When I arrived a couple of weeks ago, the weather was awful, cold, chilly, rainy, gray. I must have brought that weather with me, since I froze in San Francisco until I left in June, ran into the same grim gray wet weather in New York, and ran into it here too. And yesterday, it began to change, and by the end of the day, it was warmer and the sun peeked through. I had dinner at a sidewalk cafe, people watching, and today it is a gorgeous, warm, sunny summer day. And I’m planning to have lunch with friends in their garden just outside the city. A nice way to spend a Sunday, with good friends, on a brilliantly sunny day. And I can FINALLY put my winter clothes away. At last!!!

Since Paris is coming home for me, I usually get to do the same mundane things here that everyone else does at home, fix things that are broken, go to the hardware and grocery stores, take clothes to the dry cleaner, and get my life here up and running again. And a big part of my life here is seeing family and friends, which is an essential part of my life here. One thing I really appreciate about life here is that I think friends see each other more than they do in the States. People are much more focused on an intense work life in American cities, sometimes to the exclusion of all else. I see my kids doing that in their lives too, working in LA, San Francisco, and New York. And I do it myself. I get so submerged by my work, and writing can be pretty intense and very solitary, that sometimes I do nothing else, in fact a lot of the time. I have a handful of beloved friends I see in San Francisco, but I never see them enough. They’re busy, I am too, time drifts by, and sometimes I don’t see my good friends for a month or two, or even many months. That just doesn’t happen here. Friends here invite you over often, we go to each others’ homes. No more than a week, or at most two, goes by without seeing good friends, and we talk to each other more often. People make a real effort here to have a social life too, not just work. It makes for a warmer, happier life. And as a person alone, it makes for a busier, much less lonely life here. I never seem to have a day with nothing to do, or without contact with one or several of my friends. Here, sometimes it’s hard to fit it all in, which is a lot more fun. I think people in Europe make a much bigger effort to see each other, make contact, invite each other over, and even spend time with family. I really appreciate that aspect of life here, and miss it in the States. Sometimes I feel like my whole life is virtual in California, conducted by email and text. There seems to be more human contact here, and just more time dedicated to seeing people, and talking to them. I love that part of my life here.

So I’ve been out to dinner a lot with friends. Sometimes at their homes, or at tiny bistros with typical French food. I had a really fun lunch with a bunch of my women friends. And I think people are willing to make more effort to entertain here, even if they have no help to do so. People are shyer about entertaining in the States, or just don’t have the time. One woman I know here just gave a dinner party for 8 people in her very small apartment, she cooked it herself, served it beautifully, had everything organized from a rolling cart, remained part of the conversation at the table all night, and was a one man band doing everything, and we all had a great time. Even if people have small homes, no help, little money, or aren’t particularly good cooks, thy invited you to dinner anyway, they reciprocate invitations and initiate new ones, and it really keeps the social ball rolling, and constantly brings new people into your life, with those you meet at someone’s house. I love that!!! And I will confess that I make far less effort myself to be social in California than I do here. Here, everyone invites you to their place in a very short time, there everyone promises to call each other for lunch, and rarely actually follow through. No time, no time, no time…..I am guilty of it too!!!

I usually give a beginning of summer party here and I did last week. Forty friends came over for a casual buffet dinner, perched on the arms of couches, or sat on the floor, lots of food, good friends, and some musicians and we danced to everything from Lady Gaga to Motown to some old favorites. A very young girl I know came over and sang (and Wow!!! What a voice!!). She is recording her first ‘single’ next week and is very excited about it. Her name is Marie Ophelie, and I think she’ll go far (and she’d like me to help her with some lyrics for songs, which would be really fun. I’ve never done that before, although my son Nick was a musician, singer and terrific lyricist. I’m not sure I have his talent for lyrics, but I might try.). Meanwhile, she’s happy to sing while we dance. The last guest left just before 2 am, on a week night, which is something I love here too. People stay up late, even if they have work the next day. Somehow they manage to do it, and I’m such a night owl that I love that. The musicians and Marie Ophelie hung around for another hour after the guests left, til 3am, and played and sang. I had a ball!!!

The sales began in Paris yesterday, which is a major event. Prices slashed by 40 to 70% in every store, and you can get some fabulous deals. It happens twice a year in January and July, and people come from all over France to check out the sales in the Paris stores. The city is mobbed, the traffic is awful, and the shopping is great!!!

