hôtel costes

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the day after the 14 juillet festivities, my friends and i decided to go to hôtel costes for dinner and drinks. everything i had read about this place appealed to me, and it did NOT disappoint. red velvet, mysterious heavy drapery, tall scented candles, perfetly suited music, and an outdoor dinner courtyard filled with intriguing people, were only a primer to the incredible food and wine, and the best cheesecake on the planet. an inspiring place to delve into a deep conversation.. i could have spent the whole night there.

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ode to monicas growout

my dear friend monica, who i went to paris with this year, has the best growout of anyone i know in real life. she attained it by simply stopping the highlighting. she wants to change it because she is in the mood for bangs, and so i thought i would do a post about it before it leaves our lives.

woe

sweats aaaand sequins? lady, you are my hero.

ps. i was so excited that zara finally re-released the faux chanel sequined blazer, but the quality shot down! nothing like the original.

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jak&jil

le fumoir

i went to le fumoir for the first time last summer. my friends and i stumbled into this restaurant/bar/library by accident one night, and ended up falling in love with the place and having a magical parisian evening. on rue de l'amiral de coligny, across the street from the louvre, le fumoir seems perfectly separated from the busier streets surrounding. lovely ambiance, comfortable seating, and the buzz of a mature parisian crowd. im not usually one to repeat restaurants when travelling, but i went back three times on this trip. definitely my favorite low-key setting.

images from google

la guerre sans dentelle

this trip to paris hosted my first visit to versailles. along with the spectacular castle and gardens, i was surprised to find a photography installation alongside versaille's history paintings. la guerre sans dentelles (war without frills, i think?) is running from may 16-sept 6, and kinda blew my friend and i away. we spent about an hour in the battles gallery which runs the length of the south wing. below each immensely-sized history painting, there would be a large image on the left, and its original photograph on the right. the twentieth-century photographs would be reflective of a theme in the painting above it, such as invasion, alliances, prison, civilian death, execution, etc.

the juxtaposition of these images was so powerful, as they spanned from the 1500s to a present-day image of a prison in iraq. the grittiness of the photographs revealed the reality behind the romanticized paintings. on the flip side, the exhibit makes the viewer realize that the process and consequences of war are, in many ways, exactly the same today ..even if we keep romanticizing the idea that we are more advanced intellectually.

stowaways

although i found myself walking all over paris, shopping remained at a minimum.. mostly because we just wanted to be outside as much as possible. what i did get: a vintage purse from le marais, bois d'argent cologne, and repetto ballet shoes with a small square heel.

in 1947, in her tiny workshop next to the parisian opera house, rose repetto produced her first pair of pointe shoes. ten years later, inspired by the form of dancing shoes and their unique "stitched-returned" production method, she created the repetto ballerina.

mounted and stitched on the reverse side, and then returned like gloves, your repetto shoes have been produced with special care at our workshop in saint médard d'excideuil in the dordogne region. our craftsmen choose the most beautiful materials to guarantee the comfort and flexibility that are so much appreciated by dancers. the leather sole s light and resistant. having passed numerous quality controls, finished by hand and produced in limited series, every pair of repretto shoes fulfils a unique promise of grace and lightness.

the paris series

"if you are lucky enough to have lived in paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for paris is a moveable feast" - ernest hemingway

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paris is one of the most difficult places to leave. having just spent ten days there, i feel nostalgic but also re-inspired. for the next week or so im going to go through some of art, fashion, and culture i experienced while there. while last year i took so many pictures that i treasure now, i barely took any this year. sometimes a camera takes away from the experience a setting provides, and it will never be the same as being there. and so my goal this year was just to soak up as much as possible, and look actively. doing this allowed me to stay in the moment, and be part of my surroundings rather than a voyeur.

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image: google

new staple

my quest for the perfect leather leggings had finally resolved itself. i have been yearning for the row ones for a couple of years, and aritzia has provided me with the perfect appropriation. they look and feel exactly like leather, with the row-esque elastic high waist, and the key feature: they bunch at the knees and ankles. i debuted them at le fumoir in paris with a plain pocket tee. and i saw some lovely parisian women wearing them with knits, tshirts, and flats during the day which proved very inspiring. more paris inspiration to come..
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image: knight cat

couture and real life

i love the juxtaposition of michaela kocianova dressed for the dior couture show while overlooking avenue montaigne. what a dream.

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jak&jil

the blog generation

first time in a while that holts windows have made me stop in my tracks! the windows are themed around our blog roles. i think the distinction between each one could be stronger, but i really like them. they are current and in touch with real life. also, im always a fan of cluttered windows (these pictures dont show it very well) and they are a definite improvement from the very questionable and poorly-executed comic and burlesque windows we saw previously.
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"bloggers have become the fashion worlds new celebrities. theyre knowledgeable and influential contributors to the modern media landscape. their opinions and visuals are relevant, creative and thought-provoking, providing a constant source of inspiration. we are honoured to pay homage to their style" john gerhardt, holt renfrew creative director