Week 24: Saint Sulpice

So – first weekend room-mate-less and it felt only right to go mourn her presence at a Catholic Church... I’M JUST KIDDING, I HAVE OTHER FRIENDS. I did go to a Catholic Church, however, where we did this week’s shoot: the church of Saint Sulpice.

As the name might suggest to those of you who know their saints, this church is dedicated to Sulpitious the Pious (though you’d think they’d all be pretty pious really, still, maybe ol’ Sulpy was extra good at it..)

After Notre Dame Saint Sulpice is the second largest church in Paris- though it’s much younger, with construction on it starting in 1646. It carried on being built, rebuilt, and having bits added to it until the 1780s – right before it ceased being a Roman Catholic Church and temporarily became a temple to the “Supreme Being” whilst Christianity was suppressed during the French Revolution

It is believed that the advent of the famous gnomon (a sort of sundial) in 1727 was one of the only reasons Saint Sulpice was  not destroyed during the Revolution – due to the rational nature of this primarily scientific tool (even if it was originally added to help the priest remember when Easter was...)

The poor old church underwent another temporary political takeover in the 1870s with famous anarchist Louise Michel giving a speech from the pulpit.

Other famous people to have graced its pews include Charles Baudelaire and the Marquis de Sade – both of whom were baptised here – and Victor Hugo who got married here. As did a couple the day we were shooting. Coincidence? Almost definitely...

Finally, Saint Sulpice has found fame in recent years because much of the action of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code takes place in the church. This is largely due to the claims that the church stands on top of an old pagan temple and that the “P” and the “S” one can see in the window’s stands for “Priory of Sion” – a hilarious fictional organisation which I’d happily go into myself if it weren’t so complicated. (and for those of you who are interested, the “P” and “S” actually stand for St. Peter and St – you guessed it – Sulpitious)

Going to a Catholic church gave me the perfect opportunity to do a shoot inspired by Givenchy’s ready-to-wear Spring collection 2013. Ricardo Tisci’s Italian Catholic inspiration may not immediately be obvious because it is all hidden in the detail – the angelic fabrics and colours, the metallic priest collars, the billowing bishop sleeves, and tunics worn over trousers giving a vestment-esque impression.

For my attempt at being a Givenchy nun I paired this dove grey linen skirt with a voluminous, baby blue chiffon shirt and my Monki silver choker – which is fast becoming one of my favourite bits of jewellery.

Shirt - Primark
Skirt - H+M
Choker - Monki
Shoes - H+M
Cross - Antique

The church is beautiful – and was much calmer and quieter than Notre Dame, being a little less well-known, and a little further off the beaten track. The area is lovely too, but expensive – so be prepared if you plan to go for a pre- or post-church bite to eat! Anyway, fashion party is over and it’s back to the dissertation for me. If you fancy following my mournful daily tweets on the subject, you can find me here. Happy Heatwave!

Week 23: La Mosquée de Paris

This week marked the last blogshoot with the dream team – that is to say, with Joy of A Roommate as my designated photographer. She has gone back to Blighty and to celebrate her last days in France, we decided to have a bit of a girly weekend. With that preamble, it may sound a bit strange when I say that we went to a Mosque, but don't worry – I'll explain all!

The Paris Mosque is situated in the 5^th arrondissement, right next to the Jardin des Plantes and is one of the largest mosques in the country. It was founded in 1926 as a thank you to the 100 000 Muslim "tirailleurs" from the French colonies who died fighting against the Germans.

The Mosque  was built in the mudéjar style – that is, in the style of Moorish architecture which originates from Spain and the other largely-Muslim parts of the Iberian Peninsula - and its minaret stands at 33 meters. My favourite fact about the mosque is that, during the Nazi occupation of France in WW2, it served as a secret refuge for Jews, giving them food, shelter and safe passage with fake Muslim birth certificates.

Along with gorgeous architecture and a great history, the Paris Mosque also has a restaurant, a tea room, a souk and  - most importantly – a hammam.

A Hamam is a Turkish bath, which is the Turkish take on a sauna the main difference being that there is less steam and more water. Quite honestly, Joy of a roommate and I had NO idea what to expect when we headed there, so we were pleasantly surprised to find several warm rooms, with small alcoves where you could sit and chat, fitted with taps and buckets so you could wash/cool yourself down. One of the rooms was more like a traditional sauna, but with a pool of cold water in the middle which was utterly wonderful to take a dip in once you had sweated out all your toxins!

Top - New Look
Trousers - H+M
Shoes - Marks+Spencer
Earrings - Bijou Brigitte

It is a women-only space Monday and then Wednesday-Saturday, with men having free reign on Tuesdays and Sundays and while, at 18 euros, it may sound a little expensive, but it was worth every centime. Massages and other treatments are also offered, but JOAR and I decided to stick to the baths. I came out with skin as soft as a baby’s and feeling so relaxed- a feeling only intensified by the mint tea and baklava we had in the mosque’s tearoom, whilst amusedly watching pigeons devour the leftovers of the table next to us!