What do I hate in France? Going to department stores, particularly the practical ones. There is a store in Paris where you can get everything imaginable for the home, from kitchen towels to hardware to make repairs, sheets, beds, rugs, you name it they have it. And all department stores work on the same system here. Items are not grouped by type of object: like all towels or bed linens in one location, or all cooking pots. They are grouped by brand, and each ‘brand’ has a ‘stand’ usually with one sales person to help you with that brand (and if that one sales person is out to lunch, and just left, you have to wait an hour to buying anything from that brand. grrrrrrr). What that means is that if you want a vacuum cleaner, you cant go to the vacuum cleaner section, you have to go to every ‘stand’ that sells vacuum cleaners. Or cooking pots. And if you buy 4 cooking pots from 4 manufacturers, you go to 4 stands, look for 4 sales people (whom you can never find), and go to the cash register 4 times. Okay, I will confess. I go nuts in stores like that. I become hysterical, homicidal, French is my first language so that’s not the problem, but having to run all over the store to find what I want, and stand in line at the cash register five to ten times just about drives me nuts. I went to one of those stores this week with a friend who laughed at how upset I got, how much I complained, and how much I hate that system here. I was steaming by the time I left with dish towels, 2 pillows, and a new tea kettle, all of which took me nearly 3 hours to find, and pay for. Department stores are a whole lot more organized in the States. But France has other charms. My idea of hell would be being trapped for eternity in one of those stores!!! I try to go as seldom as I can, and then complain about it for months!!!

I was on a radio show here, to publicize my latest book in France, and that was fun. I’m always very shy on radio or TV, it’s not something I do easily, and I find it stressful, but it went well.

And a week from now the Haute Couture fashion shows will begin. I will be going to the Chanel show with some of my daughters and will tell you about that.

And that’s about it for now. I’m off to have a picnic lunch in the garden of friends outside the city, and spend a lazy Sunday afternoon with them. And tomorrow a friend is taking me to her ‘Chocolate Club’, where people compare different chocolates to decide which one is best, the friend who is taking me owns a restaurant and it’s a fun event, I’ve been before. It’s a fantastic excuse to overdose on chocolate, an opportunity I cant resist. I hope that all is going well for all of you, and that your summer is off to a good start.

Love, Danielle

It was held in the evening, at the Palais de Tokio, a museum for modern art, it was in a very large space, that was quite barren and all cement, and the fashion house of Givenchy had transformed it with the long benches we sat on, and huge archways of green leaves with deep purple orchids over the runway, which immediately suggested a kind of jungle/garden theme. We sat expectantly on the benches eyeing each other with interest, press, journalists, store buyers (who come to order the clothes, which is actually the whole point of the ready to wear fashion shows), a smattering of movie stars, and a horde of people who just love fashion and fight like dogs to get invited to these shows. The tickets to attend are REALLY hard to get, and are considered a prize, to be able to get in. The whole contingent from American Vogue was there, the famous Grace Coddington, one of the icons of the fashion world, with her brilliant red hair that stands out from her head kind of like a Pharaoh’s hairdo in red, and the imposing and always chic Andre Leon Talley, who is roughly 6′l0″, and a major presence in the fashion world. Their presence tells you it’s a Major Event!!! And we all waited expectantly for the show to begin (they always start about a half hour late). The people-watching was, as always fantastic!!! (I wore a Givenchy black wool coat with a big black fox collar and cuffs, black pants, and my own long red hair down (I like Grace Coddington’s better—-it’s pouffier, and redder!! I want to be her when I grow up) And I had an interesting conversation with a British journalist behind me, and there were Italians there en masse, Spaniards, I heard some German, Russian, Japanese….it’s a very international crowd.

And then the room went dark. I mean really dark, pitch black. And in the darkness was the LOUDEST lion roaring, or tiger, or whatever, I have ever heard. The sound exploded in the room, and continued for a minute, the lights over the runway went on, the music came up, and the show began. The runway runs between the rows of seats, so you could reach out and touch the models if you dared, and you can really see the clothes only a foot or two away from you. Clearly, it was going to be a jungle theme of some kind after that roar, and with those archways of purple orchids. And out came 43 gorgeous, very tall, way too skinny beautiful models of varying nationalities as well, wearing next fall’s Givenchy collection, with lots of jungle prints, black jaguar faces on them, skirts covered in leafy prints. Lots and lots of very, very, very short skirts, some with transparent underskirts under them (and I was reminded of my mother in law’s comment in my days of mini skirts at l8 —-”is that a belt?”). The tops were mostly jungle themes as well, with some leather jackets, some velvet, a gorgeous yellow sweater, a purple one, and many with black jaguar heads on them, and jungle cat designs. It was hot!!! And very cool, and totally beautiful. Some really gorgeous clothes and some fun things. The show did not disappoint anyone who saw it, it was lively and happy and terrific to watch (although I would surely get arrested in one of those tiny short skirts with the see through underskirt beneath it!! But I could wear the tops!!!)  The whole procession of models took roughly 20 minutes, and then it’s over and there is a huge crush to the door, to go on to the next show, meet up with friends or colleagues, or go out to dinner (I picked dinner with a friend). There are several hundred photographers at every show, snapping people on the way in and out, and photographing the entire show, which is the whole point, other than the store buyers, the idea is to expose next season’s line to the press. It is VERY exciting being at those shows if you love fashion at all, or like people watching. It is definitely a scene!!!

