The Cursed Trip: where everything went wrong...

You know you have those amazing trips where you LOVE to travel and everything goes right and according to plan... Well this was not one of those trips People...

So I had planned to go see the Hat Museum in Lyon yesterday and I had planned to meet my friend Deborah from Santa Fe there so we could go see the museum together. I was going to meet her at 2 pm at the entrance to the museum. I was just supposed to get on the train to Lyon and then take the metro in Lyon to get to the other station and take the train to Chezelles sur Lyon where the museum is... in total about a 3 hour trip... and then see the museum and take the train back to Lyon and then the train back to Paris and be back home by 9 pm... I had checked the Hat museum website and had gotten an address and detailed notes written down of how I was supposed to get there. I had it all planned…

So I got on the train from Paris to Lyon and into the city of Lyon fine and it all went downhill from there folks...


In Lyon, I realize that I need to go to the ATM and get some more Euros out of my bank account back home, like I have been doing without a problem for the past month and a half... So I go to the nearest bank to the train station and put in my ATM check/credit/debit card into the ATM and it spits it back out and will not give me any cash... I repeat this endeavour twice more at other ATMs near by with the same result... WHY is my card Not working? what have those Bastards at Wells Fargo done so that I can not access my funds out my bank account? I was pissed.

Then I remembered I could use my credit card to get money out of the ATM (a convenient feature that I thought I would never have to use… HA!) and I used it to get out forty Euro out of the ATM cause I didn’t know how much I would need but I thought I could get by on just forty Euro… So I go down to the Metro Station in Lyon to buy a ticket so I could get to the other train station… and guess what?! The machine that dispenses tickets only takes coins… of course, and there is no office around to buy a ticket from an actual person who could give me change for my 20 Euro bill.

As I stand there looking for the place to insert my 20 Euro bill, this nice man behind me tells me that the machine only takes coins or you have to use your Carte Bleu... I ask him if he has change for my twenty and he looks and does not and after buying his tickets he feels sorry enough for me to give me one of the tickets he bought. What an Angel of a man! Mind you it only costs like 1.50 Euro but I was ever so thankful. So I get onto the Metro and get to the second train station and I am looking for the train that I need to take to Chezelles sur Lyon and all the signs posted for the train the city is not listed on it… I see an information office and go inside and ask this woman where I need to go to get to the city I want to go to. After telling her where I was going she realized that I was not using the Lyon city Metro (which is apparently the ONLY information she was supposed to be providing) she quickly told me to go outside and wait on the left for a ‘private car’ and rudely dismissed me like a fly that was annoying her.

I go outside and on the left there is A) the train, which I have already seen is not going where I want to go… and B) a line of parking spaces with timetables posted and seats that people are waiting for something in… So I go over and look at the schedules that don’t really mean anything to me and wait for 10 mins then I sit down and wait for 10 more mins and I keep seeing all these busses go past me and none of them are stopping… So I have no idea which bus to get on, or even if I am supposed to be getting on a freaking bus! So I go back into the information office and I ask the Lady, this time a little more assertively, to tell me how to get to Chezelles sur Lyon… And she (surprisingly) called what is apparently a private bus company to see when the next bus for Chezelles… which isn’t coming until 17h45 tonight and I tell her I can’t wait that long (considering I was leaving to back to Paris at 19h45, if I had waited for the next bus I would have no time to see the museum and might as well have just gone home and not bothered) and I asked her repeatedly if there was another way to get to Chezelles… apparently there is NOT a train at all that even runs to Chezelles (a concept that is unthinkable to me, a town without a train, how do these people live?) and she finally told me I could take a Taxi, if I was in such a hurry (apparently this concept was foreign to her, again customer service in France SUCKS!, no wonder they are upset about job security they might actually have to do their JOBS now…), but it would be Tres Cher… but frankly I didn’t have any other option at this point. So she calls a taxi and tells me to wait outside and he will come and pick me up.

So I wait, and wait and this dude comes up and asks me if I called a Taxi… and I said I did, and he says he has been looking for me and couldn’t find me cause I wasn’t carrying a phone (?) and takes me to his taxi parked on the other side of the station. And I tell him I need to stop at a bank and get more Euro cause the taxi fare is going to be over the forty Euro I have, I know it. SO we stop at a bank on the way and this ATM refused both of my cards for some inexplicable reason (it must be a French ATM, it only works when I wants too) and then we stop at another ATM and it finally gives me enough to get me to Chezelles to meet Deborah… and it is now 3 pm an hour after the time I was supposed to meet her.

Finally I am on my way to Chezelles sur Lyon to meet Deborah, and I think everything is going to be fine. My biggest concern is why the hell my ATM card is no longer working… and after about 15 mins of trying to figure out how to call the “convenient” 1 800 account info line I finally get to talk to a friendly bank representative while I am being bounced around in the backseat of a taxi going down the windiest back country roads at a VERY fast speed… a little too fast for me actually…

But you want to know what happened?? Why is my ATM card not working you ask… GET THIS: my bank decided for “security reasons” to CANCEL my ATM card and send me a new one… to my address in ARIZONA that I no longer live at... and NOT notify me about any of this until my ATM card is refused repeatedly. WHAT MORONS!!!!!! Seriously I went from Pissed to LIVID, on the phone with this woman. I was screaming at her telling her that I was in a France, where I don’t speak the language well, and I was going to be stranded without any access to the funds in my bank account until I received another ATM card, which they could only send to someone inside the United States, who then has to send it to me. Which could take up to three weeks knowing the Paris postal system... I am not kidding you… this is real.

So, My ATM card wasn’t working because it had been canceled, WITHOUT my permission by the way… it is printed on my card that it does not expire until OCTOBER of this year, and she could not reinstate my canceled card number but she could change the address on my account so that it could be sent to a loved one who could get it to me… (wow lady, thanks a bunch) but to this she would need a second form of ID!! I am in the middle of Nowhere in France in a TAXI Lady. How am I supposed to show you a second for of ID?? And she told me about something the internet and I told her that I HAVE no access to the internet right now I am in a TAXI!! Then she asked if I knew the EXACT date and time of my last withdrawal or Online money transfer… which I could not recall (I mean could you honestly tell me this info off the top of your head? No I don’t think so… especially being bounced around in the backseat of a taxi at about 55 miles an hour!) It was a frustrating conversation… and what makes it even more frustrating is the fact that BEFORE I LEFT the country, I went to my bank and changed the address on the account and made sure that I notified the bank that I was not going to be out of the country for four months so I would be able to access my account WITHOUT any problems… why the hell they thought it would be OK to cancel my ATM card is beyond me.

After my conversation with the lady at the bank we were almost at our destination… and without yelling at this woman on the phone to focus on… I start getting more motion sick than I was before… I am notoriously prone motion sickness… Abundant turbulence on planes, Large sea swells cruises, in the back of busses, occasionally on long car trips… most of the time will get sick (love airsickness bags on planes, and they love me) So… I start to feel like I am going ralph… (and not Ralph Lauren, as in Throw up…) and I roll down the window to get some fresh air and the countryside is wizzing past my window, which isn’t helping… and I throw up… yay for fun…

Then the taxi driver, Lazlo, helps to clean me up a little, and he drives “doucement” the rest of the way to Chezelles… When I arrive at the museum I am so thankful to have arrived that I want to get out and kiss the ground… but I don’t. I pay Lazlo his 65 Euro and he says he will meet me back here in 2 hours to take me back to Lyon… which at this point I didn’t know there was any other way to get back and I agree.

