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Category / Forget Paris

Like Dalí, She Should Have Been a Household Name for Surrealist Art

She became famous overnight with a strange furry teacup that mesmerised the art world in a way that no woman had done before. In a time before shock-seeking art became the norm, Meret Oppenheim was a pioneer; a force of nature who had all the Surrealists of Paris speaking her name, even though she didn’t…

Don’t be a Tourist, Episode 2: Parisian Ghost Town

And we’re back with another episode from our new web series, Don’t be a Tourist in Paris. Before you tuck in, this is the second episode, which means you should probably go back and watch Episode 1 if you haven’t already seen it. Or just watch it after. I’m not fussy. For today’s line-up, your…

Secrets of Belleville

Paris: The Birthplace of Communism explained Belleville is a neighbourhood in the East of Paris that has a vibrant multicultural community. It’s French, it’s Chinese, it’s Vietnamese, it’s Moroccan, Tunisian, it’s Jewish, it’s Muslim, it’s Christian, it’s even part hipster too. And they all co-exist here peacefully. On the main boulevard, you’ll find a hodgepodge…

Inside the Real-Life “Hunger Games” City: A Decaying Parisian Utopia

We’re quite spoilt here in Paris, surrounded by elegant cream-colored stone Haussmanians, gifted with pockets of bucolic cobblestone streets and charmed by old-world cafés and façades. But stray to the suburbs of Eastern Paris and you’ll find what looks like an alternate universe in comparison, a failed post-war “city of Babel” with Pharaonic structures of decaying…

The Secret Swimming Pools of the Paris Catacombs

It felt like the pavements of Paris could have melted these past few days. The city’s swimming pools were overflowing with splashing bodies and escape from the heat seemed futile. But there is one place, beneath the baking pavements, where only few will venture and plunge into the cool waters of the underworld. So let’s follow them…

Lovely Ladies in Lace at the Paris Races

I‘m just a little bit mesmerised by these photographs of Parisian ladies showing off their best French lace at the races. The Hippodrome de Lonchamps was the place to be seen in the 19th and early 20th century, a pre-Paris Fashion Week catwalk of sorts in the spring. The very latest modes were on parade, as modelled by these…

Backstage at the Paris Opera House in 1937

Just when I think I’ve seen all the vintage photos there are to see of Paris, I get lucky and find a stack of treasure hiding away in the archives to share with you. So today, we’re using our virtual backstage pass to snoop around the iconic Palais Garnier. Classical ballet as we know it today…

How did the King of 20th Century Fashion Disappear into Oblivion?

They compared his legacy to Picasso’s and called him the “King of Fashion” in America and Le Magnifique in Paris. He liberated women from corsets, dominated Belle Epoque fashion with his lavish draped designs and was the first French couturier to commercialise his own perfumes, now an industry standard marketing concept. Paul Poiret should be a…

How to Save the French Brasserie

I‘m gastronomically-challenged when it comes to the French brasserie. The truth is, I really have no idea if the food is any good because I’m too busy side-eyeing the floor tiles, the typefaces, ogling at the glass ceiling and imagining the entire scene exactly as it was 50 or 100 years ago. Walk into any…
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