The Italian designer of Givenchy, Ricardo Tisci, took a rapid bow at the end, and he is the object of much conjecture at the moment, while people wonder if he will go to Dior, since they lost their designer last week (John Galliano). The people at Givenchy are worried that Ricardo Tisci will leave and they will lose their very distinctive look. Last night was really a great show.

I just wanted to share that with you. It was too good, too exciting, and too much fun not to share with you. I’m going to one more show, the last one for me this season, Chanel. And I probably won’t be able to resist telling you about that too!!! I had a blast at this one!!!

Love, Danielle

One of my daughters recently moved into a new apartment, and took the opportunity to get rid of some of her old student furniture (not yet vintage, just old and tired), and she set out to replace it with vintage items. She combed all the stores she knew and had heard about in New York, and Brooklyn, combed the Internet, where she found an amazing number of fantastic items, and even checked out stores in LA when visiting her sister. And when the big day came to move into the new apartment, I really wondered how it was all going to look together. She had sent me emails of some of it, and very kindly asked for my advice, and some of it looked really tired to me, but she insisted it was ‘charming’ and would work. I took her word for it since she has a great eye, lots of style, and very good taste. And when I saw what she had gotten together and how it worked together, I was totally amazed, and impressed by her skill at not only finding cast off items from another era, but how she put them together. I love decorating, and have a pretty good eye myself, but I can honestly say that not one of these things would have inspired me or caught my attention if I had seen them in a vintage store, a junk shop, or a yard sale. She found two old leather couches, that I thought had seen better days, a pair of leather chairs (Danish modern, like the couches) that didn’t look special to me until I sat on them, and they have to be the most comfortable chairs I ever sat in (and have magical powers, since every time I did during the move, I fell asleep!!! And pretty soon, we were all fighting to sit in those chairs!!! No, my turn!!!). She said she wanted an ‘industrial’ table as her dining table, and found one on-line. I had trouble imagining it, and the old iron table, with a rich dark patina, that she found is spectacular as her dining table—with wooden chairs from the 70′s that have really lovely, rounded modern lines. She found a beautiful old table on-line as her coffee table, end tables, a metal bookcase (industrial shelving), and a bronze standing ashtray I would never have looked at twice at a garage sale, a low rocking chair that is fantastic, and on and on it went. She added interesting accents and personal touches, a comfortable couch in her bedroom, and another vintage chest. All put together, by the time she was finished, it looked like a magazine spread, all put together with things she had hunted down and researched and ferreted out from unusual sources. And we even went on a special mission to find lamps at vintage stores and found some great ones. I have new respect for ‘vintage’, and particularly for how people use it today. And I was blown away by my daughter’s creative ability to see its value and beauty and how it would all work together!!! What she created is absolutely terrific, and in spite of the odd, eclectic assortment, all put together it has a beauty and warmth that I don’t think any of it had in its first lifetime, but suddenly now, it looks chic and new, attractive and really beautiful. I have become a convert and a fan!!! I think vintage is fabulous!!! And I have new respect for this generation of young people who see the beauty in it, and use it so well!!! Love, Danielle

I am writing about something I thought I’d never write about, or didn’t have to. But there is so much talk about it, that I finally decided to say something. Recently, it has been said that I have 6,000 pairs of shoes. It was said by a shoe designer of shoes my daughters and I used to wear, and somehow no longer do, that I have 6,000 pairs of shoes. Maybe it was said to annoy me, since I’m a very private person, or maybe the person who said it was just joking (I hope so!!). I paid no attention at first, but as the saying goes, “the story has legs”, and shoes!!! Although I just dismissed it as nonsense at first, it has now been reported in magazines and all over the internet that I have 6,000 pairs of shoes. Huh? Wow!!! Obviously, I don’t. But I have now had dozens of emails from friends, inquiries from strangers, and the 6,000 imaginary pairs of shoes have become legend. Styles change, brands alter slightly, and let’s face it, women are fickle about fashion. Designers that my daughters loved a year ago become less appealing to them a year later, brands we wear for a while change, and we move on to something else. It’s the nature of ‘fashion’, style, and people. We don’t do or wear the same things forever, we find something new, get excited about it, and embrace it, and then move on to something new after that. The shoe designs in question are gorgeous, but I guess we’ve worn other things for a while, new designers have appeared, and sometimes you just forget old favorites (although i still have many of those old favorites in my closet!! But not 6,000 of them. That’s a mythical number).

