Well, would you believe it, a whole two days of summer last
week before it was back to the old 12-degrees-and-raining trick. Yes indeed,
temperatures have plummeted and all of my shoes are damp again but the white skies worked a treat with
this week’s outfit, so I suppose I shouldn’t complain too much.
To begin, let me share a fun fact with you that I just
learnt: until the end of the 19th century (1880, to be more precise)
the City of Paris did not have a single museum. Not one! All national
collections were either stored in the Louvre – which was open to the public 3
days a week – or was displayed in museums in other major French towns.
This week, we headed to the third museum to be opened in
Paris: the Petit Palais (Little Palace). The Petit Palais was built in 1900 in
order to host the Universal Exhibition, which was a world fair celebrating the
mechanical, architectural, and electrical achievements of the previous century.
(Things on show included the Eiffel Tower, Ferris Wheels and talking films). It
became the Paris Museum of Fine Art in 1902 and now houses collections ranging
from the Classical Era to the Renaissance and from precious manuscripts to
Impressionist masterpieces.
My favourite item was Houdon’s plaster sculpture of Voltaire’s head. My favourite philosophe has the most blissful smile on his
face. As, indeed, you would if you lived somewhere as beautiful as the Petit Palais.
I wanted this week’s look to chime with the simple yet
ornate aesthetic of the building. Covered with delicate ironwork, sculptures
and murals, it still manages to feel clean and uncluttered and I would put that largely down to the colour. White is everywhere this season and plays a huge part
in the collections of Louis Vuitton, Chloé, Valentino, Stella McCartney, ElieSaab, Giambattista Valli, Carven, Rochas and Roberto Cavalli, among many many
others.
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Such a simple colour
leaves so much room for adornment whilst remaining chic so whites on the catwalk
were covered in sequins or feathers, laser cut, embellished, and embroidered. As
for myself – I decided to take inspiration from Chloé, Valentino and Stella
specifically and go with broderie
anglaise. One of my favourite materials for summer, the broderie anglaise of
this New Look top means that it looks both innocent and sexy, it is both
revealing and demure.
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| Top - New Look Skirt - Asos Belt - New Look Heels -H+M Jacket - Vintage Bracelet and Ring - My own Earrings - H+M |
I kept the lines of the outfit as simple as possible by
pairing the top with a linen pencil skirt and holding back on the accessories. To
liven up an otherwise very simple, elegant look, I added the earrings to carry
on the street/chic look (pearls AND hoops, you have to love it). The black of
the belt and the shoes helps to toughen up the look slightly and strengthen the
sex appeal (sorry Mum), but the simple styles of both mean that they don’t
detract from the uncluttered approach. The leather jacket was added in a couple
of photos because joy of a roommate mentioned that the outfit was a bit 80s.
Also I was really cold. Like, really cold. This look may say summer to you but
I’m sure my goose-pimpled flesh would have suggested something else.
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Another exciting thing to mention this week is that, along
with the usual happy-go-lucky-go-amateur photos that you expect from this blog,
I am including some which have been edited by my lovely friend Jonny. The ones that
have been edited are marked as such, and I have decided to put them all next to
the unedited ones because I think it is important that fashion blogs are as
accessible as possible.
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An overwhelming emotion I have when looking through some of
my favourite blogs is a mixture of admiration, jealousy and despair, because
they look so professional. This is, of course, wonderful – and the results are
certainly to be aspired to – but I wanted this blog to be as much me as possible. Therefore I am trying to
showcase only those skills which I personally possess. And I’m rubbish with
software in general. The photos you see will be of my face, in all its
occasionally-patchy glory, but just to show how darn fabulous I could look, I’ll let you look at the
edited versions and compare.
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Hope you all have a lovely week and I’ll see you next
weekend, somewhere else in this crazy city. As ever, all comments MUCH
appreciated, so do leave some below and if you really want to show me the love,
follow me on Twitter here. I’m desperately seeking online validation
of self.