I FINALLY make it to the Hat Museum here in Chezelles sur Lyon… and I meet up with Deborah and I was never so happy to see anyone I knew in my life… There I was wearing my own vomit and so happy to see a familiar face, oh god, you have no idea… (and of course the Museum bathroom did not have any soap to wash myself off so I consequently smelled of vomit all day which was peachy...) but the museum was great! They have an excellent collection of period hats… all in perfect condition, on display as well as a wonderful collection of the old tools of hat making, including felting machines which they fired up a few times when we were there so you could see exactly how they worked and hear the amount of noise that they really make… it was really cool to see actually. I took a ton of pics, I saw a bunch of really great hats, I got to talk to Deborah and catch up with her which was nice… it was a good time.

So when we finish with the museum I ask behind the counter at the gift shop if there is any way to catch a bus back to Lyon because I honestly didn’t have enough cash to pay Lazlo to get me back to Lyon so I was looking for alternatives that I could take instead. And the cute little woman behind the counter tells me there is a bus back to Lyon that leaves in half an hour that will cost 8 Euro… So my friendly taxi driver shows up and I tell him that I am going to take the bus instead because I don’t have enough money to pay him to take me back to Lyon… and he was pissed and I apologized profusely and he left in a huff… I get directions from a man in the shop to get to the bus pick up point and Deborah walks me to the Bus. And we were talking about theatre stuff and that was nice and we wait and wait and then this same man from the gift shop comes and finds us waiting for the bus and apologizes because he told us the wrong time… that on Saturdays instead of leaving at 6 pm (18h00, which would have gotten me back to Lyon just in time to get my train back to Paris) the bus was leaving at 7 pm instead (19h00 forty five mins after my train left, which would ensure that I would just miss my train) We thank him for telling us, and at this point its either A) wait and take the bus and miss my train and catch a later train instead or B) get another taxi to take me back to Lyon. (And after my first sickening experience with the taxi and Lazlo… I opted for the bus, which I realized would make me miss my train but it really seemed the only feasible option to me since I don’t think I could take another rollercoaster ride in a taxi…) So Deborah and I go get a cup of tea and come back at 7, I get on the Bus and get back to Lyon at around 10:00… only like 20 mins after my train had already left…

I go up to the ticket booth and ask to change my ticket to another train to Paris since I missed it and then man tells there is “Rien de train de Paris ce soir” that there was NO other trains to Paris tonight, that I had missed the LAST train… Of course.

So I get a ticket for the 7:17 am train to Paris, I go to the nearest hotel and get a room for the night. I call my mom and complain about the day that I have had…I ask her to go have a strongly worded conversation with the people at the local wells fargo and threaten to cancel my account (which will be happening the moment I return to the states, don’t you worry) after that I go to take a shower and wash the Vomit off of me and my jeans… and the hotel room, (which was a little sketch) had no soap… of course, I pick the only hotel and the only room without soap! *sigh* Are you seeing a pattern with this trip?

Then I get up this morning at 6:15 and am at the train station at 6:30… and I look up on the departures and the 7:17 to Paris isn’t even listed. WTF mate? Where is my train? How could I have missed it I am here forty five mins BEFORE my train is supposed to leave!! So I go up to the ticket booth again and ask where my train is and the women tells me it has already left… and I tell her its only 6:30 my train has to be on it way… and she says but it’s 7:30… apparently Today is the French equivalent to Daylight saving time… that the time moves forward an hour, which NO ONE BOTHERED TO TELL ME!! So she changes my ticket once again to catch the next train to Paris (that I had already missed twice) … and damn it all I made it on the train and got back to Paris fine…

So I finally get back to Paris and I have to admit that I was never so happy to see Port Royal or Chez moi in my life. OMG… Something was just not going right for me yesterday… My stars were not in line somewhere… but sad to say I don’t think that I will be traveling next weekend I think I need a break from travel… god help me. But I guess this is a learning experience, and needless to say I will never forget the day I missed the train and was stranded in Lyon with no money, or the taxi ride to Chezelles… ugh!

I also have to say that being IN Lyon I felt like I was seriously in a time warp. Like I was seriously back in the 80's... all the architecture and the metro cars and station all looked very late 1970's and 1980's... Where between Paris and Lyon did I fall back 20 years? it was a very strange expereince... especially being in Chezelles... where it really felt like back of beyond... I mean No train there? WTF? All i can say is that with the metro srikes I won't be leaving paris anytime soon... oh well... now i really can appricate living in the US... God Bless America.

Antwerp and exciting fashion fun

So, briefly my trip to Antwerp:

My Professor, Na Na, who is helping me develop my collection at my school recommended for me to go to Antwerp, Belgium (which I apparently a HUGE fashion city, which I didn’t know about) to see an exhibit there on the fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto, to help inspire me for my collection… and as we all know I am always down for travel so, I persuaded Bethany to come with and we bought tickets to go to Antwerp, (which I had been to Antwerp before when i was little with my parents when my dad had a business meeting since he worked for a Belgian oil company at the time, but i have to say didn’t really remember much of it at all). So, we plan to meet at the station and get on the train at 9:15, but I got totally lost in the Paris Nord station and could not find where the SNCF trains left from so Bethany ended up at the platform where we were supposed to be trying to steer me to the right place blindly… So, when I get there precious minutes before our train left and go try and board the train… I still had a problem though… I didn’t have my tickets… I had to go wait in line for someone to print them out at the ticket booth. So we rush to the ticket booth pushing people out of the way, and go up to the counter and ask for them to please print my ticket Tres vite because, out train is leaving in 3 mins… but the woman behind the counter snaps at us and yells at us to wait our turn… I am not kidding, then we wait until for next available representative to help us. And when we finally get to speak with someone, he turns out to be slow as Christmas with printing out our tickets… Literally, moving as slowly as possible… and when I finally get my tickets in hand we run back to the platform just in time to see the train Leaving…

It was totally one of those slow motion moments from the movies like, OH NO! the train is leaving without us… what do we do? It was frustrating. and i don't know how to explain to Americans how frustrating it is cause there literally is no American equivalent to missing a train back home... and yes there are trains in the US... but only primarly on the east coast and usually only for communters... if I were in the states I would have just driven my car there and just driven back in the same day but in Europe they just don't that. Its just a completely different lifestyle I guess I need to get used to...

So we exchange our tickets for the next train (in 45 mins) and the only seats left were in First class, so we were forced to upgrade, and it was pretty nice, not gonna lie… we had a nice meal and everything… but we had an hour less time in Antwerp, which was unfortunate…

Then we get to Anvers/Antwerp and we find and info desk at the station and stand in line to get a map and directions to the museum and the man in front of us asks the guy how to get to the fashion museum too! And so Bethany and I made a friend, his name was David, and he was Korean, and he studies fashion at a school in the Netherlands (because he wanted to study fashion in Europe in English, but the speak Dutch?? I don’t get it but whatevs) and he wants to be a fashion journalist and we heard his whole life story on the way to the Museum. But once we got to the museum unfortunately we lost him amongst all the excitement… because the day we were there, he was telling us, we the one day a year that they open up the FFI (Flanders Fashion Institute, which is associated and housed inside the same building as the MoMu fashion Museum) to visitors. How coincidental is that?

