Weekly Wardrobe 7

Another beautiful sunny day in the city of love! Joy of a roommate and I have just got back from today's photo-shoot, but because I don't want to put anything up that's sub-par, it's going to take me a while to write it well. In the meantime I will tide you over with Thursday's outfit because I felt good in it AND someone told me I looked like a princess... The world is full of kind people!

Shirt - My Pa's
Necklace - H+M
Skirt - Marina Retro
Shoes- H+M

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend!

Week 11: La Durée

So I may have cheated a little this week and instead of taking you all to a monument I decided to go and just drink tea instead. That said, I have honoured last week’s promise to take you back to the beautiful, sophisticated version of Paris that we all know and love.

This week joy of a roommate and I decided to go to the home of the iconic French macaroon: La Durée. Macaroons are little almond biscuits which were brought over to France from Italy by Catherine de Medici in the 16^th century and have been famously French ever since! They come in every colour and flavour under the sun and are notoriously expensive and difficult to make (trust me, I’ve tried).

Earrings and Necklace - H&M

In 1862, miller, writer and social reform  supporter Louis-Ernest La Durée founded a bakery on Rue Royale which sold, amongst other things, macaroons. Being burnt down in 1871 turned out to be a good thing when Monsieur La Durée’s brilliant wife suggested they open the new bakery with an attached tea room. This was both innovative and inspired since women were not allowed in cafes at that time, and relished the freedom the tea room afforded them.

Hairband - Present from a Friend

Shoes - Vintage Louboutin, Rokit London

Silk scarf worn as Belt - Present

La Durée really hit the big time, however, in 1930, when Pierre Desfontaines (Louis-Ernest’s second cousin) decided to stick two of the macaroon shells together with ganache, thus creating the famous “double-decker” macaroon. Approximately 15 000 of these babies are sold every day – and it’s easy to see why, they are delicious.

This week, in honour of both the La Durée macaroon (which are most famously mint green or pale pink) but also of the shop itself, we went pastel. The La Durée tearoom is all kinds of sweet, from the celadon green of the shop front, menus, gift bags and sugar sachets, to the pale blue, green, yellow and pink crockery, to the cherubs dressed as pastry chefs which adorn the ceilings. Fortuitously, pastel colours are also very much in for Spring-Summer 2013 (it’s almost as if I’d planned it, huh?) with saccharine hues adorning, the catwalk shows for, amongst others: Erdem, Christopher Kane, Corrie Nielsen, Antonio Marras, and Michael Van derHam. So in stark contrast to last week’s business monochrome, this week I went full-on sugar coated.

The beloved mint-green circle skirt got another outing along with this lovely new pink angora jumper from VintageDreamBox at Etsy. And, just while we’re on the subject – I would like to share with you my hilarious thing of the week: the angora rabbit.  If the continued bad weather is getting you down, or you’re just having a bad day, I would urge you to take a look at this. To me it looks like a cat, wrapped in another cat, wearing bunny ears, and I cannot look at it without giggling. Hope that cheered y’all up, RIGHT! Back to the task in hand.

Jumper - VintageDreamBox at Etsy

Angora Rabbit - NOT MY PHOTO, wikimedia.com

Skirt - Marina Retro

One other thing that you ought to know before you go to La Durée is that it is very very popular. Joy of a roommate and I toddled on over for afternoon tea on a Saturday and were in the queue for a good 20 minutes. Definitely worth it though, even despite the prices. Due to the queue, it was difficult to get many good pictures outside the shop itself so, after tea, we crossed the road to La Madeleine. See? I’m not going to deprive you of a monument this week completely. La Madeleine is a Roman Catholic Church, designed to be a temple to the glory of Napoleon’s armies, and based on the Maison Carrée in Nîmes, one of the best-preserved Roman temples. Located at Place de la Madeleine in the 8^th arrondissement, it is right next to luxury food shop Fauchon and two minutes walk away from Chanel, Dior, The Kooples and Ralph Lauren boutiques. In short – head here if you have expensive tastes!

Unfortunately there was some event going on at the church so we weren’t able to get inside and I had to content myself with swinging from the railings outside like a small child BUT, I promise that id I have time, I will make sure to head back and do this beautiful building justice. Or, alternatively, you could come check it out for yourselves and let ME know! Anyway, that’s quite enough of my nonsense for one weekend, see you soon!

Outandaboutfit 2

 Sunday night, Joy of a Roommate and I headed to the Electroswing night at La Bellevilloise, a brilliant bar in the city’s 20^th arrondissement. The evening was a celebration of all things swing – there was a swing dance class, a vintage clothes stall, a retro hairdresser and a live band. Needless to say, I was excited. 

The "Halle des Oliviers" where the bar/hairdressing stall was.
Complete with real olive trees!

Top - H&M
Skirt - Marina Retro
Shoes - Modatoi
Belt - Marina Retro
Earrings - Primark

Getting my hair done...

Now, swing dancing was popular between the 1920s and the 1950s, which gave us retro clothing options aplenty. However, having reasonably got into Mad Men, it seemed only fitting that we plumped for the 50s. Joy of a Roommate borrowed this lovely “Audrey” dress from the aptly named Lindy Bop, and I went with one of my new favourite items – the Marina Retro mint circle skirt.

Dress - Lindy Bop
Belt - New Look
Petticoat - Lindy Bop
Shoes - VivaLaDiva

Whatever the theme was meant to be, no one else seemed to have got the memo as the vast majority were wearing jeans...but peu importe! Much better to be overdressed than underdressed, and I think we made a dashing pair – especially when bopping our way around a crowded dancefloor.

Sunday partying may have made for a grumpy me on Monday morning, but it was more than worth it. Swing nights are apparently a common thing down this neck of the woods, so I definitely encourage you to head to La Bellevilloise if you find yourself in Paris - reasonably-priced food/drink, lovely atmosphere, great decor and I have recently discovered they do a Jazz brunch on a Sunday morning! Mind = blown. For your sake, dear readers (if there ARE any of you!) I'll check it out and report back - watch this space and happy Friday for tomorrow! 

Weekly Wardrobe 3

Happy Tuesday all,  Monday is behind us which means the week already looks infinitely less dreadful! To make matters better: the sun came out today! Spring has officially sprung in Paris (although I have been warned not to get too used to it, as another 5 days of solid rain are reportedly on the horizon...huzzah...) Anyway, in celebration of the spring-like nature of today I decided to wear my new favourite purchase. Cue gorgeous mint-green circle skirt from Marina Retro. I love circle skirts - there's nothing quite so guaranteed to make you feel like a princess as you twirl around corners and the mint green keeps it up to date with pastel colours being very in for Spring-Summer 2013.

Top - H&M
Skirt - Marina Retro
Necklace - H&M
Belt - Vintage, belonged to my Ma

Enjoy the rest of your week!