Can Someone Please Turn Me into Kate Moss/Sienna Miller?

So basically, I want to be Kate Moss from the "Faraway" movie/ad from her new collection for Longchamp. 

Now do you see why I've suddenly become obsessed with finding vintage boho dresses? I probably won't get anywhere near as cool as Kate Moss, but hey, it's good to have something to work toward haha. I'll skip the bangs and the coke.

I also totally loved Sienna Miller's boho era. Remember that London "cool" I was talking about? Well, she totally has it.

Anyone else into hippie-chic?

Elizabeth

'Ello Poppet

not a cloud in sight!

Who wants to move to London? I do! I love loved loved London you guys. It was just “cool” like you would expect it to be. Everyone was SO nice and it was AMAZING to get to speak English and understand people. That accent….that accent just makes every guy THAT much hotter, and they’re pretty hot already so….what more can I say?

I stayed with my friend Saskia at her flat in Shoreditch by Brick Lane where we went to get some incredible Indian food as soon as I got there. Tandori prawns anyone? We even brought our own beers from our place and they didn’t care that we brought them inside. We went to a bar where they were playing tons of dubstep and met up with my friend Kailyn before we went on to Saskia’s friend’s flat party. Cabs in London are HUGE (unlike Paris, you can actually take more than 3 people) and look super cute and old-school. 

My first full day was GORGEOUS (apparently the first in months) with not a cloud in the sky. We walked by Buckingham Palace and through the park which was lovely. I got some strawberry ice cream (delicious) which matched all of the cherry blossoms in the trees. It just felt like SUCH a pretty day!

I nearly died when we went shopping on Oxford Street, nearly died due to an OVERLOAD of greediness. Everything was soooooooo cute (and inexpensive if you didn’t convert the pounds to dollars)! I even decided on an entire style-adaptation while there because I was inspired. I now want to go all boho à la Kate Moss and Sienna Miller and with my new hair I think it’s totally suitable. I limited myself to this trench coat I had wanted since I saw it online a few weeks ago and a little white bohemian dress. 

We went out to a hipster club/bar thing out in Camden for my British friend Luke’s birthday. The club/bar was REALLY cool. It used to be horse stables apparently and they converted it into a club so now there are like couches and stripper poles in those stalls. They were also blasting techno/discoelectronica in two different rooms which was cool. Later we went to Luke’s place for continued drinking and it was fun actually getting to know some native peoples. We made some cool friends including two really nice girls whom we happened to see the next day in line for the ATM. 

Taylor Taylor London

After I got my hair cut at Taylor Taylor London by a Mr. James Rowe (such a cool guy; had tattoos and CRAZY skills) where they had a cocktail/coffee/tea bar, candy, and the cutest decor in the world, the two girls took us to a market and I got some MEXICAN FOOD! It was good and cheap and there were endless amounts of things that I wanted at that market (jewelry, scarves, food, ahhh). 

notice London Bridge in the background?/my new trench

We did some more sightseeing and walked along the Thames. The atmosphere was just really pleasant and it was all clean (which I appreciated since there is quite a bit of dog poop and piss all over Paris). Parliament was gorgeous as was Westminster Abbey (aka future site of the Kate & William wedding). 

Stupidly, I didn't take ANY pictures at night (intoxication?). That is my mission for my next trip there.

Also, the myth about there not being good food in England, totally FALSE. I can’t wait to go back and get some sausage & mash with some people I met there. CAN’T WAIT TO GO BACK!!!

Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve left anything btw. I’ll try and be better about that and put up some more random/fun stuff!


Elizabeth

Paris's Hidden Treasures

my purchased postcards & scarf from Florence

Paris is a huge labyrinth of thousands of tiny shops. There is anything and everything. Some of these shops are even hundreds of years old (and not just 1 or 2, some are up to 4 or 5). Today my friend and I visited the Passage des Panoramas in the 2^nd arrondisment. It’s this cool series of corridors between buildings with tons of old shops full of trinkets (love that word), art, and old books (some of them looked like Olivader’s from Harry Potter but with books instead of wands haha; 1) that was really nerdy of me to reference Harry Potter and 2) funny that reference fits considering I saw Emma Watson today).

I went there on the search for the postcards in the picture above by this illustrator I recently came across, Antoinette Fleur. They ended up being in a store that was probably not bigger than a 12 ft x 3 ft shop. I felt really proud of myself for some reason when I finally found the place and purchased the cards. I guess it was one of many of quests I’ve tried to accomplished so far in Paris (like finding the perfect pair of boots or seeing uniquely Parisienne things). 