So our first stop was upstairs to see all of the students work, which was Amazing and so artistically conceptual it was inspiring, and hear some of the student talking to other potential students, (like… us? He he he) about what the school was like. And it was what I honestly pictured fashion school to be like, although I noticed a serious lack of sewing machines. I saw maybe one Pfaff home machine and that was it… but the renderings we saw up on the walls were just unbelievable. And in one classroom they had all these portfolio books on display and you could look through them. And WOW, they were so well put together and so interesting to look at that they were works of art in themselves. So inspiring. And as if that wasn’t enough, I also got to see an incredible exhibit on the fashion designs Yohji Yamamoto, a famous Japanese born fashion designer based in Paris… the exhibit was very different from fashion exhibits I had seen before… You could actually go up and touch and look at all the garments. It was a very tactile and hands on exhibit, which I thought was a so unusual and revolutionary. I could literally go up and touch every garment and look at the construction and lift up layers to see where the seams where, and unfortunately I couldn’t take pictures but I sat and sketched all the fave garments. I have to say that Yamamoto is an AMAZING draper. He is a Master of taking a single square of fabric and turning it into the most amazing designs. Just breathtaking. And what was even more exciting was that you could even try on some of the garments! I kid you not. Some of the garments were marked with ‘try me on’ tags, things like Jackets and flow-y dresses… where else can you have the opportunity to THAT in a Museum… it was so cool. I am so glad that I went.

And we were talking with on of the ladies who was working the exhibit and she told us of a really cool vintage store really close by… and Bethany and I could not pass up the chance and so we went to this store and it was a really good store. Decent prices (unlike Paris!) and really quality second hand vintage clothes more from the 70’s and 80’s. How cool is that?

So all in all, even after missing our train there… it was an excellent trip and I recommend the Musuem and the exhibit to anyone who is interested in Fashion. You should go!

A caravan of about 15 Vans full police on their way to the Sorbonne I saw today on my way home... I have a few friends who go to the Sorbonne who said that they don't have class at all this week and someone said the Place de Sorbonne (a cute area with shops and cafes i was actually kind of fond of) has been completely destroyed in the rioting... I mean the rioting has not disturbed life in Paris much, as I am sure the foreign media would have you think, but I still kind of feel like I am in the middle of a historical moment... its kind of cool actually... as long it stays away from my front door thanks.
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Oh and PS...

Did I mention that I went to Antwerp this weekend...? and they have an Amazing fashion museum... I love to travel by train, most of the time... more to come...

the back of my new cut... it is so short!!
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and after... yay for fun!
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Before the cut...
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The Alps from the plane on the way back to Paris.
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The Duomo at night
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where am I again? Oh Wait... Milan, that's right.
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Mmmmm... Gelato.
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I love this.
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a cool needle and thread statue near the Metro station... a tribute to the Milan fashion and textile industry and all that jazz.
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Outside Chappel at the Santa Maria delle Grazie... this is as close as we got to Da Vinci's Last Supper *sigh* Hoestly I don't understand why they would turn away people who are willing to Pay good money to see the Last Supper... They totally would not do that in America... Sometimes I miss capitalism.
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Bethany showing off our Balcony at our B&B... yeah our hostel was super nice, i mean our room had a balcony? how nice is that?
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inside the Teatro Alla Scala...
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the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele near the Piazza Duomo
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inside the Duomo
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inside the Duomo
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Stained glass inside the Duomo.
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our sad faces at the disspointment of seeign the Duomo covered in scaffolding...
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the Duomo covered in scaffolding... *sigh*
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fabulouso Milano... Haircuts, shopping, opera and hot men... what more could I ask for?

So, this post is long overdue but I have been busy designing my collection and haven’t gotten around to writing it until now… my life is so hard (not)

Milan like I said before was totally amazing. First of all it took us forever to get there… Bethany and I had a flight out at like 8:30 am (which isn’t that early I know) but the flight was out of Beauvais Airport which is like an hour outside of Paris… wish I had known this when I bought the ticket… So you have to take a bus shuttle that’s like an hour and a half and it left at 5:30 and that is before the Metro even starts running… ugh… so I rode the Knight Bus, as I like to call it, at like 4 in the morning to get all the way to where the shuttles leave from on the other side of the city… Imagine me on bus with a bunch of drunk French people on their way home from the bars. (Even more hard to imagine is the French ever being drunk, loud and obnoxious, but there is a first for everything… ) When we finally reach Beauvais and go thru security and are heading to the gate the question, “Did I miss something?... Like an AIRPORT??” crosses my mind. The “gate” was literally a platform with a wedding reception style tent up around it with a giant mass of people standing waiting… and when the plane finally got there we had to walk to the plane on the tarmac and walk up a staircase. I didn’t think they still did that anymore… (didn’t the stop doing that in like the 70’s? or I guess they still do it for famous people and people with private planes but in a commercial airport? Whatevs, I thought the lack of gate was strange that’s all…)

But we flew what is the European equivalent of Southwest called RyanAir (I think its Irish) and we got into Beragamo airport in Italy (which was an hour shuttle ride away from Milan of course) at like 10 and then FINALLY in Milan around 11! And Italy was Sunny and Warm! And we were in love with it before we even got to our hotel. I feel like Milan compared to Paris is so much more spread out… where in Paris everything is so close together you almost feel like you are always too close to the person next to you. In Milan everything is nicely spread out and the subway cars are HUGE (and their metro doesn’t smell like a urinal)! And the streets are wide and the architecture is so massive and grand that you can’t help being in awe of it all… Beautiful, Gorgeous, Wish you were here!

So after checking into our Bed and Bed (not a ‘bed and breakfast’ just a ‘bed and bed’…?) the first thing on our list to see was the Duomo… Which is supposed to be amazingly beautiful cathedral in the center of town… but we will get to that in a minute. Well we get on the streetcar/tram and when we are almost there I saw a salon through the window of the tram that had a picture in the window of the perfect haircut that I had been looking for… I had been thinking of getting my hairs cut for a while now, ever since I moved to Paris actually. I have been wearing more and more layers of clothing living in a colder climate and having long hair is just such a hassle cause it always gets tangled and caught and its just been annoying me… So I kind of decided then and there that I was going to come back and get my hair cut off. Yeah it was a spontaneous and perhaps rash decision but, its way more fun that way right? I think so…

Then we go to see the Duomo… and we are expecting to see the beautiful amazing chapel… well it was amazing alright. Amazingly covered in scaffolding… most of the front of the cathedral was covered in ugly white scaffolding cause I guess they were cleaning it or whatever… a little disappointing… not gonna lie. But the inside of the church was so beautiful that it made up for it. My favorite was the stained glass windows, and the inlaid marble floor… spectacular.