I have 5 daughters, and we often love shopping together, and admittedly, when we walk into a store together, and shop together, it is often a nice purchase when you multiply even a modest purchase times six. And I’m sure we make some store owners very happy when we shop together as a group. We spend a lot of time together, and do a lot of things together, it’s just more fun that way. But I wanted to reassure you that I don’t have 6,000 pairs of shoes. I love shoes, but that would be too much even for me. Like everyone, I have my current favorites that I seem to wear every day. I mostly seem to wear black shoes, and once in a while fall in love with a pair of red ones. And I recently cleaned out my closets again, something I try to do every spring, and get rid of the things I just don’t wear, the fashion mistakes (sometimes I really wonder what I was thinking, when I buy something that looks too young for me, is unflattering, or just looks silly on me!!), and try to keep my closets, and life, in good order.

So I hate to disappoint you, but I don’t have 6,000 pairs of shoes. I went to a dinner party in Paris the other day, and a man I don’t know who looked like he wouldn’t know a shoe from a rutabaga turned to me and said “do you really have 6,000 pairs of shoes?” He looked seriously disappointed when I said I didn’t. And it made me realize that I’d better say something, finally, to all those people out there who now think I have 6,000 pairs of shoes, and are thinking about it. So, I’m sorry. I have a bunch but nowhere near that many, I have about the same number of shoes as anyone else, and as usual I have my favorite current designers, and in a year or two, I’ll be on to something new. If I still wear them, I keep the old ones, if I don’t wear them, I don’t keep them. So I’m sorry to disappoint you about the 6,000 pairs of shoes……on to the next rumor.

Love, Danielle

I told you about the fashion shows I went to last week, at the ready to wear shows in Paris, and I don’t want to overdo it if you’re not big into fashion, but the shows I went to in the past week were just too good, and too interesting not to tell you about them. And once again, I had a ton of fun, going to the shows with my daughters. I went to some of the ‘big guns’ this week, the shows put on by the important designers, although the ones I saw previously were by important designers too.

Last Sunday night, we went to the Givenchy show, which was held at the Lycee Carnot, a public school, and it was held in the school’s glass covered, outdoor courtyard, which made for a stark interesting setting, that looked almost like a movie set. It looked great, but it happened to be a freezing cold night, and before the show even started, sitting on wooden benches arranged around the courtyard, we were all shivering with the cold. It was freeeeeeeeeeeezing…..but as the show began (with loud techno tribal music in the background, with the musicians set up on balconies of the school), within minutes, we all knew that freezing our —– off was well worth it. The clothes were absolutely gorgeous!!!! Chic, elegant, classic, new, modern, sexy. It was one show where I would have been thrilled to have any piece of it, and would have been happy with ALL of it!!! There were most particularly a red coat and a red pantsuit that nearly made my heart stop!!! And I will confess to you that since this is ready to wear, and not crazy haute couture prices, I snuck into the Givenchy store a few days later and ordered a few pieces of what I’d seen in the show. There were some great leather jackets, casual jackets in velvet and satin with hoods. Everything I saw was wearable and beautiful beyond belief!!! It was a great, great show!!!! And we got in the car afterwards and turned the heater up full blast!!! And then went out to dinner at one of my favorite hang outs, an informal very trendy restaurant on the Avenue Montaigne called L’Avenue. (The owner has a very friendly bull mastiff, who is usually sleeping soundly, sprawled out in the middle of the room, as people walk around him).

The next day we went to the St. Laurent show, which was in one of my favorite Parisian locations: The Grand Palais. It is a l9th century multi-domed all glass structure that is just a beautiful sight all on its own. It is used for exhibitions, art fairs, fashion shows, the antique fair and it is just a beautiful, elegant space. It was formally set up with good seating, and the St. Laurent show was totally in keeping with the style of the late Yves St. Laurent, with lots of black, shocking pink, accents of brilliant yellow, fabulous huge hats, and elegant clothes. It was a beautiful show, with beautiful clothes. Although once again, we all felt like we’d been put in a meat locker for the event, and were absolutely freezing. I saw a man walk by wearing a wool ski hat and i wanted to grab it and put it on. I don’t know how he got so smart, but I wish I had worn one myself. We all left, satisfied with the show, and impressed by what we’d seen. And the next day, we found out why the hall had been so freezing, it was being prepared for what we would see there the next day…..

