La Coquette

Lily Allen at Chanel SS10

Chanel S10, Lily Allen
envoyé par Efourmont. - Regardez plus de courts métrages.

La Mode, La Mode

Let’s not bury the lead.  My big scoop of the day is that I met Dries Van Noten’s dog.  He’s an Airedale Terrier, and his name is Harry.  (Sadly I did not meet Dries, but if I ever do, I’ve got my icebreaker.)

Lindsay Lohan's first show as “creative director” of storied French house Emanuel Ungaro was today.  WWD called it an embarrassment.  I can see how people feel their intelligence is insulted by the choice.  But I don’t think the clothes were as embarrassing as they could have been.  (Change the neon color palette in the first looks to upmarket beiges and greys, and how is it different from all those other bandage dresses on the runway?  Who was expecting originality?)

The newsworthy moment for me is that Lohan was crying when she took her bow.  I could almost hear the creaking around me, as Botoxed eyebrows raised like curtains. It seemed sad.  Maybe she doesn’t get a lot of opportunities to do things that mean something to her anymore.

I could write a whole post about the strange things I ate today in an effort to avoid crumbling to curb level with the pigeons. I walked and rode the metro to six different show locations – I was always starving.  Luckily, in Paris, there are always pastries at hand. I have never had so many pastries in one day in my life.

The Tuileries / Louvre / Place Vendome were swarming with "people" as the French say.  (Saw Erin Fetherston in Lanvin sunglasses, and then minutes later, the Rodarte sisters on rue Saint-Honoré.)  Hoofing it from the Louvre to Place Vendome for Dries, I looked up and saw this:

I wish I could have zoomed in to hear their conversation and see who they were, but alas my Robert Altman powers were useless, so we can only imagine what was happening up there.  So cinematic.  
 

Over in the 17th, at Givenchy, I was completely mesmerized by the Lycée Carnot, a venue I’ve always loved, and the shiny locks of Margherita Missoni, who was en face (in the red and black skirt in the photo below).  I tried to get a video that captured the splendor of both things, but in the end my video is terrible, since the show took place as dusk fell.  I will admit that with all my camera fiddling, I realized how good the clothes were only at the end.  This is the problem with recording, you end up not watching with your own eyes. 

But what an exciting collection.  I talked to some very happy retailers leaving the show. 

Givenchy S10
envoyé par Efourmont. - Films courts et animations.

Beigbeder does stand-up

Prix de Flore-winning author Frédéric Beigbeder may have a second calling as a film comedian.  I see him in a Judd Apatow boy-man type role, with a dose of French swagger. Last night was Paris’s first Literary Death Match, a throw-down organized by Opium magazine where authors read their work in competition before a live audience and jury.  It started late because Beigbeder had gone temporarily missing, and then we were all shocked (and maybe not so shocked), when Beigbeder got up and announced that he had forgotten to bring his book; he was too drunk to compete; and anyway, he wouldn’t compete against a woman.  Especially one as beautiful as Max Monnehay. 

Beigbeder does stand-up
envoyé par Efourmont. - Futurs lauréats du Sundance.

Translation:

I’m sorry I forgot my book, but anyway you can find it sort of everywhere right now.  So, I’m absolutely not going to fight against Max Monnehay; who I don’t know; who I met just a moment ago, and… she is very beautiful.  And I think it would be too bad to have a falling out before we even get to know each other.  Don’t you think?  Bonsoir. (Girl from audience hands Beigbeder a copy of his latest book.)  Incredible!  They’re going to think this is a set up.  (Taking off his jacket.)  They’re going to think I planned the whole thing, as if I were a sort of Machiavelli of modern times, as if, when turning around, it wasn’t at all planned what was written on my back.  (His shirt says “Zadig et Voltaire” a rock and roll French brand which I assume is named after Voltaire’s novel about Babylonian philosopher Zadig.  If there’s a joke here I don’t get it).  (Opening book.)  Well, okay, but wait my speech was better than this.

Everyone laughed, even if my female friends found his gallantry with Monnehay irksome, and also, typically French. Monnehay, who was arguably disadvantaged by age and experience, presumably signed on aware of her underdog role, and aware that the whole thing was a semi-spoof, and yet, hoping for some element of challenge.  Beigbeder was too busy attending to his performance to think that his stepping down would patronize her?

Still, it was a funny sort of vaudevillian vamp.  As jury member and writer David  Foenkinos pointed out, Beigbeder’s most magic talent may be that he can talk about absolutely nothing for eight minutes, and still entertain.