As it was JOAR's last weekend AND the hammam was her idea
I thought it was only fair she got some airtime. 

I didn’t want to take any outfit pictures inside the mosque as I felt that would be extremely disrespectful, so this week’s outfit is inspired by the beautiful architecture of the mosque, but all photos of me were taken in the park across the street. I figured the lacy patterns in my beloved H+M trousers mimicked the delicate stonework of the mosque wonderfully, and I tied them up at the bottom to turn them from palazzo pants into harem pants (or, should that be, HAMMAM PANTS – I’m hilarious...) The top is from New Look and one of my favourites. Again, I felt it went well with the mosque’s overall aesthetic, as well as tapping nicely into this season’s love of graphic floral prints. Also did next to nothing to my hair and went for minimal make-up, so what you’re experiencing here is a post-hammam glow (if that’s not a cracking advertisement for this place, I don’t know what is!)

SO there you have it folks, get yourselves down to a hammam near you soon and embrace their steamy relaxation. In the mean time, enjoy the rest of your week and keep your eyes peeled for next week’s Blogpost (which ought to be much more punctual than this week’s!)

Week 21: The Panthéon

This week we moved from one national treasure to an entire building full of them, swinging by ancient Rome on the way. Confused? Jolly bon, that's just how I like my readers! Don't worry, I'll explain.

This shoot was at the Panthéon, (which literally means "Every God") a HUGE mausoleum which sits in the Latin Quarter (how apt) in the 5^th arrondissement. It started off life as the church of Saint Genevieve after her remains were interred there in the 6^th century. In 1744, when King Louis XV was very ill, he promised to re-build the church if he recovered. This he duly did and construction began on the new Church of Saint Genevieve in 1758. Designed in the Neo-Classical style by architect Jacques-Germain Soufflot, this building was modelled on the original Pantheon in Rome and was finally finished in 1790 at the onset of the French Revolution.

In 1791, the statesman, orator, and highly important Revolutionary figure Mirabeau died. The ruling body at the time was the National Constituent Assembly, (of which Mirabeau had been a key member) who decided that the Panthéon should be transformed into a secular mausoleum and a monument to the great men of France. It now serves as the final resting place for some of the country's greatest thinkers, speakers and writers, including Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Marie Curie (who was also the first woman to be interred on her own merit), Alexandre Dumas, Emile Zola and – my historical-philosopher crush – Voltaire.

Now, plenty of incredible things have happened in Paris, but it can be easy to forget that amazing things are still happening in a city where- every day- you go to work, get shoved on the metro, get rained on, and have to pole-vault over tourists taking pictures of the Arc de Triomphe with their iPads in the middle of a main road (no, but seriously, I saw this happen. The person in question was totally oblivious to the cars until they almost ran her over… *NB: No creature was hurt in the recounting of this anecdote*) While doing my research for this post, I came across something which has restored my faith, wonder and love of Paris, I came across "Les UX".

The UX (Urban eXperiment) are a "cultural guerrilla movement", a secret organisation who know their way through the tunnel networks under Paris and use this knowledge to preserve and enjoy culture. The group is organised into teams: The Mouse House (all-female infiltration team), a team who organise shows, a team who photographs it and "Untergunther", who focus on restoration. This last group is who I'll be talking about today, though I wish I could dedicate an entire post to the UX, they're fascinating (in fact, let me know if you lot want to hear more about them, maybe I will do a UX-based post!)

Anyway, in late 2006, Untergunther set up a secret workshop in the Panthéon and spent months restoring the building's 19^th-century clock, which hadn't chimed since it was sabotaged in the 1960s, and which was teetering on the edge of total decay. How incredible is that?! You'd think the Panthéon's director would have fallen at their feet in gratitude for having saved such a precious bit of history, but no. He called the police. Sigh. Anyway, no one was prosecuted (one of the prosecutors actually said the whole thing was "stupid"…) but the clock still doesn't chime, even though it's in perfect working order.

People eh? What are they like?! This week's outfit was meant to be simple and chic – another bow to the white-craze that is still consuming fashion bloggers the world over – and I wanted to capture a little Roman/Grecian essence to go with the building's inspiration. But, this is me, so does it stay elegant and understated as intended? Does it heck?! One look in the mirror and I concluded that it was altogether too pretty and French so I… put a necklace on my head and did something bonkers with my hair.

I am a big fan of putting things on your head. I think there are few inanimate objects which could not also suitably double as hats/tiaras/fascinators. Though I do accept that wearing this torque on my head did tip the outfit from "Dressing up in Paris" to "Playing Dress-up in Paris like an excitable 7-year old". Still, the classical theme gave me an excuse to wear my super-duper new espadrille-sandals. Which I love. Like, a lot.

Top - Esprit
Skirt - Asos
Scarf - Edinburgh Grassmarket
Espadrille Sandals - Asos
Bird Necklace - Accessorize
Earrings - Edinburgh Grassmarket
Torque worn on head - Asos
Bracelet - Present

Right! I've made up for my lax attitude with a stupidly long post so I'm signing off here y'all. Enjoy the rest of the week and I vow to be more punctual in future.