The next morning, bright and early, we sat in the sunlight streaming through the glass domes of the Grand Palais, and it looked like elves had been working all night to transform it from the set up for St. Laurent the night before. There was elaborate seating, everything was white, and there was a canvas structure hiding the central stage. The Chanel show, whether for ready to wear or haute couture is always impeccably set up, and runs with almost military precision. And it is always an exciting show. And we weren’t disappointed that day. Chanel managed to provide the show stopper to end all show stoppers on the stage. The curtains came up, on theatrical pulleys, and lo and behold in front of us sat an iceberg on the stage. An iceberg!!! A real one!!! With peaks and valleys, and a couple of smaller ones around it for good measure. It was breathtaking glistening in the sunlight. And I discovered later that it had been flown in from Sweden, and was flown back to Sweden the next day. It sat on a dark blue floor, probably of plastic, that looked like the ocean, and there was a lip around the stage, so that they had covered the blue plastic floor with a few inches of water, and as the music began, the models strutted out (men and women), splashing through the water in winter wear, since these shows showcased clothes for the next winter season. The models were wearing fur boots and leggings, winter clothes, and the high heeled shoes were covered with little plastic booties, most of which fell off and littered the stage, as the models piloted their way around the discarded plastic boots. It was one of the most impressive shows I’ve ever seen, and I was mesmerized by the iceberg sitting only a few feet away from us on the stage. It was so astounding that I could hardly concentrate on the clothes. And apparently the hall had been kept particularly cold to protect the iceberg (which was why it had been so freezing cold the night before at the St. Laurent show in the same venue, getting ready for the arrival of the iceberg the next day, or late that night). Everyone walked out talking about the iceberg as much as they did the collection.

There were other shows during this magical ten days of course that I didn’t see. Chloe, Louis Vuitton, and a host of others that I either didn’t have time to see or didn’t have tickets for, but I certainly enjoyed the ones I did see, and was thrilled to share them with one or several of my daughters.

The last show of Fashion Week is always Miu Miu, designed by Miuccia Prada. It is held in a private home in the elegant residential district of the 16th arrondissement, on the wide Avenue Foch bordered with trees, a block or two from the Arc de Triomphe, in sight of the Eiffel Tower. Just how Parisian can you get!!! At the Miu Miu show, which I’ve been to before, waiters greet you at the door, offering silver trays of chocolates and champagne, as people wander into the elegant house where the show is held. And there is a cocktail party atmosphere for about an hour before the show begins, as people mill around, drinking champagne and talking animatedly about what they’ve seen and done all week. There are parties every night, mostly hosted by designers, people go out to restaurants and stay up late in Paris, after running from one show to another all day. Buyers have to go to showrooms to place orders, and everyone’s schedule is jammed. It is a very, very hectic week for everyone, and I noticed as I looked around how tired everyone seemed. It had been a long ten days, particularly for those who had been to the shows in London and Milan before Paris. Everyone was ready to go home, and I thought that if I had to wear another pair of high heels to another show I would have happily thrown them out the window. I was tired too!!! And then we all took our places and the last show began. The collection was beautiful as pretty young models strutted down the runway and through the house, down the elegant staircase, in very, very short gem colored clothes. it was a cheerful, upbeat ending to a great week. And after the show, everyone streamed out onto the Avenue Foch, looking for their rides, saying goodbye to people, happy to be heading home at last. My daughters and I had a quiet dinner that night, and spent the next day together and then they flew off to their respective cities too, and to work. For me, it was a wonderful opportunity to spend 10 days with three of my daughters as they flew in and out of the house, going to appointments and shows. One of them had to organize and run a photo shoot while she was there, and another modeled for a magazine. But the best part for us was being together. And when the next ready to wear fashion week happens in Paris, I’ll be there, tagging along after them, in high heels, and drinking it all in, enjoying my kids, and loving every minute of seeing all those beautiful shows. It was a very, very fun week for me!!! love, danielle

French Haute Couture has been considered both an industry and an art form, for the hundreds of years of French participation (or leadership at one time) in Fashion. To be ‘haute couture’, a garment must be entirely made by hand. Every single stitch must be hand done, on intricate fabrics, complicated draping, exquisite embroidery, no machine can ever touch it. The seamstresses who work on the garments must apprentice for l2 years before they are officially considered workers in the art. And for many, many, many years, fashionable women came from all around the world, to see the fashion shows in January and July to see what each designer was offering for next season. The fashion shows were glorious, impressive beyond belief. Roughly, 75 outfits were shown on gorgeous internationally known supermodels (with hats, jewelry, accessories, shoes that were beautiful and impossible to walk in). And after the show, the women who wore ‘haute couture’, these incredible hand made garments, would try on samples if they fit them, or just look at them, and select the ones they wanted, be measured from head to foot, and order these treasures that were as much art as fashion. They have always been expensive, although they are even more so now. The government sets the dates for the haute couture shows, each designer was assigned a day and time slot, and the week of these fashion shows was a MAJOR event in Paris, with press from around the world to record it, hot criticisms or praise in the press for the collections, and movie stars, royalty, the wives of heads of state, and fashionable wealthy women in attendance. It was always an incredible treat to attend the shows, whether you bought or not. And you can’t just decide to go, you have to be invited. People damn near killed each other, or bribed or begged to get an invitation. Historical names in haute couture are Chanel, Balenciaga, Dior, Givenchy, Lanvin, Mme Gres, Fath, St. Laurent, and many others. Some of those names have now become ready to wear clothing brands, a few remain haute couture (in addition to ready to wear), and sadly some have disappeared forever.

