Week 26: Parc de Bagatelle

Now, I know I said I wouldn't talk about the weather anymore, but it feels necessary to make some mention of the heatwave which seems to have been sweeping the globe for the last couple of weeks. This is mostly necessary because it played a large part in deciding where this week's shoot should be!

This week, delightful boyfriend and I headed to the Parc de Bagatelle. So chosen because it was outside – and being inside is not an option in this heat – and a little bit off the beaten track so less likely to have been mobbed with tourists. For those of you who (are lucky and) don't know me – I'm a complete treasure, a TREASURE I TELL YOU… unless I am too tired/hungry/hot or need the loo. Then I can be the grumpiest being you ever did see. (Yes, just like a baby…) This means that it is a good strategy to keep me away from large groups of people who have a marked predilection for walking slowly, pausing suddenly, and taking photos often. 

Anyway, less about my foibles, more about the foliage. The Parc de Bagatelle is situated outside of central Paris, in the 16^th arrondissement's Bois de Boulogne. It forms the extensive gardens belonging to the Chateau de Bagatelle, an ex-hunting lodge which was transformed into a neoclassical playground for the aristocracy in the 18^th century. The grounds passed to the Comte d'Artois in 1775 and, following a bet with his sister-in-law (Marie-Antoinette – you might have heard of her) the chateau and its gardens were completed in under 3 months (63 days to be precise).

The name comes from the Italian word "bagattella" meaning "a trifle" or a little pretty thing. For any linguaphiles out there, the word "bagatelle" in French has now come to mean "philandering/nooky/rumpy-pumpy" as well. So now you know.

A chateau it may be, but it was considered very small at the time, as is reflected in the Horace quote which stands over the porch to the main entrance; "Parvus sed aptus", which means "small, but able". Incidentally, I'm thinking of using that as my new way to introduce myself, you know: "Hi, I'm Fran, parvus sed aptus", followed by a wink and a cheeky grin. Thoughts?

The gardens are enormous, were designed by Scotsman (woo) Thomas Blaikie, and include a pagoda, an obelisk, several waterfalls, and all sorts of fake ruins and grottoes. There is also an orangery and a rose garden and in June every year the gardens host an international competition for new breeds of rose.

In 1842 the 4^th Marquess of Hertford inherited the chateau from his father and used it to house his extensive collection of French art. Upon his death in 1870 both the chateau and the collection, along with a house in London, were passed on to his illegitimate son Sir Richard Wallace. In 1897 the art was brought over, installed in the house in London, and the Wallace Collection was born.

Due to the Anglo-Chinese style of the gardens and – to be frank, more importantly – because of the ridiculous heat, this week I opted for this simple floral dress from Apricot. I've said it before – floral dresses are not my fave. They are too simple, leave me very little to play with or embellish. However, it was 36/37 degrees this weekend. 36! I'm not sure if you know but Scots aren't really built for heat, we're not used to it. As a result, if I'm subjected to temperatures above a balmy 30° Celsius, my brain melts to a liquid not dissimilar to a fine French bouillon, and trickles out my ears.

Disgusting metaphors aside, it was too hot to be creative. Plus I love the fabric of this dress- the thick cotton makes it sturdy enough to not blow up in the breeze, but the cut means that it is held away from the body and doesn't cling. It's much shorter than I would normally go for but needs must in this heat, and I figured the slightly oriental style of the flowers would go quite well with the Chinese parts of the garden.

Dress - Apricot for New Look
Blue flats - Marks+Spencer
Wedges - New Look
Earrings - Present

I paired it with floral wedges initially, to try and invest some flair with an overload of patterns, but gave up halfway through and retreated to my faithful M+S flats. A girl's got to know her limitations. That's all for this week folks! Hope you're all enjoying the heat and the sunshine where you are and, if there isn't any chez vous at the moment, COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS, I HAVEN'T SLEPT IN DAYS.

Week 20: Giverny (Monet's Garden)

Well it turned out to be “Dressing up in Normandy”, rather than “Dressing up in Paris” this week, but we were only 50 miles out of the capital so I’m sure you’ll forgive me. Also we stayed nicely thematic, moving from an indoor garden to an outdoor one – which was just as well, since the weather was nigh on perfect this weekend. I’d also like to take this opportunity to say that I will to endeavour to stop telling you the weather every week (unless there’s a freak hailstorm again), as I suspect it’s getting a little dull. If this is your main source for the Ile de France’s forecast, I will do you the kindness of re-directing you here, in the hope that you will still come back for my fashion pizzazz and sagacity.

SO, this week we headed to the beautiful town of Giverny, nestled in the Normandy countryside, and best-known for housing one of the most famous artists of the last couple of centuries. Claude Monet noticed this charming little town whilst staring out of a train window and promptly decided he had to move there. This he duly did and lived there happily from 1883 until his death in 1926 and he is buried in the cemetery there, alongside several family members.

Drawn by both the beautiful landscape and the Monet’s presence, several American Impressionists (including Willard Metcalf, Louis Ritter, and Theodore Earl Butler – who later married Monet’s stepdaughter) came to Giverny in the late 19^th century and formed a productive little art colony until the beginning of the First World War. Nowadays there is a new wave of artists in Giverny, with a range of workshops and art classes for tourists and locals.

As the years went by, Monet developed a passion for botany, constantly searching for rare plants and exchanging them with his good friends Clemenceau and Caillebotte. He often said that most of his money went straight into his garden and many of his best paintings were of it. It has been said that Monet created his 

works twice – first he created his garden and then he painted it.