Then, so we are in Italy right? What is the one thing that Italians are possibly the most famous for? Opera. and we wanted to try and see an opera at the famous Teatro alla Scala… and it so happens that they were showing Kataya Kabanova which Bethany and I both worked on at Santa Fe. So we wanted to see this show because we were familiar with it! So we got tried to get tickets for the show but they have some lottery system in place where you have to come back at a certain time ad they give away the last 120 top tier tickets for each performance (which is the best way to do it I think, I wish they did this in Paris…) In the meantime the man who runs our hostel, Victo, recommended a flea market for us to go shopping at and we went to it to kill some time before we could go buy tickets for the show…

OMG. This flea market was amazing!!! They had Yarn, like 500 grams of yarn for 7 euros (which is a crap load of yarn let me tell you), and I got a purse for 6 euros, an awesome sweater for 10, sunglasses for 6… everything was sooo cheap… I was like are we still in Europe? It was really surprising. I guess I lived in Paris too long, the land of everything being terribly overpriced, because I thought that everything in Italy was cheap! It was pretty amazing the difference.

Then we went back to the Duomo area and I decided that it was time… I was going to do it. I was going to cut off all my hair. So we went back to the salon we saw earlier today and there was one person who spoke English, thank goodness and luckily they could squeeze me in. So this nice girl, whom only spoke Italian, cut my hair. I was thinking while I was waiting that this could turn out one of two ways… A) This could turn out really badly because of my lack of ability to communicate what I want… (cause I mean I almost speak French and English neither of which is helpful to speak with Italians!) OR B) This could turn out awesome despite the language barrier.

So this girl breaks out the razor and starts going to town with it and Large LARGE chunks of my hair are flying everywhere! It was a little bit terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. And she defiantly had to sweep the floor like three times because I had so much hair! So she cut it all off right…and she keeps cutting and cutting and cutting… and I am like oh no, I hope that she doesn’t cut it tooo short… but when it was over I was really happy that I took a leap of faith and did it. Because she did a really really nice job! I am so happy with my hair, now some of the novelty has worn off since then but occasionally I still go to pull my hair out of coat or something and am surprised by how much hair I don’t have… but its so much more manageable now. I love it. YAY…

As Rayanne Graff would say my hair was totally holding me back… actually to quote Angela, “So when Rayanne Graff told me my hair was holding me back, I had to listen. 'Cause she wasn't just talking about my hair. She was talking about my life.” WHY was MSCL ever canceled?!??! (I know Vega feels my pain, that was for you…)

Anyway, we got tickets to see Katya and after a really delicious authentic Italian meal, we when to see one of the most AMAZING productions I have ever seen. It was set on an entirely water set… the scenery was actually just planks of wood that were re-arranged in between acts by a chorus of dancers in muslin dresses who would roll around in the water and do these amazing choreographed scene changes. And the lighting was what made the set work so well. The water on the set was lit in such a way that it reflected onto the cyc and you could see all the ripples in the water and the silhouettes of the singers. It was a very minimalist set and quite possibly the best designed production I have ever seen. It was so subtle and well thought out. I don’t even have the words to explain how breathtaking this show was. I am so glad that we got tickets.

Then the next day we set out for Santa Maria delle Grazie the home of Leonardo Da Vinci’s the Last Supper… and both of us having read the Da Vinci Code, we REALLY wanted to see the fresco. So we walk in to buy a ticket and the lady is like “No, no tickets without a reservation…” and we are thinking What reservation… apparently they only let in so many people at a time and you have book a reservation to go months in advance… which NO ONE bothered to tell us until it was too late… And they were serious. So, we tried a lot of ways to get in without a reservation and nothing worked… including trying to sneak in anyway. But at least we tried, right? Next time make a reservation, I guess…

Then we found the most amazing bookstore at 10 Corso Como with great books on Fashion… and unlike in Paris they were in ENGLISH (that’s what really really annoys me sometimes about France, yeah they have these amazing exhibits and stuff, but they are almost ALL completely in French… so I know I am getting a lot out of them just being there and seeing the exhibits but I know I would be getting even MORE out of it if I spoke the language fluently… Don’t they REALIZE that not EVERYONE speaks FRENCH?? Its so arrogant to me… and I thought it was sooo refreshing in Italy because everything was listed in Italian but also listed in English… they really do speak English, and are nice about it, what a concept! Well except for the lady at the ticket counter for the Last Supper, she was such bitch about it, but I’m not bitter or anything…) SO I bought way to many heavy thick wonderful books (yeah I am a nerd like that) and they even gave me a handy tote to lug them back to Paris… joy.

The rest of our trip was rather uneventful… we ate incredibly good gelato… (What is the difference between Ice cream and Gelato… here is a website on just that …the world of ice cream.com (who knew?)) and I walked around the fashion district and looked in all the shop windows and I people watched in the Duomo square until my body told me it was time to go home… And after people watching in Milan I noticed about Italian Style… anything goes pretty much. I mean the general rule seems like the brighter the color and the more patterns and color you have together the better… and all of the old ladies where wearing fur coats. So cute. I saw groups of little old ladies wearing fur coats, all of them! You don’t really see that in the US. And I noticed a lot of girls wearing relaxed fit jeans instead of the tight tight jeans I have seen in Paris. In general Italian fashion is just a lot more flamboyant and relaxed then French fashion. And Italian men are very very attractive… wow.

After seeing Italian style though, I think that French fashion is kind of boring. I mean people always wear black, and yes they are very chic and classic and more conservative and I feel like that is so blah… no color (or if they do wear color they wear just one color and of course with black…) not very innovative fashion which I think is disappointing actually for the fashion capitol of the world… but it was refreshing to see people wearing bright colors for once! And wearing innovative outfits… they were so cool. So yes I loved Italy… and I am so excited to go back during my break. I am thinking of going to Florence and Rome. Any other suggestions/recommendations? Let me know where you went and loved. Anyway so that was my first experience with Italy and I Loved It. I feel like my Italian roots are showing right now… Like my great uncle Louie is playing ‘O Sol Le Mio’ on the accordion somewhere in my memories…

In case you want to sing along here’s some lyrics:
Che bella cosa, 'na Iurnata 'e sole
N'aria serena doppo 'na tempesta
Pe' ll'aria fresca pare già 'na festa...
Che bella cosa 'na iurnata 'e sole
Ma n'atu sole cchiù bello, ohi nè
'o sole mio, sta nfronte a te
'o sole, o sole mio
sta nfronte a te, sta nfronte a te !

Lùcene 'e llastre d'à fenesta toia,
'na lavannara canta e se, ne vanta
e pe' tramente terce, spanne e canta
lùceno 'e llastre d'à fenesta toia

Ma n'atu sole cchiù bello, ohi nè
'o sole mio, sta nfronte a te
'o sole, 'o sole mio
sta nfronte a te, stanfronte a te !

Quanno fa notte e 'o sole se ne scenne,
mme vene quase 'na malincunia
sotto 'a fenesta toia restarria
quanno fa notte e 'o sole se ne scenne

Ma n'atu sole, cchiù bello, ohi nè
'o sole mio sta nfronte a te
'o sole, 'o sole mio
sta nfronte a te, sta nfronte a te !