So if you have grown up with the traditions of French fashion, Haute Couture week twice a year is a HUGE deal!!! (In January, they show clothes for next summer, and in July they show the clothes for fall and winter). And when you left a show, after seeing the magic there, even cab drivers would ask you how the show was. Everyone in Paris cared about these fashion shows, even if they’d never been to one, and the French were enormously and justifiably proud of them.

But like everything else in the world, times have changed. Money has changed hands, fortunes have been lost or diminished, new fortunes have been made by people who don’t know or care about haute couture, women entered the work force, blue jeans happened, and people just don’t dress like they used to. It’s fine now to run around all day in blue jeans and running shoes, and no one wears evening clothes or ballgowns very often even among the very rich. Life has become infinitely informal. And the once famous designers have closed, retired, and died off, and no one has replaced them. They have, in fact, become irreplaceable. The house of Christian Dior still shows haute couture, now designed by John Galliano, a young British designer, and their thrust is to the spectacular and theatrical, as PR for the brand, rather than wearable clothes that most of us could live in. Hubert de Givenchy retired about a dozen years ago, Alexander Mc Queen took over designing the collection for several years, and now Richard Tisci, a young Italian designer. Valentino retired a few years ago, although his couture collection is still presented. Versace no longer does couture. Yves St. Laurent retired, and then passed away, and the haute couture end of the business is only a glorious memory now. Balenciaga hasn’t done haute couture in years. Fath no longer exists. Balmain closed their couture collection when Oscar de la Renta retired from designing it. Most of the famous haute couture houses have closed or changed or no longer exist. Instead of perhaps 20 haute couture designers, I saw a list of l6 this week, and had only heard of 5 of them: Givenchy, Dior, Chanel, Armani, and Gaultier. I knew none of the others. And the collections are shown in a span of 3 days, mostly by unknowns, and they show 20 or 30 items, not the enormous collections of years gone by. Fashion houses now make their money on cosmetics, perfume, accessories, and ready to wear—–haute couture is just window dressing for PR, and a tribute to the past. And in addition to the designers who have disappeared, so have the clients. One used to oohhh and ahhh at famous movie stars, young queens and princesses we had only read about, the wives of presidents, and women we knew about from the press, fashion magazines, and best dressed lists. And although I saw Madame Chirac at the Chanel show today, (the wife of France’s previous president) I saw no one else I recognized. And the wife of the current French president was once a model at the haute couture shows, and has never attended them as the President’s wife. The shows take about half an hour now, once they start, usually about half an hour late. And gorgeous models walk down the runway in fabulous clothes, to the sounds of exciting music. The atmosphere is one of excitement and expectation, and the sights are those of dazzling beauty: the models and the clothes.

So, now that you know what the Haute Couture shows are about, that’s what I did today. I went to the Chanel show. As a show, if you’d never been to one before, it was fabulous. Chanel is designed by Karl Lagerfeld, an incredibly talented designer, and an icon in the fashion world, second only to Coco Chanel herself (who established the house in the l920′s. She was an incredibly glamorous woman! She was single, drove a car, introduced trousers for women, designed and wore great jewelry, and smoked in public!!). The clothes today at Chanel were gorgeous, the models dazzling, and all in all it was a huge success. But as an haute couture follower and fan of many years, who loves to fantasize about the clothes, I couldn’t help but be disappointed that if someone had made me an incredible gift and told me to pick an outfit, there wasn’t a single one I could have worn. The models all looked about twenty years old, and the clothes were fabulous on them, but not in a million years could any of them have been worn by someone my age. And these are mega, mega, mega expensive clothes. No twenty year old could afford them. So they are designed for very, very young women now, or this collection anyway, but only their mothers or grandmothers (if they were lucky), could afford them. Most of the collections were suits with shorts instead of skirts, and I can’t imagine myself running around in a very expensive outfit that was based on shorts. There were baby doll looks and mini skirts, and all of it would have been perfect on any girl from l6 to 30, but beyond that no one older than that could wear them. Okay, 32 maybe, but surely not much older than that. The middle aged women sitting on either side of me looked equally disappointed. If nothing else, you want to fantasize about yourself in them, not feel yourself shut out by decades. But I guess that’s the nature of haute couture now, it’s not for ‘grown ups’, it’s for very young girls (with generous boyfriends or husband or parents who will buy them for them). Or maybe they’re just designed to look pretty on them, in recognition of the fact that most people don’t wear haute couture anymore, and it is more of a spectacle for PR than a serious effort to sell to clients who love clothes. It made me sad for the old days when haute couture was designed for a broad range of affluent clients who actually wore the clothes. I have tried on many haute couture samples in my life, and just slipping them on your body is a thrill. Just touching a garment made from such exquisite fabrics, so intricately made feels like a privilege and an honor. My late mother in law gave me my first couture ‘cast off’ evening dress by Balenciaga when I was l8. It was an incredible experience and I cherished it for years. It was a piece of art. Now the designs I saw today are designed for young girls, but just wouldn’t have worked on more mature women. So I felt left out. I was still in awe of the beautiful clothes, the gorgeous designs, the spectacular models, and dazzled by the show, but I was reminded again of how haute couture has changed, that it is now more of a display and an art exhibit than a sample of truly wearable fashion. It saddens me that so many of the wonderful designers are gone, and I am grateful that there are still a few left. Chanel is the last of the great original houses still in operation, as is Dior. It is as much about tradition as about fashion, and I was happy to catch a glimpse of it today…..even if you won’t see me wearing any of the clothes. But we can dream, can’t we? And fortunately, the dream is not yet gone, there is still a little bit of it left. It’s exciting to be at a haute couture show, whether you can buy the clothes or not. (I studied fashion design when I was young, so haute couture is always a thrill for me, and I have followed it for my entire life, as an art form I truly love). And I was happy to be at the Chanel show today. At the end of the show, there is always a bride, and then the designer comes out to take a bow. The bride wore palest pink at the Chanel show today. I could easily see one of my daughters in it, but not myself…….Haute Couture, and its hey day, are really part of a lost world. And I am glad we still get these reminders of it from the few designers who are left. I hope it never entirely disappears!!!!!