"Chacun ses people, hein?!"

I am really enjoying lovely Geraldine’s tweets from London fashion week.  But maybe you have to know how lucid and composed Geraldine generally is to feel tickled when she gets so emballé par Gwyneth Paltrow?  ("On attend Gwyneth. GWYNETH!!! (Chacun ses people, hein?!")  Nah. 

Also enjoying Lauren’s post about literary events in Paris this week. Tonight?  Literary Death Match!

Foreign Tongue

Vanina Marsot’s wonderful first novel, Foriegn Tongue, is about a French American woman translating an erotic novel in France.  As someone who grew up with both languages, Marsot has always been interested in the limitations and freedoms that are unique to either one.  She explained in a France 24 interview this week that the novel was a “fun playground for me to ruminate on those differences.”

A compulsive read for translation theorists, and French language lovers at any level, here's one of my favorite passages:

“How do you translate ‘séduire’?  In English, ‘to be seduced’ has a connotation of corruption, an inkling of something against one’s will or good intentions; ‘être séduit’ is closer to being beguiled.  ‘Elle a un grand besoin de séduire’ doesn’t mean she needs to seduce people but rather that she needs to be liked – and yet, while there is a notion of seduction that isn’t sexual, it isn’t nonsexual either.  ‘Légèreté means lightness, but in some contexts, it seems to describe an almost Zen-like state of serenity.  How do you say ‘lame,’ or ‘rude,’ or ‘confused’ in French?  Why is ‘violence’ in English so physical, whereas the French use it for emotions as well?  Why do French people believe in love at first sight, and we think it’s adolescent?”

Self Service

When I did an image search for “Self Service” just now, all of these French salad bar vendors came up, which look nifty (and can be yours for 3,700 euros!), but I didn’t come here to talk to you about salad bars.  I actually wanted to mention Self Service the magazine, which I have worked on for the last three issues as copy editor, and which you can find at newsagents while supplies last.  (Self Service is produced biannually, and the next issue, which I did not work on, will come out in October.) 

Current cover looks like this:

Interviews with Jeff Koons, Stella McCartney, Jason Schwartzman, Diane von Furstenberg, Katie Grand, Stephanie Savage, David Blaine, Dana Thomas, Emmauelle de Noirmont, Floriane de Saint Pierre, and Gilles and Daniela Andrier.  Enjoy!

More photos after the jump.

Parisian Fantaisie

A challenge from the lovely Badaude, illustrator and writer extraordinaire with a talent for navigating the vagaries of French it-girl fashion (see above and also here).  She imagined a 21st century night with her favorite Parisian artists of any era, and invited a few other bloggers to do the same.

So who would be my guests?

Colette -- Because I’m leaving for vacation today, and Judith Thurman’s Colette bio Secrets of the Flesh, which I found at Abbey bookstore recently, is in the reading pile.  (Taking the book on my trip was prévu, but Lauren’s recent twitter link to this review cinched the deal.)

Romy Schneider – A star yes, but an artist too.  Although my favorite period for her acting was around the César and Rosalie time, in my fantasy I would like her to be about the age she was in this Will McBride book: 25.  Conscious of ditching her “Sissi” image and showing her sensual, strong, and vulnerable facets, when these photos were taken she was recently jilted by  Alain Delon. It would give us something to talk about.  (Some more great shots of Romy on this site -- I love the session from 1974 (not safe for work) and the “Romy in Chanel” album.

Edna St. Vincent Millay – The flame-haired American poet was only a short term Paris resident but oh, I’d like her to meet me just after the night her husband Eugen jumped into the Seine to save a drowning woman (while wearing a tuxedo). 

Location?  I first thought of the classic, book filled, centrally located Le Fumoir, but it’s too fashionable for what I have in mind.  No, I’d prefer the low key L’Autre Café for this encounter. I love the ambiance in the morning with the breeze coming in the big windows and the regulars sitting quietly with their papers, and all the morning sounds of the city waking up outside the cafe.  We could meet for a café creme, talk about the night’s adventures, then stay for lunch and a carafe of wine.

(Another option?  Because why limit ones fantaisies, right?   We meet in the late afternoon at the 104, then walk down to the Place Sainte-Marthe for a drink on the square.)

Apropos of Le Select, the setting of Badaude’s fabulous new header for Maitresse (which inspired this fantasy challenge), here’s a photo taken from the inside of my friend Alex’s apartment – he used to live right on top of the cafe, if you can believe it.   