I was kinda of sad to leave Italy actually to return to the land of smelly rude people, but I flew over the alps on the way back and it was so beautiful it was worth it. Man, I Love Europe.
Toodles… gotta run! Miss Y’all at home! Hope all is well with you… sorry this post was so long... whatevs.

protest march down Blvd Saint Michel near Port Royal
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protesting the man

I skipped class yesterday to go to the Musee de Mode and yeah... I encountered a protest march on my way there... i am talking all busses and cars at a stand still... I have to say this is my first experience with a real protest/civil unrest (yeah they don't have much of that at ASU... i think its because the students are too busy sleeping or drinking, could be wrong...) and it was kind of a cool cultural experience. In case you haven't heard about it the students of Paris, mostly from the Sorbonne (aka right down the street from me in the 5th) are protesting a new job law... basically they are upset cause they can get fired from their jobs more easily under the pending legislation... Hello?? in the states there is no job security, you have to earn it. life sucks. get over it. The government can't do everything for you. (Even thought i am coming to realize that the French expect their government to do EVERYTHING for them, including pick up their dog's shit off the streets) here is an article about it from the New York Times New York Times (aka your friend and mine...) just in case you are interested i reading a slightly less biased view of the situation...

oh and PS I took pics... i am SUCH a tourist. ttfn!

just after cutting my hair in Milan...
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yay i love my hair...
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a backview of my hair... its so short...
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MILAN!!

I just got back from spending the weekend in Milan with Bethany... ITALY IS AMAZING... i am so in love and can't wait to go back! I think i am definatly going to spend most of my break in April there (If anyone wants to go with let me know). Its such a beautiful and *ahem* FRIENDLY country...

AND NOW FOR THE BIG NEWS: (well in my life this is big news i guess...)

I CUT MY HAIR... not trimmed, I'm not talking 2 or 3 inches...I really cut all my hair off. I have never in my life had my hair this short and I am so glad I did it. Oh and PS in case that wasn't clear... yes I got my hair cut in Milan while I was on Vacation... how Roman Holiday is that? lol (but with the Rome part i guess?? anyway...)

here are a few pics of my hair... TONS more stories and pics to come... It was honestly two of the best days I have had since i have been here. TTFN!

I love Italy.

the collections

Here are really good pics of Elie Saab's show Elie Saab Fall/Winter 06-07

and pics of Valentino... since I didn't get to take any at the show... boo...Valentino Fall/Winter 06-07

Have to run and do my knitting homework... god i love fashion school at times like this!

more from Gilles Rosier... I also have a really nice video clip of the finale that I took with my digital camera... does anyone know how I post this in HTML? send me and email with a heads up it you do... *calling all nerdy computer friends... you know i love you!*
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more cool star detailing on this gold lame blouse.
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can you see the cool star detailing in the tailoring of this jacket?
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i loved the beading on this cardigan.
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One of the few good pictures I got... sad times... They used this stupid followspot that ruined my pics.
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the cool projections that started the show at Gilles Rosier
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The ONE pic I have of the Valentino show... I'll see if anyone else in our group got pics cause this show was amazing!
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Back in the USSR... part of the finale...
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at Elie Saab
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This dress was Beautiful! its actually more of a dark creamy mauve color with black lace detail.
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At Elie Saab's show... my friend went to see the show and took pics for me from like the second row.
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Amazing Day Cont...

Elie Saab, for those of you who might never have heard of him, is a famous fashion designer of Lebanese decent, whom opened his own fashion house in 1982, and whom was well known in the middle east for his jewel encrusted wedding dresses for abrabian princesses long before he opened his fashion houses in Europe. He is most famous for pulling the ‘Armani card’, as I like to call it, which is when his house provides dresses to a lot of the Hollywood stars at major events… IE: the Oscars (how timely!) and if you remember a few years back when Halle Berry won her Oscar, THE dress that she wore was an Elie Saab originale, not to mention the hit dress of the event... you’d remember it if you saw it… anyway www.eliesaab.com if anyone is interested…

So, today I not only saw this adorable little lebanese man (and his very very well dressed wife, yes I said Wife) but I got to see him backstage at work getting his collection/models/show in order this morning… Amazingly beautiful clothes. The inspiration behind the collection this season was Imperial Russia… so as you can imagine hints of fur, lots of red and black and lots of beads and lace. And they defiantly played ‘Back in the USSR’ during the show… Yay the Beatles! I was excitied…

I was amazed at the detail and the expense of the fabrics and the craftsmanship of the clothes for this his Pret a Porter show. I mean the stuff looked like couture. I can’t begin to describe the beautiful things I saw… I wish I could have taken pics for y’all but they were strictly forbidden for us dressers to take them (which is SUCH crap because there are press journalists with TV and still cameras running around all over backstage snapping pics like it was going out of style… no pun intended… ok so kind of intended… he he hee)…

Anyway, so we get there at 8:50 AM (ok that means I had to be up at 7:30, which was a total hardship for me… But I am a slave to duty i guess…) and we meet this woman who is in charge of running the show backstage for Elie Saab, who told us whom we would be dressing. My model’s name was Sylvia, and she was not very amiable… in fact she borderline rude. But She did say thank you to me after the show which is more acknowledgement then some of my other Habilleur or Dresser friends got. So yeah, they had Polaroid’s posted of what each of my model’s two outfits should look like with a piece list posted… lets just say it was a cakewalk after dealing with neurotic actors. Models are totally calm all the time. Actually, I would even go as far as calling them Stoic, is that a side effect of the coke i wonder? And people from the press would come up all the time while they were waiting for the show to start and ask them to pose… and they would literally strike a pose… you know how you joke with your friends, ha ha ok in this picture strike a model pose… they literally all have the same face/pout and stance and they have to do it all the time. I understand why they pout all the time wouldn't you get super annoyed all the time at having to ‘pose’ for pics.

But seeing models up close makes me a little even more grossed out by them… they really are kinda freaks of nature… super amazingly tall, gaunt, and they walk weird and they look hungry all the time to me. I guess I don’t really get it. I don’t really think that they are pretty I guess… I just don’t see it I guess. I heard the model next to me say on her way out ‘Oh let’s go have lunch to one of the other models’ and I don’t know if that’s code for A) “Lets go eat and throw it up.” B) “Lets go have a water and salad.” Or C) “Lets go do some lines of coke.” Or I guess it could have just been Model Humor, which is kind of scarce… some models are defiantly nicer than others but they are all kind of serious all the time…
Yeah everything went fine backstage, I got Sylvia dressed and after her change (totally not a quick change either she had like 5 - 10 mins AKA ridiculous amounts of time compared to theatre fast changes…) and I even got to sneak into standing room and see the finale. It was all very beautiful and I am really glad that I got the opportunity to do this. Thanks to Peter Carmen (AKA Tim, as in Tim Gunn) who is one of the most amazingly knowledgeable people I have ever met.

OK… so after the show was over Sylvia basically threw her clothes at me, which I hung up and we proceeded to peace out just in time for the Valentino show to start! What timing! I love fashion week… SO the original plan was to sneak into standing room but then I actually got a ticket just basically by being at the right place and the right time… a ticket for standing room, which was packed PS. I got into the Salle and I was practically a sardine in this giant crowd of people… OMG… it was super hot and everyone was pushing.