The long form of that is cleaning out a closet. No expiration dates, but a stack of clothes you no longer want to wear.

I go for long spells of keeping everything, ‘just in case’ a dress I wore twenty years ago and think I might wear again (but never do), a funny looking coat that might just come back into style (which my kids tell me was never in style in the first place), things that my kids gave me. I hold onto all of it, convinced I will wear it again, but somehow I don’t. Clothes I had a good time in, or a bad time and want to redeem them. And a whole bunch of things in the wrong sizes, that if I just lose three pounds will fit better, or gain five pounds and then they’ll fit again and I might need them. (As small/short as I am, 3 to 5 pounds makes a noticeable difference). And then there are the fashion mistakes that I don’t want to own up to, so I hang onto them for dear life. Maybe some of this sounds familiar to you too.

I have discovered some things about myself in cleaning out my closets. Shopping relaxes me, and sometimes when I am sad or very stressed, I’ll go shopping. I do it particularly on a Sunday, when I’m lonely, bored, not working, or have nothing to do. I’ll go shopping with one of my daughters or alone, and I buy something, but it’s not really me, but I convince myself that it looks cute at the time (and in fact, it doesn’t), so there is a whole bunch of my Sunday shopping stuffed into my closet.

The other thing I do is buy something that looks good—but not on me. It just isn’t my style, or the kind of thing I wear. In that case, I ask the person I’m with (usually a daughter) “do you think I’ll wear this?” Their answer is almost always emphatically no! (Or ‘I hope not!’, particularly if it’s a weird color, shiny, or has sparkles on it. I get a little weird on Sundays). But I’m stubborn, so I convince myself that the item in question really is cute and I’ll wear it. And the truth is I never do. In a recent closet purge, every one of those ‘Do you think I’ll wear this?’ items came out of my closet unworn. I’ve learned a real lesson from it. If I have to ask the question ‘Do you think I’ll wear this?’, I never will, and I shouldn’t buy it in the first place. I’m going to try not to buy those items in future.

So, feeling down after the recent death of my beloved stepmother, not wanting to go out and see people, I was hanging around at home, and decide to put the time to good use—and I attacked my closets. It turned into a massive project, and after a while, I turned zealous about it. The trouble with keeping a bunch of stuff you don’t wear, don’t like, and that no longer looks good on you, is that you can’t find the stuff that does look good on you when you look for something to wear. My closets were a mess, so I started pulling out the uglies, the things that looked great on me 20 years ago and no longer do, the things I shouldn’t have bought in the first place (an orange plastic jacket that was really scary, a lot of stuff with sequins that I would never have the guts to wear, a turtleneck sweater that nearly strangled me when I put it on. If it looks ugly, makes you feel bad, or it no longer fits and never will again, maybe you should consider parting with it). And out it all came in a heap on the floor. And along with the stuff I was embarrassed to have bought, were a bunch of things I had forgotten that I owned, some really pretty stuff that was hidden behind the rest, a white jacket I bought ten years ago that was really chic and I forgot I owned, a beautiful brown handbag I can’t wait to wear, two really good looking green plastic bangle bracelets that will be fun for the summer, and some very good looking black blouses. Suddenly, I had a whole wardrobe I could wear. I found a ten year old black and white checked wool suit that was almost identical to one I just saw in W magazine this week and was drooling over. By getting rid of the junk and the mistakes, and the things I had seriously outgrown, I actually discovered the best items in my wardrobe, and it was fun and exciting to find them, to have easy access to them because the rest is gone. I can suddenly reach into my closet and find something I want to wear, instead of ten things I don’t because I feel ugly in them. My criteria was ‘do I want to wear this?’ If the answer was no, it went in the ‘goodbye’ pile.

