And Now Paris Lovers, You Can Dress Like a Parisian Café Chair

I don’t really have much business being at Paris Fashion week– you’re far more likely to find me at the café with my pichet of wine. And anyway, there’s too much noise surrounding it all to allow someone like me to find stories behind the clothes. But paying no mind to the chaos, a small and…

Why Paris’ Greatest Art Nouveau Metro Stop Is No More

No one does nostalgia better than Parisians, who just seem to have a real knack for sprinkling eccentric, liveable history into their everyday routine. Case in point? Those luscious Art Nouveau metro stops, or “dragonflies” as they were dubbed by locals at the time of their construction in the 1900s. The green, arabesque forms were…

Meet the Would-be King of France (He’s Kind of a Babe)

It’s not fair that the English get to have all the fun with their monarchy. France has better palaces and all these monuments and frankly, we need more parades in Paris. Enter Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou, the rightful pretender to the French throne. In other words, if the French throne were restored, this guy would become King…

Here’s an Instagram Account dedicated to finding Forgotten French Ghost Signs

Instagram has become one of my favourite resources, probably because I’ve trained my digital eye to know exactly what I’m looking for while scrolling endlessly through accounts, allowing me to pinpoint more places on my wanderlust map like a visual mood board of things I love. Make sense? Well anyway, it’s a great travel tool and…

Italian Summer Nostalgia with the Original Talented Mr. Ripley

If you didn’t grow up with French films, there are some real gems to be discovered from the ‘Nouvelle Vague’ golden age of French cinema. One of my most recent ‘how-have-I-never-seen-this’ moments came while watching Plein Soleil (a.k.a. Purple Noon), the original film adaption of Talented Mr. Ripley, starring French sixties heartthrob, Alain Delon in his first major role.…

Window Shop in Art Deco Paris

It was a lucky link I found on Pinterest that led me by chance to the digital image catalogue of the Wolfsonian-FIU, a treasure trove of rare books rescued from obscurity. Deep within the collection of more than 100,000 images, two dog-eared books acquired from the French archives published in the early 1930s have been digitally…

French Swag on Stilts

I assumed the impossible practice of walking on stilts was solely for the circus or a merry band of vagabond street performers. Alas, these ‘impossible’ contraptions were extremely valuable methods of transport to the French shepherds of Landes in the south-western farmlands. Believe it or not, until the beginning of the 20th century, stilts were actually used…

The ill-fated Abandoned French Chateau: Before & After

For those of you that have ever done any derelict digging of their own on the net, it’s likely you would have come across a photograph of this room with its impressive circular stained glass window and the decaying leather armchair sat facing it. This is the Chateau de Pont Remy Somme, also known…

Closed Shops

This morning I woke up early thinking I’d have a productive errands day; get to the gym, run across town to pick up those shoes for my brother’s upcoming wedding, pick up my dry cleaning– all the little things you don’t really feel like doing on the weekend. And then of course I realised that the…

American Girls in Paris

Summer has arrived here in Paris, which means, so have the American college girls. For twenty-something Parisian boys, this is hunting season. American girls are numerous and they’re generally less intimidating than your average female Parisienne. French women –who are well aware of this themselves– are generally complicated and slightly nutty creatures. It is common…