I have discovered this week the KEY to a fashion show (more like seeing a show from standing room) is to PUSH… I am not talking about pushing I mean PUSHING… cause if you just PUSH you can almost see and if you don’t you get stuck in the back and can’t see anything… I was standing at what was technically an aisle… and it had a pathway for people who had seats to get through for a little while but I pushed my way up to the front and being small and short helps in this department… I felt almost bad cause I kinda pushed this one couple out of the way near the start of the show… but I was standing there about twenty mins longer them and the guy first pushed me out of the way to get closer when the aisle kind of closed up (think Red Sea people) and then he leaves a space for his girlfriend to come up and stand next to him and he turns to me and says "Excusez" to me to let his girlfriend move ahead of me. Yeah, um, no, I was having none of that cause I waited there LONGER than he did and he pushed me out of the way once already so I said, "No Excuse Me" and stepped up to the empty spot instead. OK this is VALENTINO!!! There is no room politeness. I’m not sorry cause otherwise I would have not been able to see much of anything…. Oh yeah and the best part of this story was that during the show my camera battery DIED! OMG… Yeah at Valentino’s show I didn’t get any pics cause I didn’t have any battery left… *sigh* why?

Yeah this show was by far the BEST show I saw all week... the lighting/ projections/theatricality was amazing! There was a giant staircase that started out the runway, like a 50 step white staircase and when the show started the models all rising up out of the back of the staircase and came down the stairs and arranged themselves in like a frozen picture all dressed in Black and White… it was beautiful. Almost theatre, very Film Noir. And then they slowly one by one they came to life and walked down the rest of the runway, and went back up the stairs to change… and slowly the color schemed progressed into creams, olives, eggplants and tans and browns… all of which were amazing. And then the lights dimmed again and there was this beautiful projection of this brightly colored painting on the staircase and then the models, also dressed in bright colors came down the stairs in the dark and literally looked like the projection came alive… SO beautiful. and there was a series of brightly colored and funky clothes with a lot of aquas and pinks and whites, which was kinda of un-fall/winteresque in my opinion… and then another group of black and white formal dresses and the finale was a series of four bright Valentino red dresses… It was actually a quite long show… I would say almost 45 - 50 mins (where others have been 20-30 MAX) but it was a lot of outfits, (I would hate to dress that show! So many changes!)

Oh and Gemma Ward was one of the models at the Valentino show, of course cause she is huge Aussie supermodel and has done all of the big shows this week… and I defiantly saw her walk past me on the way out of the Caroussel du Louvre (she had this ski bunny parka with hood pulled up over her head… how supermodel is that?) and my friend said she bumped into her accidentally. Wow. I think that’s the closest I will ever get to a supermodel again.

So anyway, it was really kind of depressing actually to go back to the Metro and see the unwashed Parisian masses after such a glam event like Valentino. I kind of just wanted to stay in the glam world of high fashion for a little bit longer but we were separated temporarily… I had one more show to go to today… I sound like such a snob just then… SO sorry… Its just kind of rubs off on you I think…

Anyway, so I went to another fashion show in the afternoon for a designer named Gilles Rosier. I have to admit I have never heard of him before I got the invite from Peter (who again rocks my world). I have done more research on him since this afternoon because I really really like his work. I was very impressed. Check out his sweet website if you are interested to see this collection or any of this others… www.gillesrosier.fr He is half French and half German and has worked with A LOT of the famous houses around Paris, Gaultier, Kenzo, LVMH, Leonard, Balmain, Dior, Guy Paulin, Lacoste and now he is starting his own label… (after a resume like that it won't take long for him to be one of fashion's rising stars don't you think? holey god!) again I really enjoyed his designs.

He did an interesting hybrid of men’s tailoring and women’s fashion, and elements of men’s wear mixed with women’s wear a little bit of lame and sparkle with a touch of the 80’s power suit and perhaps a nod to Armani… but overall resulting in a distinctly new and daring look that was almost androgynous at times but almost girlie at others. Amazing and very cutting edge I thought. Loved it. My faves include a dress with a wide neckline and men’s lapels laying over the shoulders in the back, and a pair of tuxedo pants that literally had the neckline of a tux shirt as the waistband (complete with collar points), a bow tie for the belt and pin tucks running down each leg! It was very creative and inventive I thought. Love it…

I also really enjoyed the presentation of his show as well. The show took place at the Couvent des Cordeliers in the 6th, which is a very old historical building in the Latin Quarter that might have been important in the Revolution... i should do more research on this topic... and I think it might be a modern art museum worth going back to see. So the show was held in this giant gothic looking room with stone walls. and the runway was basically the length of this really long room with seating on one side standing on another. The lighting was also interesting and they used very advanced projection images on the stone wall behind the runway whihc was a nice background... Anyway, the Music, like the music at Valentino was really exceptionally cool. they played an eclectic mix of classical harpsichord and symponic music mixed with Gregorian chants mixed with Techno... (How European is that? Mozart and german techno, which i found amusing.)

What a day! And to think the Oscars are tonight as well?? What a fashionable week we are having… I am kinda of sad that I am missing all the Oscar coverage. Oh well tomorrow is another day… more tomorrow of my adventures on the subway today… Man don’t ride the Metro on a Sunday that’s when all the crazys decide to get on. Gotta get some sleep for my four hour flat patterning class tomorrow… shoot me now…

Gros Bisou my fashionista friends stateside… this is fashion guru Summer Lee signing off. A bientot!

today was an amazing day!

so first this morning i dressed a fashion show today for Elie Saab... which was sooo fun...

Then I snuck into VALENTINO'S Show.... OMG... "the sexy man of black" the creator of Valentino Red... i am in shock! it was an Amazing once in lifetime experience!!!!

I then went to another show for Gilles Rosier, whom i had never heard of, who i ended up really enjoying his work as well. It was funky and very different and cutting edge... love it...

Ummmm ...... Who am I? and whose life am i living???

I have to say Today I am not homesick at all and I love love love being in Paris.

I have sooo much to talk about but i got to run right now... So much more to come...

IN THE MEANTIME... Check this out I thought it was very interesting, and i have to say i am in love with the New York Times! (or at least the style and fashion reporting anyway... their politics well, lets not go there...) NYTimes ArticleOne: The Obscure and Uncertain Semiotics of Fashion
AND NYTimes ArticleTwo: Woman Masked, Bagged and, Naturally, Feared

Two really well written articles about the current use of masked or veiled women in the fashion shows of the past week... Is it fashion, misogyny or a response to the current political state? A compelling and thought provoking take on fashion... what do you think?

Ta Ta For Now!

Oh Santa Fe, I miss you...
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Missing My Big Sky Country

After waiting for someone to do their laundry for two hours and then decide that she didn't want to come with us we finally ate at McDonalds... it was ok, let's face it McDonalds food is never really fantastic but it was good. and it was so funny there were people in line to order right behind us that were from Phoenix, Arizona!! Its such a freaking small world people...

So, after McDonalds I went and saw "Le secret du Brokeback Mountain" aka: Brokeback Mountain subtitled in French (which i thought was really good movie PS...) at a Movie theatre in Saint Germain... *sigh*

Seeing this movie totally makes me miss the southwest. I miss Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and all the cheesy cowboy cliches. And I have to admit it was really nice to escape for two hours from the french people I can't understand and go home to see the beautiful country that i left. (Even if Wyoming/Montana is a little different but that's just a technicality...) oh the West: sunshine, mountains, cactus, cyotoes, and palm tress (?) Oh your so far away...

