By way of saying au revoir to the City of Lights, my Parisian pal Jojo Banaag took me on an afternoon promenade on the Left Bank. The autumn weather was mild, the day was bright and sunny — we couldn’t ask for anything more.
We started at Le Bon Marché, the most elegant of the city’s department stores, far away from the madding crowds as its Right Bank competitors, Galeries Lafayette and Au Printemps, both of which have become pit stops for busloads of tourists. Le Bon Marché, on the other hand, is where the locals shop in total peace and quiet. Space is the norm rather than luxury, service is personal and not robotic.
The store has been in business for more than 150 years, so they must be doing things right. Jojo told me that, based on his intensive research, when Jose Rizal studied in Paris in the 1880s, he was in awe at how modern the store was because they had a fleet of horse-drawn carriages parked in front for home delivery service.
As Paris Fashion Week had just concluded, we invited designer Georges Mak to join us for tarte tatin (apple pastry) and tea at nearby Ladurée. The dark and debonair couturier had just presented his latest collection, another masterful interpretation of chic elegance that continues to draw enthusiastic clients in Europe, Russia and the Middle East. The Lebanese-born Georges set up his fashion house and design studio in Paris and represents the younger generation of designers brimming with fresh ideas that discerning women are quick to spot. In the wake of his current success in Europe and the Middle East, Mak is opening a couple of boutiques in Los Angeles and New York.
The rest of our teatime tête-à-tête was understandably about fashion and more fashion. Jojo walked us to the site where Hermés is about to open — its first Left Bank flagship store on the Rue de Sèvres — just in time for Christmas shopping rush, no doubt in response to the new kid on the block — Ralph Lauren — which managed to grab a prime location on nearby Boulevard Saint-Germain. Since it opened last summer, the RL shop has already become an interior design landmark and a mecca for shoppers. Even the restaurant is packef you have to book a table weeks in advance.
Every Hermes fan knows about Jean-Paul Gaultier’s departure from Hermès, ending seven years as house designer for the venerable fashion brand. Gaultier had just shown a brilliant farewell collection for the house. His spring-summer 2011 styles take inspiration from Argentina and Mexico, with lots of gaucho hats and boots, which trace back to the equestrian origins of Hermès.
Magnificent live stallions provided the backdrop during the show, with impeccable jockeys on Hermès saddles as models catwalked to tango music. As Gaultier moves on to other pastures, Christophe Lemaire, currently house designer for Lacoste, takes over and will show his first collection starting in fall-winter next year.
H&M watchers are eagerly awaiting the next H&M November designer collection. It has become a yearly H&M tradition, and always a sure money-drawer, to commission a top-end fashion designer to create a special collection for the chain store. And this year it is Lanvin’s very-talented Alber Elbaz following in the footsteps of no less than Karl Lagerfeld, Roberto Cavalli, Commes des Garçons, Viktor & Rolf, and many others.
I saw a preview of a few dresses, all very dramatically dressy in black, designed specially by the Israeli couturier for H&M at very affordable prices. Perfect timing for all the upcoming Christmas and New Year parties. These and many other clothes and accessories, including a men’s line, will hit the stores worldwide on Nov. 23. True-blue fashionistas will gladly line up before daybreak in front of the new three-story store on the Champs Elysées designed by world-famous architect Jean Nouvel. Last year, Jojo witnessed the snaking lines at the H&M shop in Tokyo’s Ginza.
In spite of the current labor strikes, street demonstrations and gasoline shortages sometimes paralyzing Paris and other French cities, life goes on as perfectly normally as ever. With typical Gallic cool, lines are as long as ever at the Monet exhibition in the Grand Palais museum, the restaurants and shops are full, business is as usual everywhere. Besides, where else in the world will you see protesters putting down their placards and taking a break for a much-needed espresso and croissant in a sidewalk café? Now, that’s savoir faire, mes amis! I myself decided to sit back, relax and admire the French special police in their Terminator-style anti-riot gear. With them around you, how else can you feel but safe?
And, of course, any Left Bank jaunt is not complete without a visit to the shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal to give thanks for a truly magnifique Paris sojourn and to pray for a bon voyage back home.