A Book About Death

The End, by Matthew Rose

American artist in Paris, Matthew Rose, writes, creates penetrating collages, and runs a first-rate printing press.  Here with his new project: A Book About Death.  Contribute! 

A BOOK ABOUT DEATH : 1000-PLUS ARTISTS CONTRIBUTE 500 POST CARDS EACH TO CREATE AN UNBOUND BOOK ABOUT DEATH. AN HOMAGE TO RAY JOHNSON, A CELEBRATION OF EMILY HARVEY, AN GLOBAL EXPLORATION OF DEATH. EXHIBITION AT THE EMILY HARVEY FOUNDATION GALLERY IN NEW YORK CITY. OPENING: THURSDAY 10 SEPTEMBER 2009. EXHIBITION: 10 - 22 SEPTEMBER 2009.

Chicago Fashion

Je vous présent the Spring issue of Chicago Fashion.

Pages 28/29: Interview with designer Soo Choi about her closet.  If one must tell the story of a person through their stuff, having a subject as forthcoming and réfléchi as Soo is what you long for.

Pages 14/15: Short items on jewelry designer Temple St. Claire, perilously high heels, and the similarities between today’s runway and the styles of the 1930s.

Pages 30/31: Interview with the fabulous Graham Thompson of Optimo Hats (who recently designed the hats for Public Enemies).  I had so much fun poking around his shop and seeing the weighty and timeworn hat-making machinery. 

Pages 34/35: I asked five local designers to imagine looks for Michelle Obama.

That Summer in Paris

At one point while reading Abha Dawesar’s lush That Summer in Paris I realized I was actually being seduced!  It took away my appetite (in the best possible way), moved me, and helped me to understand a past relationship better.

The novel is also a tribute to the most lovely things in Paris –  the sex, art, and food – and somehow manages to enhance their beauty and mystery.  Strongest possible recommendation. 

“Do you know why there is an opposition?  I too think of you as two people.  And I think of myself too as two… But today I am a slave to real life.  You are Prem.  This is cheese.  And this cheese is more real than what I’m trying to write.  There’s no struggle between the world and this one,” she said, tapping the side of her head with her index finger.

“I want you to have a sip of the wine to cleanse your palate of the herbs and then to put that strong cheese in your mouth.” Prem startled himself with his tone.  Prem and Maya had vanished; they were two stomachs.

Maya had a sip of wine and then neatly cleaved the buttery nine o’clock cheese with her knife and put it in her mouth.  The jewel in the crown.  The climax.

“Vous etes un génie!”

Cherif, no doubt cognizant that such a moment happens at a certain point in the meal, was already hovering near the table.  Trying his best to hide his triumph, he smiled sheepishly and said, “It’s the cheese, not me.” 

See also Lauren Cerand’s recommendation of Dawesar’s award winning Babyji which she describes as pleasure reading for smart people.

Autre part

For re:Porter, the magazine of boutique airline company Porter (branding concept of Tyler Brulé of Wallpaper mag), I wrote an article on Chicago (download here) in which I recommend The Publican, The Bristol, Hejfina, and Art Chicago.

(Also, the Porter stewardess outfits are pretty cute.)

This is going way back, but in February I had this piece on the Sonia Rykiel expo at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs for The National, a newspaper out of Abu Dhabi. 

The snow drops its pieces of darkness

The Département Féminin newsletter on Ann Demeulemeester is out, and AIEEE!! (I squealed in French when I saw the photos) -- it is just perfect that this is national poetry month, non?

Petit Dejeuner avec Didier Decoin

Author Didier Decoin, center, with his publisher and editor

On a clam chowdery Wednesday morning a few weeks ago, I went to Les Deux Magots to discuss Didier Decoin’s new novel with him and a half dozen other bloggers over breakfast. I feel very grateful that this blog, which I essentially have allowed to be overrun with weeds, still brings such cool experiences into my life.

Decoin, a member of the Académie Goncourt and best known for his prize winning John L’Enfer, wrote his new book for Grasset’s collection, “Ceci n’est pas un fait divers.” (A “fait divers” being a short news item, often of little importance.)  The result: Est-ce ainsi que les femmes meurent? is a literary dramatization of the real life murder of Kitty Genovese in Queens in the 1960s.  (You may remember her story from Psych 101 -- it led to the coining of the term “bystander effect.”  A few dozen people in her apartment building heard and saw things while she died a slow death by stabbing. Nobody called the police.)  Decoin makes the story into something larger, about personal responsibility, free will, psychopathy, and in a way, America. 

