What can I say? My mom and I have just had a fabulous weekend, crammed full with exciting exhibitions, lots of walking around, watching people (so funny!) and (mostly) window shopping.
We went for one exhibition, I spotted one more online, and we stumbled across more whilst there. And that's the beauty of it all... there's so much on in Paris, and you get around so quickly, that it's just amazing what you can do without feeling stressed at all!
First of all, we went to the exhibition La mécanique des dessous, une histoire indiscrète de la silhouette - a history of underwear (and outer clothes) that shape the body (for men and women!). From 16th century padded doublets and metal corsets right up to modern pushup bras. It was beautifully presented, and also fun to see. A great feature was that they showed modern reproductions of some, showing how they work mechanically - like one of those hinged bustles, that kept folding and unfolding itself. At the end they showed a reel of old French TV ads for underwear, some of which were extremely funny (and quite suggestive!) - only the French could do this! Also remarkable... they showed the incredible 18th century royal wedding dress from the Livrustkameren in Stockholm's royal castle. I stood in front of it and thought "it looks like..." - and yes indeed it was. It's incredibly tiny, and incredibly ostentatious. There's a book to accompany this exhibition as well, but it's available in French only, and to be honest, that's too much French even for me. Too many specialist terms that I would have to look up.
On Sunday, we went to the Palais Galliera to see the Azzedine Alaïa exhibition, which was fabulous. Nothing behind glass, so in some cases one could go quite up close and see how certain things were made. I didn't like everything, but there were some absolutely incredible dresses there, and some things actually reminding me of Madeleine Vionnet. He certainly knows how to drape and shape his materials!
Walking out of the Musée des Arts Modernes, where the continuation of the exhibtion above is (it's just on the other side of the Galliera), we noticed a poster next to the entrance to the Palais de Tokyo... saying "Virgule, etc. - dans les pas de Roger Vivier". Let's just say I was next to hyperventilating...
In we went, it was free, and in a beautiful show in a building that's otherwise under renovation and looks terrible, there were about 170 different models of shoes, beautifully presented. The greater part of them were vintage, mostly 50s to 70s, of course also some of the current designs, and some very early ones from the 30s. Let's just say it was to die for, and lots and lots of his incredible designs for Dior on show.There's a beautiful big book to go with it as well, but to be honest, the modern designs featured a little too prominently in it for me - all I'm interested in are the vintage designs, they're so much more spectacular.
I didn't see the shoes that I have there, but I did see two pairs with the same heel shape ("étrave"), which he designed in 1958. My pair may not have any beading, and they're black, not some extravagant color but still... Makes my head spin a bit...
By the way, we also came across the excellent exhibition on Jacob Jordaens at the Petit Palais, which was beautiful. I spotted the ad on a bus and knew this painter would worth seeing. At the Grand Palais, they're showing Felix Vallotton by the way. No, we didn't go in there, we had a big Vallotton show here not so long ago, but in case anyone is interested... Also worth seeing is the Musée Cognacq-Jay, which is all about 18th century art. A beautiful old palais in the Marais! We picked the brochure up somewhere else and just went for a walk in the Marais, to see this. Lovely on a sunny Sunday afternoon!
So, you see, you don't need to plan for anything to see in Paris, there's enough to be found just by walking around and keeping one's eyes open
.
Karin
We went for one exhibition, I spotted one more online, and we stumbled across more whilst there. And that's the beauty of it all... there's so much on in Paris, and you get around so quickly, that it's just amazing what you can do without feeling stressed at all!
First of all, we went to the exhibition La mécanique des dessous, une histoire indiscrète de la silhouette - a history of underwear (and outer clothes) that shape the body (for men and women!). From 16th century padded doublets and metal corsets right up to modern pushup bras. It was beautifully presented, and also fun to see. A great feature was that they showed modern reproductions of some, showing how they work mechanically - like one of those hinged bustles, that kept folding and unfolding itself. At the end they showed a reel of old French TV ads for underwear, some of which were extremely funny (and quite suggestive!) - only the French could do this! Also remarkable... they showed the incredible 18th century royal wedding dress from the Livrustkameren in Stockholm's royal castle. I stood in front of it and thought "it looks like..." - and yes indeed it was. It's incredibly tiny, and incredibly ostentatious. There's a book to accompany this exhibition as well, but it's available in French only, and to be honest, that's too much French even for me. Too many specialist terms that I would have to look up.
On Sunday, we went to the Palais Galliera to see the Azzedine Alaïa exhibition, which was fabulous. Nothing behind glass, so in some cases one could go quite up close and see how certain things were made. I didn't like everything, but there were some absolutely incredible dresses there, and some things actually reminding me of Madeleine Vionnet. He certainly knows how to drape and shape his materials!
Walking out of the Musée des Arts Modernes, where the continuation of the exhibtion above is (it's just on the other side of the Galliera), we noticed a poster next to the entrance to the Palais de Tokyo... saying "Virgule, etc. - dans les pas de Roger Vivier". Let's just say I was next to hyperventilating...
In we went, it was free, and in a beautiful show in a building that's otherwise under renovation and looks terrible, there were about 170 different models of shoes, beautifully presented. The greater part of them were vintage, mostly 50s to 70s, of course also some of the current designs, and some very early ones from the 30s. Let's just say it was to die for, and lots and lots of his incredible designs for Dior on show.There's a beautiful big book to go with it as well, but to be honest, the modern designs featured a little too prominently in it for me - all I'm interested in are the vintage designs, they're so much more spectacular.I didn't see the shoes that I have there, but I did see two pairs with the same heel shape ("étrave"), which he designed in 1958. My pair may not have any beading, and they're black, not some extravagant color but still... Makes my head spin a bit...
By the way, we also came across the excellent exhibition on Jacob Jordaens at the Petit Palais, which was beautiful. I spotted the ad on a bus and knew this painter would worth seeing. At the Grand Palais, they're showing Felix Vallotton by the way. No, we didn't go in there, we had a big Vallotton show here not so long ago, but in case anyone is interested... Also worth seeing is the Musée Cognacq-Jay, which is all about 18th century art. A beautiful old palais in the Marais! We picked the brochure up somewhere else and just went for a walk in the Marais, to see this. Lovely on a sunny Sunday afternoon!
So, you see, you don't need to plan for anything to see in Paris, there's enough to be found just by walking around and keeping one's eyes open
.Karin
that sounds amazing- you are one lucky lucky girl Karin, and so is your mother!
