses with ripped sewing on the inside? Pass. The couple keeping shop looked amazing, dressed up in full rodeo mode, but weren't very sympathetic. Maybe it was us, maybe they were hungry, we'll never know. In any case, if you like rummaging and don't mind paying for what you find, you'll have a lot of fun here.

Next to Mamie is Mamie Blue. I thought it more conveniently arranged, better priced and overall more pleasant. The hat selection was particularly nice, as was the man behind the counter. He reminded me of a dandy shoemaker, all buoyant and tongue in cheeck.

I'm a little sad I couldn't get a clear shot out of that last one. On the photo is the shopkeeper and a baffling old lady, trying on all kinds of hats and accessories. She almost made a scene when she no longer found the ostrich purse she had intended to buy - turned out one of my friends had been admiring it and put it somewhere else. What's the fun in old ladies if you can't fool them once in a while, right? But seriously, if I were a rich senior citizen, this is exactly how I would spend my days. Advanced Style-ing the shit out of Paris!


Now, the last shop, Boutique Odetta at 76 rue des Tournelles, was in a different league. First of all, this is a kind of vintage concept store. A tiny vintage concept store. It sells vintage furniture, clothes, accessories and a new line of leather goods. The selection is wonderful (special edition Chanel purses, labels à la Dries Van Noten on the racks) and beautifully curated. Sadly, all of this comes with a hefty price tag attached. Also, the owner scared the bejesus out of me. I was afraid to touch anything, let alone ask if I could take pictures. I didn't even dare take pictures outside, which explains the weird angle in the following photograph. But don't let that scare you: I'm just a big fat wuss. I recommend taking a look at the excellent website before you go, that way you get an overview of what they have in stock.

Paris Winter Wonderland

Our Paris trip in a few words: pancakes, Musée d'Orsay, taking pictures of tourists (I kindly left those out), weird encounters with vulgar tour guides and hostel personnel straight out of Little Britain, endless walks, Centre Pompidou, bad cocktails, great éclairs, the best of company (shout out to my dear London boys!), battling the cold and shopping. SO much shopping. An elaborate report is on its way, but for now: pictures. Quite the heavy post, sorry about that!

5 Basic Tips for Shopping in Paris

Who doesn't love to shop in the city of light? There are few places in the world where you'll find such an enormous variety of clothes, ranging from really cheap to luxury only oil magnates can afford. The expectations can get pretty high, so I want to give you some tips to ensure a satisfying trip!

Picture courtesy of http://flybee.com

1. Come prepared

When I made plans to visit to Paris with a friend in february last year, I made a stores-to-visit list. It was the list of lists. If marriages between humans and lists were legal, I would have bought it a tux and dragged it to my city hall. I spent hours on the internet researching, scouring forums, scanning blogs. At two pages, it was a plethora of stores, ranging from very expensive to the cheapest of cheap. Vintage Chanel to flea markets: all on the list. I looked up locations on google maps, ordered the venues by arrondissement first and then by metro station.

Now I’m a former history student and a freak, and I like the process of researching. You may not want to take the effort I took, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to consider what kind of shops you want to apply yourself to. Do you want to visit the grand department stores, like Printemps, Le Bon Marché or Galeries Lafayette? Do you want vintage couture? Vintage cheap? Flea markets? Typical French brands like Maje, Sandro, Manoush? (Rue Vieilles du Temple is definitely your place to be.) If you have friends in Paris or France, tickle them until they release all of their best kept addressess. (You could always ask politely or buy them some wine, but does that really beat making them laugh until they’re crying and purple in the face? Au revoir elegance!)

Keep in mind that you most likely won’t manage to see everything you want to see. I mean, Paris is Paris. First of all there’s a humungous amount of interesting shops, scattered throughout the city. Secondly, there are so many other things to do and see! With less then two days time, we managed to visit maybe 5 stores on the list?

2. Ignore your plans from time to time

Despite everything I wrote above, leave room for improvisiation. The best discoveries are those made by accident. When I was walking through Paris with my boyfriend last year, we passed by Maeght, a gallery with a great collection of modern art prints. I discovered they also sold some cute jewelry by Del Re, an artist they were featuring. Prices were a bit above budget, but still affordable at 60 euros for a beautiful silver pendant. I regretted not buying anything, but discovered they sell them online while writing this. I’m exerting some serious self-control not whipping out the credit card here!

3. Dealing with French Shop Assistants

The French are surrounded by myths and prejudice. Most of them ridiculous, obviously: frog legs are not consumed on a daily basis, not everyone is carrying around baguettes (sadly), you will not have to pee in a hole in the ground (unless you’re planning on sleeping over in a gas station at the country side) and French women don’t shave their armpits any less than you or I do. The cliché of the haughty French lady is very much alive in some of the Paris stores, though. You never know when you will encounter one. They tend to avoid independent stores, because those rely much heavier on customer service, but these are in no way a safe zone. Anyway, you’ll easily recognise them. Their noses are turned up so bad you could fit three thick 19th century moustaches between their nostrils and their tight-lipped mouth. The look of pure disdain in their eyes will make you wonder if you maybe grew a hunchback overnight. Don't be intimidated. It's not you, and it has happened to all of us. It's not even because your French sucks. Maybe you don't look poised enough, or she has x-ray vision and noticed your blouse is from - mon dieu! - H&M. Keep your inner calm and concentrate on the goods - if they're worth it. If not, just get the hell out of there.

