The main reason for going to Paris with school was for Premiere Vision (PV) which is the most important fabric show in the world. A fabric show is where buyers, designers and merchandisers go to see trends, color forecasting and to source fabric for upcoming seasons. Going to PV as a student is a big deal because it is great experience of the real fashion industry. We left Sunday night on a 12 hour train ride that was unpleasant the say the least. The 5:30am passport check wasn't fun either. We got to Paris at 9am.
On Monday we went to Colette, which is the most important concept store in Paris. Then we went to the Louvre. Since I had already been there I was able to skip the Mona Lisa and see all the Egyptian Art, the French and Italian sculptures and my favorite thing at the Louvre, the Winged Victory of Samothrace (below). That night Robin and I went out to eat in the Latin Quarter for some delicious French food. I had onion soup, lamb and creme brulee.
Tuesday we went to Texworld, which is a fabric show but lower end than PV. Most people go to PV to see trends and colors and then go to Texworld to find vendors to work with. Fabrics at PV run $15-20 per meter so only high end designers use those vendors. Texworld was really interesting, we had to do a stand interview for an assignment and we talked to a denim company from Pakistan who sells to Seven, Replay, Zara, H&M etc. Since I'm making a jeans line for a class it was really helpful. After Texworld we went to Printemps which is one of the biggest department stores in Paris. We had a tour, saw a presentation on trends and HR.
Wednesday morning we had an appointment at Louis Vuitton on the Champs Elysees. We talked to three
different people, one person who showed us their art exhibit on the top floor which featured artist from South Korea, someone who explained the floor layout and display and then a person who designed all of the window displays. The Stephen Sprouse collection is currently there and the neon flower window displays are amazing. It was really enjoyable and one of the speakers was even an FIT alum who was really cool to talk to. Afterwards we went to Marais which is a really cool shopping neighborhood where I got the most amazing bag. It was one of my friend's birthday so a bunch of us went out to eat and I had the best duck of my life. The waiter made me speak French which actually wasn't as hard as I expected. Although sometimes I can only think of a word in either French or Italian and not the other one.
Thursday morning we had free time so I went to La Defense which is the new part of Paris where the Grand Arch and all the skyscrapers are. Afterwards I walked around Saint Louis, the smaller island which hasn't been changed in hundreds of years. After a delicious lunch of stir fry I went to Shakespeare & Company which is famous bookstore. I got a vintage copy of Wuthering Heights and An African in Greenland which was a staff pick and the next book on my to read list. In the afternoon we had a tour of the Musee de la Moda to see the Sonia Rykiel exhibit.
3 comments:
sounds amazing. like a dream trip to Paris. WHY ARE THERE NO PICTURES OF THE BAG????
Sounds aweosme. Use skype and call me and lana!
I'm glad you remembered some of your French. Paris is amazing and even better when you visit it for a 2nd time and can skip some of the obvious tourist stops. Was the creme brulee awesome??
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