Decoin explained to us that the assassin, Winston Moseley, a serial killer who had killed two other women, fascinated him because he’s not a “constant” assassin. This guy is like a werewolf. A family man with an upstanding job, he occasionally drives off to kill a girl in the middle of the night.

And Decoin was always fascinated by America, which he loves and brings to life with vivid effect. Here’s a wonderful paragraph, mixing the gory with the mundane:

L’odeur du sang, une odeur qui rappelait celle du cuivre, n’avait pas encore eu le temps de dominer les émanations qui flottaient ici comme dans la plupart des lieux fréquentés par la middle class américaine – papier kraft un peu chaud, caoutchouc, citronelle synthétique, pain de mie, ozone, nougat, mélangez en agitant bien, respirez, vous etes à New York. 

I liked Decoin’s descriptions of American smells throughout the book. I even told him as much at breakfast. And he made that French hand motion, a repeated swiveling downward from the wrist, and said, “Oh la, mais ca c’est un grand compliment."(I suppose, being the only American there, I was something of an American odor authority.)

To summarize: great book, and very good book if you read French but it's not your first language and you want a challenge. It’s fairly straightforward and a page-turner -- I read it in two nights.  If you don’t pick it up in a bookstore, look for it in the cinema someday.  The rights have been sold for a French film.

Now it's over

At the moment my mind is floating high, high above my body.  But I will summon the Marie Claire headline writer that exists inside of me to give you a few perky, cover line-ish links from my Chicago magazine blog:

The sexy accessory you’ll most want for fall! Over the knee boots, Chloe

Check out the City of Light's prettiest venue! Cite de L’architecture, Valentino

The hot look most likely to make a Japanese business man want to sleep with you! (Okay, that is just gross and would never fly at Marie Claire, but you know, I’m just a wild and crazy internet girl bursting into saloons and pointing my guns in the air, pow pow pow.)  Lara Stone at Chanel

That tricky to wear trend that is getting stronger, like a virus. (Also, not a good cover line -- Marie Claire would never mention infectious disease on their cover.)  Baggy pants, also at Chloe

The tres chic collection that you can imitate right now, with things already in YOUR closet!  Dries Van Noten

Vuitton F09

Vuitton F09
Vidéo envoyée par Efourmont

Vuitton 2, F09

Vuitton 2, F09
Vidéo envoyée par Efourmont

Chanel, F09

Chanel, F09
Vidéo envoyée par Efourmont

Chanel F09

(Don't forget you can trouver moi on twitter and Chicagomag.com)

I'm from Florida and my first job was selling Lilly Pulitzer dresses at a little beachside shop in my hometown. When Karl Lagerfeld does pink and green, c'est une autre histoire!

A Saturday in Paris

Sandwiched between a Friday of five shows and what will be an equally busy Sunday, I had Saturday to relax and meet with friends. 

I started the day with a run at the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, walking through the thronged Belleville market on the way.  By 2:30 I was at the Jeremy Scott show where models bounced down the runway to “Hey Mickey.”  Scott was all in kid mode this season: there was a cape of white Mickey Mouse gloves, jackets with shiny Skittle colored buttons, and dresses covered in colorful elastic circles that called to mind balloons.  The show was at the Faculté de Médecine in Saint Germain, so after I headed to Café Flore with my friend Lauren.  Both the designer and the pr rep were there, “like the cast and crew hitting a diner after a show,” said Lauren.  Then I went to Café Charlot in the northern Marais where I ordered a glass of Brouilly and waited for my friend Carole to get out of Ann Demeulemeester.  She brought along Garance and Scott.  I talked a lot with Scott about his memories of Chicago and how romantic it was for him to visit the city and have his first cultural experiences there when he was in high school (he was born in Indianapolis).

Next Carole and I moved inside for dinner and by the time I left I realized I’d been at the café for over four hours.  I was going to go meet Cassi and Susan for a drink at Chez Janou but was spent and needed to get ready for today which is very busy: Andrew Gn, Akris, Costume National, Dries Van Noten, Christian Lacroix, Givenchy. 

I think I will wear my leather jacket and my ivory Ralph Lauren silk skirt with knife pleats.  The skirt is a risk because today is rainy.  Hope I don’t get splotched. 

Oooh, I’m on twitter now. 

You can read about the first day of shows here on Chicago mag.  And please check back on Chicago mag on Monday for much, much more!

Lanvin, F09

Lanvin, F09
Vidéo envoyée par Efourmont