Week 17: Palais de Tokyo

No rest for the wicked(ly fashionable) as joy of a roommate and I headed off to do this week’s shoot straight after yesterday’s Marks & Spencer casting sesh. We barely stopped to have a bite to eat before pootling on down to the Palais de Tokyo in the 16^th arrondissement.

A mere stone’s throw away from the Champs Elysees, the Palais de Tokyo is a centre dedicated to modern and contemporary art. It was opened in 1937 in time for the International Exhibition of Arts and Technology, but has been re-organised since then, with its most recent configuration being opened in 2002. Right next to the Seine, the site specialises in the emerging French and international art scene and is not a museum (that is, it has no permanent collections and produces all of its own exhibitions). And, for anyone who is as confused as I was, it is called the Palais de Tokyo NOT because it has anything to do with Japan but because the street on which it sits was called the Avenue de Tokio until 1945!

Walking into the centre, you get the impression that you are inside an old warehouse, which has been completely gutted and then filled with an array of seemingly random objects. As soon as you realise that some of these objects are exhibits, you can engage in the ceaselessly enjoyable game “Junk or art?” Take these lockers, for example, are they there for you to safely store your belongings, or are they a comment on the way society encourages to pigeonhole ourselves, to fit ourselves into an easily-identifiable box? Do the open lockers represent those with the courage to break free?

Ahem. DO excuse me, my parents are art historians. I should explain the link between this week’s location and the outfit before I get too tiresome...

From May 5^th to June 5^th, the Palais de Tokyo are hosting an exhibition on Chanel No. 5 – the inspirations behind it, the cult surrounding it, and its general components and timelessness. The exhibition includes artworks, photographs, films, objects and archives which all acted as inspirations for the perfume and its marketing.

 First of all, I ought to note, that the Palais de Tokyo is strangely difficult to navigate. One of the (few) drawbacks of designing a gallery which looks like a warehouse, is that you can’t always tell whether you’re in an exhibition space or a storage facility. So I think the bit we found housed the whole exhibition – but it’s hard to say. At any rate, we got to browse around books about the perfume, and peep into drawers containing dried leaves of some of the plants involved (the two key ones are rose and jasmine) as well as watching the many television adverts from the 1950s up to the most recent (and, quite frankly, atrocious) one 

with Brad Pitt.

It seemed only fitting that this week’s outfit ought to pay tribute to dear Gabrielle’s house so I took some inspiration from Chanel’s Spring-Summer 2013 Ready-to-wear line. Now, I loved this collection, but I found it a little confusing – Lagerfeld seemed to jump from the black-and-white tweed twinsets for which the brand is famous to voluminous, pink-and-blue checked mini dresses to giant, chiffon, pyjama-like things adorned with windmills... So I decided to cherry-pick my favourite bits in the hope of creating an outfit which at least hinted at Coco gloriousness.

The predominant shape on the runway was the skirt-dress which I mimicked with this mesh skirt from ASOS. Buuut not having quite the same sort of figure as these catwalk models, I decided it was best for all concerned if I used a belt to give me a vaguely human shape and took the opportunity to add a hint of colour with this soft pink one. Cropped jackets are all over the place this season and I’ve always thought this H&M one was quite reminiscent of Chanel. And then I finished off the look with this beautiful little Chanel bag (a gift from my overly-wonderful-and-generous cousins ) and lots and lots of pearls.

Ta da! Chanel on a budget, what’s not to love? With that I’m signing off to go work on my (ever-present) dissertation and wish you all a very pleasant week. Bisous!

Skirt as dress - Yumi at ASOS
Jacket - H+M
Belt - ASOS
Shoes -H+M
Bag - Chanel (Present)
Cuff - Claire's Accessories
Earrings - H+M
All necklaces are mine/the photographer's own!

Week 16: Cité des Sciences et de L'Industrie

Now, I could start another blog entry with some banal remark about the weather, but it’s possible that it’s starting to get boring. So instead I’m just going to jump straight in and tell you all about this week’s shoot, which was inspired by Giorgio Armani’s Spring-Summer 2013 Ready-To-Wearcollection.

I must admit, I’m not always an enormous Armani fan, but this season's collection had sparkles in it – SPARKLES – and goodness knows I'm a sucker for those. Speaking of all things twinkly, one of the main themes in this collection was the night sky, so joy of a roommate and I got our things together and went off in search of a Planetarium…

... Which, thanks to the power of Google, was a lot less adventurous than I just made it sound! We headed to the “Cité des Sciences et de L’industrie” – the largest science museum in Europe. As well as a Planetarium, the museum has a submarine, an IMAX cinema and a plethora of huge exhibition spaces, displaying and explaining all manner of technological, science-y joys.

The cite was opened in 1986 with the goal of spreading scientific and technical knowledge among the public – especially the youth. It is indeed  a brilliant place to take kids, with so many exciting things to look at, an area especially for little ones and plenty of room to run around – even late on a grey Sunday afternoon, there were a fair few budding Einsteins about.

Considering that I just talked about kids, it seems a little macabre now to tell you that the museum is situated in the Parc de la Villette in the 19^th arrondissement...which used to be the site for the huge Paris abattoirs... so I’ll gloss straight over that, and get back to the aforementioned SPARKLES.

The Boat Dress!
(one of my favourite things we saw at the museum)

Armani’s collection this season was called “Kaleidoscope”, invoking splinters of light and shapes, repeated and reflected. This effect was achieved by the flashes of colour – jade, turquoise, pale blue – in an otherwise neutral palette of grey, navy, black and white. It was also picked up by the sequins and beading work (yup, there are the sparkles I was talking about!)  which, along with the floaty, feminine fabrics (silk, linen, organza) balanced out the slouchy tailoring. Cropped jackets, mix-and-match suits and lots and lots of layering were used – tunics over trousers, dresses over maxi-skirts – gave the whole collection a lovely, relaxed, summery feel.

To mimic the casual look, I layered this hilariously fun, sequinned dress from H+M over this green maxi dress then added the blazer to give the look a slightly more androgynous edge. I went with m favourite colours from the Armani collection – green, turquoise, and blue-grey- and we tried to reflect the kaleidoscopic theme by finding any cool shapes/spaces and taking pictures of me in front of them. It’s tricky stuff, this blogging business.

I know not everyone was a fan of the little lid-like hats Armani used on the catwalk, but I love them! They keep the collection from looking too serious as well as adding a certain unity.

Dress worn as skirt - Topshop
Sequinned dress - H+M
Earrings - Present
Blazer - H+M
Hat - Asos
Shoes - H+M

And with that, we’re leaving space and coming back down to Earth. I hope you’ve all enjoyed this week’s shoot and do stay tuned for next week’s as there may be a little extra something special to (hopefully) look forward to! Have lovely weeks all of you!

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!