paris: what to wear in paris

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Thanksgiving Dos & Don'ts

We all worry what to wear to Thanksgiving din-din. Clearly going bottomless is not advisable.

Going topless is not an option no matter what Paris Printemps thinks.

I would leave the jaguar shorts for another occasion peut-etre non?

Baring your new French lingerie is a bit showy you know.

What goes in Paris does not necessarily go in Omaha NE.

The same applies for deeply-off-the-shoulder looks at the Thanksgiving table.

Yet completement covered-up 'monestary' looks by Hussein Chalayan are also a no-go.

If you insist on wearing an edible chocolate dress, do bring a back up. You know how hungry guests get before dinner.

Ditto for edible chocolate shoes...

Do not presume your family will appreciate your new Parisien bedhead hairdo. Bring a comb!

Displaying new 'Mona Lisa' nailfiles a table to announce your recent Louvre gift shop visit is a no-no.

Leave all digital gadgets at home.

Don't even think of bringing them a table!

When the pumpkin pie is served DO NOT moan loudly,

'Where are the MACARONS?'

Not unless you don't want to be invited back next year which is an option worth considering in some familial situations,ahem

BONJOUR Thanksgiving Dos & Don'ts!

What to wear in Paris

What to wear in Paris?

In one word - BLACK.

Perferably a shortie quilted BLACK jacket.

Wear a shortie quilted black jacket whilst riding a Velib and you're set.

Here's Susan Hochbaum of Pastry Paris fame blending in nicely...

You could get away with pushing a black pousette with a smidge of pumpkin in it...

Do wear black to see the mostly black exhibit of Hussein Chalayan at the musee des arts decoratifs.

Black on the Metro? Oui!

Black lace anything is 'in' right now, under or over...

Black ballerinas? Save them for summer.

It's boots, boots and more boots.

A small white dog is fine as an accessory...

At any time in Paris.

If you insist dressing like a Parisien by all means get a giant plans/maps of Paris (Thank you Grace!). People, Parisiens included, will be asking you directions. You better be prepared.

BONJOUR WHAT TO WEAR IN PARIS!

Paris Was Ours

The top book I'm reading this week is Paris Was Ours.

I can't put it down and neither will you.

It won't tell you what to wear in Paris, though there's a chapter on 'Understanding Chic' by Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni but I haven't read it yet...

It won't tell you which patisseries to go to either...

It will tell you what it's like to be an ex-pat in Paris and feel lost. Editor Penelope Rowlands starts off the introduction with,

'I'm a PARISIAN of the recurrent, revolving door kind.'

Later she reveals, 'We hated Paris and loved it all at once, and when we headed back to New York (after a year) we did so reluctantly.'

32 writers contributed their experiences of living in Paris, so there's something for everyone here.

The first exerpt by Veronique Vienne, (a terrific art director I illustrated for at SELF Magazine) tells of her tres difficile return to live in Paris - she'd forgotten many French ways after years in New York. "Living in Paris is "priceless," but it will cost you."

Veronique created one of the best and earliest how-to books on 'French Style'. I wish someone would reprint it...

Alicia Drake (of The Beautiful Fall) writes of those grey, metalic Parisian skies - it's not always champagne and roses bien sur.

Patric Kuh, now an LA food critic and author,

Gives the best description I've read yet of what it's really like to work in a French restaurant kitchen. Put your knives back in the drawer. And I thought only women had a tough time over there...

Why are French women thin? Could it be the strict rules and boundaries French parents set up in childhood? Dessert comes at the end of dinner, never first. I loved 'Parenting French-Style' by Janine de Giovanni.

Valerie Steiker in 'Fledgling days' remembers spending a year in Paris at 23, with high expectations of reliving her mother's inspired year abroad at the same age. The pursuit of her mother's joie de vie eludes her. 'I tried to comfort myself by thinking of one of my mother's sayings for not letting things get to you - "Let it glide over the back of your indifference" - but it didn't work.' Her story is poignant and endearing...

David Lebovitz tells all in the last entry, 'Enfin.' And David Sedaris admits his addiction to books-on-tape in English early days in France.

These are the stories we wish we could tell, not the tourist tales. As Judith Thurman writes "one of the greatest charms of having lived in Paris is the Proustian glamour of being able to claim that one did so.”

If you read Paris Was Ours on the subway as I did, be aware your laughter may frighten the other passengers. Now I'm off to read 'Understanding Chic' Bonne reading!

BONJOUR PARIS WAS OURS!