Week 28: Eiffel Tower - Au Revoir and New Blog!

Hi all! It's been a while hasn't it! Apologies for my absence and silence - It's because I've been working really hard! Honest! 

Anyway, with my return to the UK came the end of this wonderful piece of blog but fear not! All you insatiable Fran followers (ha...) can find me once more a-blogging HERE. 

However, as an end to this lovely project and a (hopefully temporary) goodbye to you all, here are some pictures from my last day in Paris - at the Eiffel Tower.

Delightful Boyfriend and I having lunch at the top of the Eiffel Tower

Dress - H&M
Shoes - New Look
Necklace - Zara
Sunglasses - Marks&Spencer
Bag - Cath Kidson

Come find me at www.dressingupinlondon.blogspot.co.uk! Don't be a stranger!

Dressing Up On Holiday: Versailles

Greetings bloglets – sincerest apologies for my lengthy absence! I have now officially left La France and am back in Blighty for good (or for bad – you decide!) I said goodbye to Paris in a rather special way that I plan on sharing with you all in due course, but first I thought I’d do my second “Dressing up on Holiday (in France)” post.

As you may recall, I escaped the city a couple of weeks ago to go join my family for a mini-holiday near Paris. On my last day with them we visited one of the most splendid places ever to be produced by this (or rather, that) glorious country: the Palace of Versailles.

The town of Versailles acts as a wealthy suburb of Paris, about 20 km from the capital. The palace there was the centre of power from 1682 until the French Revolution in 1789 and is seen as the ultimate symbol of the ancien regime and the French absolute monarchy. The building itself began life as a hunting lodge for Louis III, but was expanded into one of the largest palaces in the world by Louis XIV. This was where the royal family and court lived until 1789 when they were moved to the Palais de Tuileries (which no longer exists) in Paris.

After this, all of the furniture from Versailles was sold (I know, it breaks my heart too!) and the palace itself only survived because the Convention decided to keep it for the “public good”. The building then became a museum for all of the artworks the Revolutionaries had taken from princely homes and churches.

In its heyday, however, courtiers were forever vying for rooms in the palace for themselves and their families. Indeed, some historians have said it was more like a giant apartment block than a palace, perhaps even a hotel – since keys to each room had to be left when the lodging was vacated. Not a very good hotel though- they didn't even have toilets until 1768! The glitz and glamour of the 18^th century, eh?

One of the most famous rooms in the palace – and perhaps in the world – is the Hall of Mirrors, construction on which was started in 1678. In a century where mirrors were extortionately expensive, this room acted as an indisputable reflection (heh) of the grandeur and magnificence of the Sun King’s reign. It was in this room that Louis XV met Madame de Pompadour – at a masked ball celebrating his son’s marriage. She was dressed as the hunting goddess Diana, he was dressed as a Yew Tree. Not an option that ever occurred to me at Halloween but one I will very much consider this year. Even I would dress like a tree if I could meet Mme de P – quelle babe.

One of the other two palaces on the grounds at Versailles – the Petit Trianon – was built for Madame de Pompadour, though sadly she died before it was finished. Instead it became the safe pseudo-rural haven of Marie-Antoinette who would come to escape the pressures of court or to play in the fake hamlet she had built nearby. The Grand Trianon (the second Palace on the grounds) provided another escape from court, this time for Louis XIV and his mistress. Parts of it were also used in the promotional video for Dior’s latest campaign. 

For this shoot, I took inspiration from Chanel’s 2013 Resortcollection – which was also Versailles-inspired.  I stuck to a similar colour scheme of red, white and purple and used my beloved net petticoat to form faux panniers (or, at least, I tried to). I went with BIG jewellery and trainers to give it a bit of an edge – though obviously, Chanel’s gold flatforms would have been better...

Dress - H+M
Petticoat - Lindy Bop
Fake Vans - New Look
Necklace and Earrings - H+M
Sunglasses - H+M

As a tourist attraction, Versailles is stunning and, once you’ve gotten in, really rather well-maintained. But therein lies the rub... When we arrived, the first thing we saw was almost enough to put us off completely: the entire front courtyard was full of a HUGE snaking queue which some were saying they’d been standing in for upwards of two hours. Super. In fact, this was just the queue to get in, after you’d gone through the whole queue for tickets! SO – advice: 1) palace is closed on Monday, we went on a Tuesday and it was extra-busy – go later in the week; 2) book tickets in advance to avoid at least one queue; 3) get there early. Like, EARLY early. We arrived at about 11 and the queues were already insane. Otherwise, would highly recommend this gem. See you soon!

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.