So anyway, yeah i have to admit i am a little homesick right now... Sad Times.

going to bed dreaming of amazingly beautiful Santa Fe sunsets...

yay! its my birthday!
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Part of our impromptu modelesque photo shoot in the FDR Metro Station... why not?
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an unfortunatly dark pic at OPA last night... note the RANDOM dude on the left... yeah I definatly don't know him...lol
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Dolly, Julie, Sarah and I on the Knight Bus home (Yes... just like in HP!)
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Sometimes you just NEED greasy food...

On March 4, 1933, the start of President Roosevelt's first administration brought with it the first woman to serve in the Cabinet: Labor Secretary Frances Perkins. Go Frances.

Does anyone else read this and find it a little bit disturbing? site (yay i figured out how to include links! yes!)
Is this really the baptism of rebellion? I think its a scary attempt for Christianity, the everlasting faith of hypocrisy, to brainwash more youth into buying their mindset and worldview... but mayhap that's just me... Sorry to all the churchy folks out there... (But for the record friends I respect your right to believe whatever you believe but personally on the subject of Christianity, and well organized religion in general, I will always respectfully disagree…)

OK... I also believe the best way to cure a hangover is to eat greasy food... Therefore, I am off to McDonalds with the girls and perhaps some shopping. oh and here are some pics of last night...

Thanks again to everyone who made my birthday awesome... Especially Julie, Marta, Sarah, Robyn and Dolly... last night was a blast. (And for the record, it takes a little something like a birthday far away from home for you realize that life is a little lonely without a FORTRESS of friends to party with...
I * M I S S * Y O U * F R I E N D S... hope y'all are great.)

a fashionable birthday

Yuppp, this is my first birthday in a foriegn country... how many people can say that? ok... So maybe a lot, but i am excitied!

YAY I AM 22!

i LoVe GeTtInG oLdEr! I don't think that a lot of people say that but i do... I can't wait to be a wrinkled old lady knitting in the corner laughing to herself...

So, anyway yeah i am currently getting ready to go out on the town for my b-day... Some of the girls in my class today asked me if I wanted to go out with them to this fancy posh club on the Champs D'Elyees tonight... I think they said it is called Man Ray (but I think that that is the name of a famous photographer... perhaps that's just me...) It was really nice of them to invite me... should be fun.

and today my life just got a whole lot more like Project Runway...

They are having a fashion show for the third years in May who are graduating from my school right? So they asked me to put together the concept for a collection and do all the research (and only realize maybe one dress cause of the fact i don't have a lot of time...) How fun is that? we are supposed to pick a historical period or person to inspire us I am thinking modern meets Rococo/Boroque... should be fun.

I mean its all the fun stuff of costume design (research, concepts, fabrics) without having to worry about the constraints of working with a director and the restrictions of context of a play... Don't get me wrong I LOVE working in theatre but you know it can totally kill design creativity and fun sometimes (ie: working with INSANE directors who have no idea what they want and don't care if the show sucks in the end... If you suffered through this gently implied hellish show raise your hand now...) I will keep u updated on how it goes...

Oh and PS... I got a job today... I was hired to work for Glimmerglass this summer... not sure if i will take it yet (still waiting to hear from Santa Fe...) but its nice to know that i have a job this summer if i want it!

gotta run! love y'all! Miss you! THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE who posted sweet birthday messages to me on facebook, etc... so nice to hear from y'all! you totally helped make my birthday special. thanks guys!

I love the back detail on this dress and yes those are feathers on the shoulders of this dress... love it (even though they are really black even though they don't look like it in the pic *sigh* hopefully julie's are better...)
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I think that this was much more of a traditional fashion show than the first one i went to... I still don't like the seating arrangement. Its just not aestheically pleasing (As Nina says on PR)
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i think this pic looks kind of ghostly cool...
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again here is my crappy view in between the people standing infront of me
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grrrrrr... why are my pictures so washed out... i didn't have time to fix the settings on my camera... i am annoyed that you can't see how bright the colors are in this dress!
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a pic of the dude taking up the plastic from the runway... the signal that the show is about to start.
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ok definatly more people here than at MFG
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at the Leonard show...
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Fashion show number two

I went to another fashion show here today here in Paris...

This time it was for Leonard, a company best known for their large colorful floral patterns and fabric printing techniques. It was not quite as exciting in presentation as the other show i went to but I thought that the clothes were much more exciting. I loved the 70's feel that the dresses had. I loved the color! the beautiful patterns used in this collection were the star of the show.

I wish i had gotten better pictures but the people in front of me decided to stand up and so i got crappy pictures... Julie said hers turned out better so i will have to steal some from her so you can see... This show was not laid out nearly as well as the other show. There were people sitting in the middle of the runway and i felt it was odd cause you were looking at the people in the middle almost more than u were looking at the models... weirdness.

OK, these models, even though they were wearing very beautiful dresses, they walked very weird. and if it is at all possible they were skinner than the other models i saw... sickenly thin and they had this super unatural walk that was kind of distirbing to watch... it kind of made me cringe. Is this really beauty?

anyway... had a great hat class today. *sigh* I heart hats.

I am beginning to think that i am taking too many classes... I am taking classes from 9 am until about 5 or 6 at night pretty much everyday of the week... and this drives me nuts... i hate that kind of schedule, i am tired all the time and i am always exhausted by the end of the day. i might have to cut back or just stop going to certain classes that i don't really find interesting... becuase lets face it I am a non matriculated student for the first time in my life, why can't i just enjoy it? I worked super hard to get my degree for three and a half years... I am done. I am here for the experience... not to get trapped in classes when there is the big beautiful city of Paris at my finger tips. this is what is annoying me lately.

I am also feeling the beginnings of what i like to call homesickness... sad times. To all my peeps in Arizona I miss y'all! (and to those people who are looking for something to do for spring break... Bonjour! PARIS!)

going to bed now cause i have class at 9 am tommorrow *Grrrrr!*

What's your French Name?

Your French Name is:

Bebe Raynaud

What's Your French Name?

so in case i decide to change my name, which is highly unlikely, you will know what to call me... it sounds decidedly francais non? cause yeah my name totally does not translate... i introduce myself and all i get is a blank stare and a questioning look... sometimes i try to explain it but the french just don't get it. Oh well. What's your french name? click on the link to find out...

ok, this pic turned out kind of scary but here Bethany and I attempt to strike model poses (no one does them as good as Ashley Zukowski I am afraid) while sipping our free cocktails (whatever they are). Do you see how tiny they are! aren't they cuteness!?!?! oh days like this remind me how much i love fashion!
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My First Paris Fashion Show

OMG... I went to a fashion show during Paris Fashion Week.

I keep thinking it was all a dream or something but no it was real and I got pics to prove it! Yes!