Gargoyles cheering Quasimodo up after he was snubbed by a nasty shop assistant.

4. Sales

The beginning of January and July in France mean one thing: sales! As anywhere, you’ll find some real steals in Paris these times of the year. Last july I bought the cutest pair of Maud Frizoni ballerinas (under the watchful eye of A Haughty French Lady) for under a 100 euros. They’re great quality, and still look spic and span, even though I’m horrible at taking care of my shoes. One piece of advice: Sunday is still the day of rest in Paris, and one of the only main streets with shops wide open is the Rue Vieilles du Temple. Do not go there. Unless you want to see some real French shopping frenzy, that is. I’m not kidding. If I would want to witness a fashionista bitch fight, this is where I'd take my chances. If ever someone would wind up in the hospital with a stiletto heel in her head, they would trace it back to this place.

5. Hydrate

While Paris food prices are okay (even in highly frequented shopping streets like the Rue Vieilles du Temple), drinks will cost you. Buy a bottle of water or soda in advance or on the road, so you don’t have to spend chunks of your precious shopping budget on all too expensive bottled source water. If you want to have lunch, you can always ask for tap water. It’s free and it’s just as good, usually. Keep in mind, I’m not telling you to skip on a good glass of wine. (I wouldn’t even dare – savouring a glass of Chianti as we speak. Woop!) Invade the Paris terrasses by all means. Just make sure the experience is worth the price. You don’t want to spend 5 euros on a coke when two more euros will buy you a glass of decent wine. If you're real lucky, you might just end up being scaffolded by John Galliano!

Picture courtesy of Solli's Lifestyle Blog

Got more? I'll be happy to hear them!

A matter of articles and prepositions

Le Bon Marché is one of those historic stores you have to have visited at least once, if not for the merchandise, then for the beautiful architecture. Most tourists visiting Paris will pass by les Galeries Lafayette, and forget about Le Bon Marché. We were at Lafayette last winter (we were lucky enough to be invited to celebrate New Year's Eve with some awesome French friends), and while the lights and the lights outside are pretty and the glass cupola is even prettier, the sheer size of the thing is a bit overwhelming. Also, it's really overcrowded. I'm not a big fan of crowds (who is?), so squeezing through tons of shopping bags to get to the MAC stand isn't my ideal shopping trip. On top of that, two incredibly arrogant Russian ladies tried to cut in line right in front of me. I'm not one for generalising, but most Russian tourists I've encountered the last few years were distant at best and downright rude at worse. What's up with that?

Anyway, none of this at Le Bon Marché. It's known for being the first department store in France. Actually, while researching it a bit just now, I discovered that it inspired Émile Zola to write 'Au Bonheur des Dames' (translated in English 'The Ladies' Delight'). (I loved Nana, so I'm going to try finding it at the library first thing tomorrow.)

The atmosphere at Le Bon Marché is one of relaxed luxury. You could probably spend an entire day here without ever getting bored. There's fabulous clothes, ranging from very very upscale to slightly more affordable; a beauty supply to guarantee you a 100 wrinkle-free lifetimes; perfume stands that feature some lovely niche brands; shoes; accessories and enough interior design to furnish a few small castles. In short, it's the epitome of a pleasant shopping experience. If you should find yourself on a subway in Paris and passing the stop Sèvres-Babylone, get out. I assure you you won't be dissapointed.



For those not so fortunate to live in Paris or visit it on a regular basis, Le Bon Marché has a namesake in Gent, called Au Bon Marché. I'll give you the adress - Hoornstraat 4 - because the shop's so old school it hasn't even got a website. It still closes for an hour at noon, too (13h-14h), so keep that in mind. In size, it's nothing like Le Bon Marché, but it gives you that same feeling of tradition and standing. That would be a little intimidating - at least it used to be to me for a lot of years - but there's too many treasures inside to let that stop you. There's lots of jewellery (bling, colourful, romantic ánd sophisticated), purses, scarfs, wallets, gloves and trinkets that'll make your heart beat faster if, like me, you're a material girl. There's also a lot of cute notebooks and diaries for more profound activities; kitchen stuff and photo frames. And the best thing of all: they've got a LOT of Annick Goutal perfumes. (They have these at Le Bon Marché as well, by the way!) I bought my very first perfume here, and last year my boyfriend gave me another one for Christmas. (Best gift ever.) The owner is sometimes nice, sometimes a wee bit stuffy, but I don't really care as long as she guarantees my sporadic romantic shopping fix.

(Pictures courtesy of http://www.100procenttravel.com/ and Zone 09)