The garden at Giverny has two parts; Clos Normand and the Japanese water garden. Clos Normand was originally a walled orchard of about a hectare inside, which Monet opened up and filled with flowers. He didn’t like gardens to be too organised or cultivated, so he would just pick flowers which matched in colour and then let them grow freely. In 1893 he bought a neighbouring piece of land and turned it into a water garden, inspired by the Japanese prints he collected, and complete with lily pond. Although the current version of the famous green bridge is a reproduction, the wisteria growing over it were planted by Monet himself.

Monet’s son left the house and gardens to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1966 and it became a public museum in 1980. Now it attracts an average of 500 000 visitors a year – and it’s well worth a visit! Leaving from St. Lazare station in Paris, it is a mere 45-minute hop, skip and jump to Vernon and from there it’s a 5-10 minute taxi or bus-ride to Monet’s house. As well as strolling round the gardens you can tour the house itself which has been restored to its former glory. There is also a Museum of Impressionism just next door.

Dress - H&M
Shoes - Marks&Spencer
Shawl - present
Necklaces and bracelets - Mine and JOAR's
Ring - OC Jewelery
Sunglasses - Marks&Spencer

This week I wanted to reflect the calm, soothing aesthetic of Monet’s work in the outfit and aimed to do this with two of Spring-Summer’s hottest trends: florals and pastels. Iridescence also made a welcome appearance on the catwalk this season, and I took a few leaves out of Alberta Ferretti’s, Donna Karen’s, and (my personal favourite) Burberry Prorsum’s books and went for this lovely lilac number from the ever-wonderful H&M (seriously, why am I not their head of PR/the face of the brand yet?)

I added the scarf-cum-shawl for a floral edge, and went for pearls to keep in with the simple shimmering look and, honestly, why would you go for ONE necklace when you could go for four? Added a little glamour and drama with the bold eye make-up, courtesy of Best Friend From Land of the Brave (BFFLB) 

who was this week’s photographer.

Week 15: Jardin des Plantes

This week I happily realised just what an awful lot there is to know about the world, what a lot there is to take inspiration from. Every time I plan one of these shoots I find myself learning at least two or three new facts which I did not expect to – often things which are barely related to the original subject.

The human desire to know more about the world in which we live is inimitable – it is the reason why we have so many museums, so many galleries, so many science centres.  This characteristic explains the foundation of the Jardin des Plantes, France's main botanical garden. Founded in 1626 as a medicinal herb garden, the Jardin des Plantes is now home to four museums; The Entomology Museum, the Mineralogy Museum, The Palaeontology Museum and the Great Gallery of Evolution, (one of the many things I learnt this week, Entomology = study of insects) as well as an Art Deco Winter Garden, a Labyrinth, 2 hothouses and a small zoo. So it's a pretty buzzing place, if you'll pardon the pun. It was opened to the public in 1640 and is now predominantly a botanical school.

This idea of acquiring knowledge, especially that which pertains to our being and development on Earth, links serendipitously well with my fave new thing what I learnt this week, that is, the existence of Zenna Henderson. 

Born in 1917, Zenna Henderson was one of the first ever female sci-fi writers. Although not necessarily a feminist, Henderson always wrote from a woman's perspective and never used a male pen-name. Writing during the 1950s and 60s, she was nominated for a Hugo award (award for best work of sci-fi/fantasy – another thing I learn this week!) in 1959. Her most famous works form part of a series about "The People", humanoid beings from a faraway planet who are forced to emigrate to Earth. These books follow their struggle to adapt to a new planet while still preserving their own culture.

For this piece of knowledge I have Erdem Moralioğlu to thank, since his beautiful, covetable, (sadly-inaccessible-for-people-like-me) Spring-Summer 2013 collection was inspired by her. The underlying idea for this collection was women trying to fit in on Earth but being perpetually on the outside, which he achieved by mixing strange fabrics (e.g. python and lace) and using "uncomfortable colour combinations" to give an impression of "Otherness". (Fun fact: the lace is actually embroidered PVC!)

The tailoring for this collection was inspired by the 1950s archives of the Swiss embroidery company Erdem collaborated with, nipped in waists, full skirts, box pleats. The 50s was also the era when Henderson wrote her “The People” series, so it all works out quite nicely! Speaking of things working nicely; not only did this Erdem collection introduce me to Zenna Henderson, it also gave me another excuse to whip out the florals. Quite apt for a garden as well – I love it when a plan comes together!

For this week's outfit I took the 50s silhouette and the idea of layering lace over florals from Erdem with this lovely 1950s style vintage dress and lace singlet, nipping both in at the waist with a belt. To add another dimension, I also got some inspiration from Oscar de la Renta's SS13 line, another floral-heavy collection. Famous for his fabulous catwalk-worthy gowns as well as his wide-ranging appeal, ODLR's SS13 look was tremendously diverse but had recurring motifs such as the lace floralembellishments, plastic floral jewellery and floral brooches.

I made another nod to De La Renta’s princess-like skirts with this net petticoat but, unfortunately- or indeed fortunately – the material of the skirt was too heavy to sit lightly atop the underskirt and so it did drag it down a tad. However, I will rescue it by pointing out DeLa Renta's dipped hems, and pretending it was intentional! I finished off the look with some De La Renta-esque plastic flower jewellery and voilà.

Dress - Kilo Shop, Paris
Lace top - H+M
Belt - New Look
Shoes - vintage Louboutins, Rokit London
Necklace - New Look
Petticoat - Lindy Bop

For the first time since being here, the weather tricked me and turned out to be good! I was beginning to berate myself for choosing to do another outdoors shoot when we'd been promised rain, but it turned out to be gloriously sunny! Speaking of promises, I know I never promised you a rose garden, and it's probably just as well because there wasn't a flower in sight. Nonetheless, the trellises and archways made for a lovely setting for photos, and I'd like to think I was bringing all the flower power needed with my poppy-adorned dress. Till next week!