There were tons of places in the panoramas for unique old jewelry, vintage postcards, and trinket shops with SUCH random things such as little glass men that sit on the edge of a table and even spare doll eyes (creepy?). It was like being taken back in time or to some whimsical alternate universe. 

On our way to the Orangerie to see Monet’s “Water Lilies” we passed by a few different art galleries (and Christian Louboutin….[quoting Rachel Zoe]“ugh I die”). There was one gallery with a collection of REALLY AMAZING pop art, including this picture below. 

Will someone please fund me a trinket/art shopping spree? I don’t know where I’d put it all but maybe I can design my room a la Zooey Deschanel in “500 Days of Summer.”

Paris was BEAUTIFUL today by the way. We were walking through the Tuileries and I felt SO happy to be there outside on my day off. I didn’t even need my jacket. Hopefully more sunny days to come!

Elizabeth

French Fashion: Blair & Chuck

illustration by Antoinette Fleur

(btw, after these first couple, my future postings will DEF not be this long)

I’m not gonna lie, before coming to Paris I was pretty confident in my personal fashion sense. While I can’t always afford all of the stuff I want to buy, I tend to feel a little over-dressed back home in the U.S. (I mean, hell, I used to wear heels to class almost everyday junior year of high school) and I love reading fashion mags and checking up on style.com. But then I came to Paris….

Now, most of these super-fashionable Parisiennes I’m going to be talking about are probably the ones with a little money. Not EVERY French person looks like they stepped out of Vogue but for the most part, French people just look really polished and nice. I can’t tell you enough how easy it is to spot tourists (especially Americans) just because of their odd clothing. Those ugly-ass shoes and travel bags STICK OUT like sore thumbs. Again, I was pretty confident before arriving here, but the French are just at an entirely different level. 

It may be that the French seem to be customarily more traditional so they tend to stick to a style that is both classic and complementary. Sometimes when I’m walking around I feel like I could find a postcard of the same location from 40 years ago and everything and everyone would look nearly the same. They all wear nice tailored coats, generally in classic tones like black, camel, or navy and EVERYONE (including men) can wear a scarf sooo chic-ly. I STILL can never get my scarf to look right. But I try I try…

The French people I see most often are the ones at my school. They are quite bougy and thus, wear really nice clothes. I always see the French girls wearing those little lace-up petite-heeled boots with tights and dresses. The closest recognizable figure I can think of to embody their style would be Blair Waldorf. Fashionable and on-trend but always polished. The male version would obviously be her counterpart, Chuck Bass. There’s a little bit of Dan thrown in there but mostly, there are tons of Blairs & Chucks wandering around Paris (I know, these gossip girl references make me feel very “tweeny” but they fit). 

The other day I even saw a guy in one of my classes wearing...get ready...BRIGHT RED trousers (and I mean BRIGHT red), a burgundy/velvety blazer, light-blue collared shirt, briefcase and a light blue BOWTIE with tiny burgundy dots (paired with that overgrown, fluffy, messy hair look so many guys around here are sporting). He casually walked in and strolled through the room to sit by his friends who, to my own atonishment, greeted him like he didn’t look like some sort of WILLY WONKA impersonator. If I saw someone wearing this in the US, I would think it was a costume, or they were just crazy. But for the most part, the guys at my school (and France in general) dress pretty dashingly. 

On a personal note, I NEED more tights. They have these beautiful stocking/tight stores all over Paris and I want to buy sooo many. Eventually I might want my collection to resemble Blair Waldorf’s. Seriously. That’s another thing…..now I can NEVER wear a skirt or dress without tights. That breeze just makes me feel like a slut. If you go tight-less here in Paris, you’ll probably get some stares that say “hey you whore,” at least while the weather is still chilly. I saw a girl yesterday wearing a skirt with no tights and flat boots and the phrase “what a whore!” was the first statement which came to my mind. Hopefully this will change as the weather changes, but even thinking of showing-off my pasty legs in public makes me uncomfortable (which is so so so weird coming from California where my bare legs usually make their appearance during 90% of my life). 

One of my statuses when I first arrived here was that everyone looked like they had stepped out of Vogue and that’s still true. I never thought that the ensembles of fashion mags were ever worn in real life (I always thought you were meant to take pieces of each and incorporate them into more “normal” dress) but they are. It’s really cool to see. It’s also pretty cool that the French seem to carry this sense of style from the time of their birth until their old age. I just saw an old couple looking ADORABLE (the man wore a full camel-toned ensemble with matching hat and scarf while the women had on a navy mod coat, camel skirt, and red scarf). 