It was both easier and harder because I had an audience while I did it. One of my daughters was home, and watched me tear apart my closets. With 3 daughters who work in fashion, I have a tough advisory board here, and sometimes I get a resounding “No, Mom!” over something I love and want to keep. I also have to use some of my own judgment, no matter how chic they are. Their judgment is a lot younger, they are more tuned in to the current fashion trends, and some of that just doesn’t look right on me. It’s a little tough to have them go technical on me and tell me they don’t like ‘the silhouette’—-never mind ‘the silhouette’, does my behind look big in this? But sometimes it’s a good thing to have a second opinion. Remember the scene in the movie ‘Sex and the City’ where Carrie’s 3 friends line up, as she models everything in her closet, and they brutally tell her what to keep and what to get rid of. Well, it was like that when I recently purged my closets. There were a lot of ‘No, Mom!’’s, but there was a lot of great stuff too, that I loved, had forgotten, and am excited to wear again. It’s like having a whole new wardrobe. And I’m digging it all out of my own closet and didn’t have to spend a penny.

There is money in this too. I used to donate my clothes to thrift shops, and my fashionable daughters convinced me several years ago to sell the good stuff at resale shops. And to be honest, it’s nice getting some money back for the mistakes. Why not?

The big lesson I learned is that when I need to ask someone on my Sunday shopping ventures ‘Do you think I’ll wear this?’—it is ALWAYS a mistake. Always. I’m going to stop buying those from now on.

I actually had a ball cleaning out my closets. Some of what I found there was embarrassing, and some was really great, and I found some old favorites that I’ve missed and lost track of.

I highly recommend cleaning out your closet as a fun activity. And you’ll be amazed what you learn about yourself. And you’ll probably find some good surprises in there too. And right now, while we’re all trying to be restrained and reasonable, shopping your closet is fun and really works!

And it was the ‘concept’ itself that was the most intriguing of all. Apparently a Mr. and Mrs. Cohen, who are the owners of an excellent and well established children’s clothing store (Bonpoint), have set up this store as a non-profit. The idea is that all the proceeds from the store are to be donated to a charity they designate for a certain time (right now the children of Madagascar), and once they feel that their mission has been accomplished for that particular cause, they will designate their proceeds to another cause. The store is entirely designed to fund charitable organizations and situations of great need. They get their merchandise from various suppliers, some of it entirely donated, some of it sold to them at greatly reduced prices. The items they’re selling are thus unusual, sometimes one of a kind, or very few of them, and whatever that particular supplier or designer wanted to send them. The manager who talked to us said that the Yves Saint Laurent company has been particularly generous with them, and I recognized items by designers I am familiar with. I thought the concept was truly great, and customers are actually helping people in need when they buy there, as are the suppliers who sell to them at heavily discounted prices. The prices all seemed reasonable, and the merchandise was interesting and varied. And my daughter and I had fun exploring the different departments of the store. And it made the name of the store seem even sweeter. “Merci”. Thank you. It is certainly a noble idea and cause.

So that’s what a ‘concept store’ is. I’m sure there are different versions. But I found it fascinating and exciting. And I thought I’d share my new discovery with you. Merci!!

I found a great brass trunk in a Paris junk store for $100, a beautiful Lucite sculpture from the 50’s in a second hand store in California. It’s about 3 feet tall and is a giant swirl, I paid less than $100 for it and it looks like a major piece of art, and I have it in my entrance hall in Paris, with other similar objects, and a few really good pieces I bought over the years. The secret is mixing it up, and the best part of the ‘game’ is finding something you love in a place where no one else would ever expect to. My daughter and I found a beautiful black and white roll-top bar for almost nothing in the Mission District of San Francisco. It looks great in her New York apartment. There’s a beautiful translucent green stone called fluorite which looks a lot like jade. I have found many pieces of it, carved, including a really spectacular one for $40. For me, nothing is more fun than the hunt for these objects. One of my favorite art pieces is a pastel of a nude woman that looks like a Renoir (and isn’t), which I bought for $200. One of my friends, who knows me well, says that I hate museums because I can’t buy anything there and can’t find any bargains to take home. Half the fun for me is finding these treasures and then taking it home to integrate into my home and life, and I’m always so proud of how and where I found it and what a bargain it was And some of the things you find that way can be really beautiful. And totally unique.

There is an auction house in Paris which holds 45 auctions a week. There are 15 auction rooms that turn over every 2 days. You can find everything there from important paintings and furniture to gardening equipment or old clothes. Some of it is junk, and some of it is absolutely spectacular stuff that you’ll never find again. I check out that auction house almost every day when I’m in Paris. But wherever I go, I find some old junky junk store, and the treasure hunt begins. It’s my favorite sport, and a hobby that has brought me endless joy.