Here’s how all this happened… Tuesday morning at in our textiles class Peter Carmen (the Tim Gunn-equse figure at our school… yeah my life is just like Project Runway PS) comes into our class and hands out invites to two fashion shows this week. I look at one and am literally like OMG… this is TODAY! And Peter said we were excused from classes if we wanted to go… he actually asked our in desperate need of anger management textiles teacher to let us go a little early so that we could get to the show in time. It was only at the Carousel du Louvre which isn’t that far but I had a go home and change for my first Parisian fashion show experience (even if it is only prêt a porter and not couture… its still exciting) and out textiles professor assured us that this show would be worth seeing. It was for Marithe et Francois Girbaud, which is a very trend based design brand that opened in 1938, and is known for their street wear and for recently being banned from Milan, (I am not kidding people… read about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marith%C3%A9_Fran%C3%A7ois_Girbaud or here http://news.spirithit.com/index/culture_art/more/church_in_france_wins_ban_of_last_supper_ad/) anyway… so it wasn’t Galliano but its still an amazing opportunity see a real fashion show! So I got there and of course since it was Bethany’s day off I got her an invite and met her there. When we first got there we weren’t allowed in yet because it was only people with actual seats for the show were being allowed in first… and our tickets were for standing room (with the infamous ST written in the corner of our invites, whatevs) so they told us to wait upstairs until they were letting the standing room in… so we went upstairs and oh yeah it was defiantly a bar serving free drinks (to promote some type of alcohol of course) and so Bethany and I had a cocktail (which was amazing by the way… maybe made with grapefruit juice… so good and well tiny but whatevs it was free…) So, after a few mins we went back down stairs and they let us into the Salle this time… and Man it was PACKED with people! And the Runway was Amazing. I loved the lighting and the silver spheres hanging from the ceiling… very cool and futuristic. (Not going to lie I was totally checking out the grid and I defiantly saw they were using Twin Spin lights on the runway right before the show… you now you are in tech theatre when…) and we had pretty good view from where we were standing… we were kind of at the end of the runway… but the models were walking in a pretty complex walking pattern around all the spheres so I think that everyone could see pretty well. I took a ton of pics and as you can see from the pics I think that the western look is in for Fall/Winter 2006/2007. The theme for the show, as it said on our invites was “Ballroom on Ice”… the outfits felt pretty un-icy but maybe that’s just me… and all I have to say is that once the show started it went by super fast… I would say the show only lasted less than twenty five mins… I think it was a little anticlimactic considering how late the show started (supposed to start at 12:30 did not start until like 1:00pm) but the show was really a good show. Nice combinations of color and lines. I especially liked their use of layering techniques and such. I also just have to say yes… the models ARE just that skinny… you see pics and you think, ‘no one is really that thin’ well yeah they aren’t as tall as I thought they would be (only like 5’ 8’’) but seriously gaunt. For true. So anyway… it was an exciting experience. Everyone who was a spectator was also dressed up in their fashionably best… (I resisted the urge to take pics of people… ) usually in all black, very Parisian of course. But there was just an atmosphere of being on the inside when you were in the Salle that the show took place in. I can’t wait to be behind the scenes of one this weekend at Elie Saab!

Viva semaine des créateurs de la mode!! (long live fashion week!)

The other show I am going to tomorrow morning is for Leonard (who is apparently a fabric company that has recently started to do shows) and it should also be interesting… I will defiantly take pics for ya! TTFN… I have to get some beauty sleep before tomorrow’s excitement… and I also have hat class tomorrow! Yes!

cutural experiences in Paris

Hey so i finally have time to post...

I have been soooo busy i forgot to write about my experiences this weekend at the Opera... So Bethany and I wanted to see Don Giovanni at the opera which was closing last weekend. So we naturally thought we could get tickets for closing night at the last minute... Um Yeah... genius at work…

So we go to the Opera Garnier, where the show is playing… which is THE infamous opera house with the chandelier, the double staircase and the lake underneath it JUST like in Phantom of the Opera (I know I am a nerd)… but yeah we stand in this long ass line and we buy tickets for 7 Euros… at this point 7 Euros won’t even buy me a full dinner at a cafe and now I am going to see an Opera for basically nothing!! No freaking way, right??

And then we got to our seats….

OK, so they say seats ‘without a view’ and they are totally NOT KIDDING. So I felt like I was in the nosebleed seats and I felt like I was in the vicarious position of being almost so close to the edge that I might fall in… I could see maybe a fourth of the stage (of course I saw stage left and all the action was staged on you guessed it stage right… just strategically placed so I could not see anything…but I had a great view of the orchestra… and I got to see a particularly emphatic timpani player. Man he was good. He totally rocked my performance. He hee hee.) Bethany swears that usually you usually can see something from these kind of seats you usually only have to strain your neck a little to see but nope not for Don Giovanni… *sigh* and it is such a beautiful opera. (I love the music)… but it was an odd production of it. All done in modern business suits and office attire like business casual type feel except for a chorus of smock wearing workers that gave it like a factory type feeling… idk I guess I missed part of the picture… literally. But during the descent into hell scene, I kid u not, the chorus came out wearing mickey mouse masks over their faces… at that point I really felt like I missed something! lol… and the set was uber contemporary office building/ perhaps factory looking… but hey, at least its not like I missed seeing an amazingly beautiful visual production… c’est la vie. But I did get the opportunity to see the amazing Opera Garnier. (It is totally “more baroque” than Clogsworth could ever have imagined… and it doesn’t need fixing… that is for Mollie) and I am sooo in love with the Chagall ceiling. I could really stare at it forever! SO beautiful, peaceful and colorful like all of his work.

So not an amazing first experience at the Paris Opera… but the next day we went to the matinee performance of Rigoletto at the other major opera house in town Opera Bastille. (Which in my opinion is a much better house…) But we didn’t think we were going to get tickets because we were standing in line and well there was an announcement over the loud speaker saying that they were sold out except for the really expensive 110 Euro seats… at which point we were like crap! But luckily there was a women there who had NINE tix and was trying to sell them right before the performance. (OK who buys nine tickets and uses none of them? That’s what i want to know…) so anyway, the show started at 2:30 and we waited as long as we possibly could to buy the tickets and the price that the woman wanted for her tickets kept going farther and farther down in price until we could finally afford them! Yes! (I am not telling you how much we paid cause that’s tacky but let me tell u it was no the 110 Euros that it usually costs!) so we run upstairs and we get to our AMAZING seats right as they are dimming the lights to start the performance. We were sitting on the main floor on house right but not far far right kind of middle right… very very good seats… and the opera was worth it! The sets was fantastic and the costumes were extravagant… Beautiful, just beautiful. And the female soprano was beyond description amazing. I was in love with her voice… so light and pure. Her high notes were spectacular! The rest of the cast was ok, but the woman who sang Gilda was the best part of the show. I was very very glad that we went. I really enjoyed the show. Yay for Opera.

I think that going to Opera is like a mini French lesson… cause even though they are singing in Italian and there are subtitles in French (neither of which I can speak) I still could understand most of it. I read the subtitles and put it together but it helps cause you can see the action and put it together with the written words in the subtitles which are super helpful! Gotta love Opera… I am going to be fluent in French yet. Just you wait!

Then I went to the Centre Pompidou this weekend. Loved it! Might be the best thought out permanent collection display I have ever seen! They have the entire collection displayed Thematically. Its interesting and well written… I felt like I learned a lot from it which is always nice doncha know. I love the fact that they let you take pictures in the museums here…something they would never allow in the states… but its so nice to go up to an inspirational piece and take a picture of it for later reference… wow. I also saw my first Kandinsky painting in the museum and was in awe. God I love his paintings… I wonder where his composition paintings are on display… maybe Germany? Anyone know? I would die to see them. But yeah could defiantly get lost in this museum for days and not come out! definatly museums like this and getting in for FREE makes living here worth it!