It’s no wonder “chic” is a French word since it seems to be more of a model they live by rather than merely an adjective.

Hopefully with my time here, I’ll bring a little bit of the fashion sense back with me.

Too much is running through my mind on this subject (specific clothing items, shopping practices, etc.) but I'm sure it'll all eventually make its way into future postings.

(I’m on the hunt for the perfect trench, if you know of where to get one please tell me!)

Elizabeth

French Guys

Since I'm starting my blog so late into the semester, I thought I would bypass a summary of all my daily activities thus far (which involve a lot of drinking, eating, and sleeping anyways) and just summarize the last 2 months with a few generalized posts. I thought I'd cut to the chase: french guys. 

Before arriving in France, my only idea of what French guys were like was that they were a sexy, suave, slutty, sleezy and skinny bunch. Some things are true, others are not. 

What is not true:

French guys are not that sleezy (for the most part but, oh man, there are DEFINITELY some haha). The ones I've encountered in "civilized settings" (this excludes some bars and sketchy parts of the metro) have a shocking amount of manners (especially the bougy ones). Yesterday I awkwardly stood in the elevator for a moment when a guy and I were going to the same floor. I expected him to jump out of the elevator in front of me since I was standing in the far corner and most American guys would never think twice about going first. But no. He stood to the side and waited patiently for me to exit and silly-me waited for him for an awkward few seconds before I realized what was going on and proceeded. Also, they ALWAYS hold the door open. In America I'm so used to the door slamming in front of me, that I automatically prepare to catch the door. In Paris, I had one guy notice I was behind him going into the building and he waited a bit so he could hold the door open for me. American boys => learn!

Now, it would be untrue to say that French guys are not slutty because they are in the notion that they seem to want to have as much sex as humanly possible with any girl that crosses their path. But the thing that shocked me the most is that French guys are REALLY quick to start a RELATIONSHIP. This is almost an unheard of idea amongst college-age men in America. All American boys want to just party and get as much ass as they can while they’re still "young and free" without any "commitments." Shockingly enough, not French guys. Sure, they want to have sex all the time (what man doesn't?) and will probably want to on the first date. However, from what I've heard, for some French guys, even a makeout sesh on the dance floor signifies that you are in-a-relationship. I think the whole "no strings attached" concept doesn't exist here (btw that movie was called "Sex Friends" in France). French guys WANT girlfriends. 

illustration by Stina Persson

What is true: 

They are pretty suave. Whenever I drunkenly give out my number to French guys whom I can’t remember the next day (I've become a lot better at not doing that, don't worry), I am always greeted by a lengthy text poetically asking me to get coffee, drinks, or dinner. Last night my friend and I received roses from a guy who we were just sharing a drunken cigarette with. Other than Valentine's Day (or when they're sorry), when do American guys give you flowers? HOWEVER, sometimes this "suave-ness" can be pretty sleezy. And when they're sleezy, they're sleezy. Let's just say my friends and I have had countless laughs at the RIDICULOUS propositions French guys put out. RIDICULOUS.

Unfortunately, French guys are slim. I think that as a country the French are just small people, but someone PLEASE find me a French guy that works out at all. I don’t think a single French guy exists who has big muscles. At most, one can hope to see a tall guy with broad shoulders and natural muscle tone, but that’s as good as it’s going to get. And don’t get me wrong, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the clothes men wear in France, but the fit of most things does not help to hide some guys’ scrawniness.

They are sexy. The accent alone is pretty sexy, not gonna lie. Now, many are NOT sexy AT ALL, but the ones who are…..are SO SO SO SO sexy. The way they dress, that perfectly cut hair, and how they get really close so they can talk to you softly are all things that make them sexy. There are definitely more guys who are handsome in France (I do mean ALL of France: at the Food & Wine Expo I had the please of observing French guys from all regions) than there are in the US, at least that I’ve seen. Yet it may be that they all wear good shoes (a personal subject of importance). At least once a day (which is more than I can say in America) I see an ABSOLUTELY PERFECT-looking guy. It is my personal belief that every guy that appears in a fashion ad (like the one in this Balmain ad) lives in Paris.

This is all on this topic for now. But I can't wait to see what happens to these guys once Spring is here...

Elizabeth