What talent looks like

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Cynthia Rose

Graphic designer Fifi Mandirac; pic: Fifi Mandirac, all rights reserved

It’s hard to count the reasons why I love Fifi Mandirac’s work. While she’s a graphiste of great sophistication, she is equally interested in the work of others. Her many gifts include generosity and discretion. Fifi started her freelance life making distinctive papers and les faire-parts (announcements of births and weddings). Yet she has since turned her skills to many things: home décor, children’s clothing, “boxes for treasures” and an art event, le Super Market. All her communications come with good manners and a smile.

Fifi also often gives designs away as downloads. For several years, at Christmas, she created a free “advent calendar” in daily installments. In a world where blogs fetishise every possible holiday just to merchandise meaningless “crafts” (or pimp out their kids for page views), Fifi does something simple.

She shares her work and some things that inspire her.

Now her lovely DIY book Cartes has been reprinted. In celebration, here is her portrait by the equally talented Claire Curt , who did its photos.

• Fifi runs her own online store and if you follow her blog, les Surprises, it will make you happier. She’s just re-designed it, so treat yourself!

Stationery by Fifi Mandirac; pic; Fifi Mandirac, all rights reserved

Paper flowers by Fifi Mandirac; pic: Fifi Mandirac, all rights reserved

Poster by Fifi Mandirac; pic; Fifi Mandirac, all rights reserved

Chocolate forestry, digital Jesus

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Cynthia Rose

Church in the window of the Polish bookstore, pic: Steve Sampson

We are in the grip of les fêtes, those holidays which run from early December until early February – seemingly all the way to St. Valentine’s. Noël is followed by la Saint-Sylvestre (New Year’s), which is then succeeded by Epiphanie (our “Twelfth Night”) and la Chandeleur. Each brings its own distinct set of foods and rituals. Like those six-course meals served on Christmas and New Year’s eves, this calendar takes you through a Rolodex of treats: hot wine and roasted chestnuts give way to foie gras and oysters, then come les galettes des rois and, finally, les crèpes.

Student bookstore Gibert Jeune during Noël, pic: Cynthia Rose

Although Noël is reserved exclusively for family (New Year’s Eve is the celebration to share with friends), there aren’t many articles about “seasonal stress”. Even with extra effort required in every department, the string of festivities seems to lift everyone’s mood.

Ice rink at the Grand Palais, pic: Mairie de Paris

Perhaps it’s because les fêtes bring plenty of public treats. This year, for instance, there is ice-skating inside the Grand Palais. But, then, every monument tries to measure up. The vast Madeleine church – a monument to Napoleon’s army – hired stylist Gaëtan Duthu, 28, to design them a “modern nativity”. The result is Reseau Celeste, an all-white digital crèche in which Joseph and Mary attend the baby Jesus in front of a screen. (At midnight on Christmas Eve, it revealed an actual newborn).

Digital nativity at the Madeleine church, pic: Steve Sampson

Crèche, l'Eglise de la Madeleine, pic: Steve Sampson

Duthu’s crèche has been seen by around 100,000 visitors. But my favourite nativity is the one at Eglise Saint-Roch – a battleground site of the French Revolution, which has become the church of actors and artists. The sculpture is a very famous and beautiful one by Michel Anguier (interior decorator to the mother of Louis XIV). Mary, Joseph and Jesus pose beneath the divine glory – giant Rococo rays and cherubs – by Etienne-Maurice Falconet. Falconet’s great fan was Madame de Pompadour, who put him in charge at the Royal porcelain factory of Sèvres. Until, that is, Catherine the Great hired him away.

Nativity at l'église Sant-Roch, pic: Steve Sampson

None of these tony reputations hinders the gaudy Christmas impulse. Last year, Saint-Roch showed off its holy family with a two-story river of gold lamé. This year, it’s a forest of arty silver branches hung with tinsel twinklers. It may not quite put the litter in glitter, but it’s a pretty cool blend of high and low.

Nativity at l'église Sant-Roch, pic: Steve Sampson

So, in a different way, is that seasonal sculpture la bûche. A bûche, the mandatory dessert at la reveillon de Noël, is supposed to look like a chocolate version of a Yule log. But, for weeks, we’ve gaped at windows filled with “designer bûches” – exotic concoctions you have to order in advance. (Newspapers love reporting how Parisians bring these home, only to be bested by a humbler family-made counterpart).

Designer bûche from Pierre Hermé, pic: Pierre Hermé

On Christmas Eve, our local bakery needed an outside tent the whole length of its premises just for clients coming to collect their bûches. From 6.45 am to 8 pm, the bûche biz caused traffic jams. Were people understanding? Well, pretty much. After all, it was a vital part of les joyeuses fêtes.

Christmas Eve at the bakery, pic: Steve Sampson

• There are a lot of great films about les fêtes, but one of the best is La Bûche, by Danièle Thompson. It doesn’t explain the customs it shows (like the pervasive fear of ending up with thirteen at table). But there’s no better guide to the season’s triumphs over family dysfunctions.

Sabine Azéma and Christopher Thompson, La Büche, 1999

• Best place to find delicious crèpes for la Chandeleur? For us, our pals City Crèpes at 73 rue de Seine 75006; if you’re in Seattle, head for Rony Brown’s Crèpe de Paris in the Pike Place Market.

Paris, the iPhone 5 and the iGrève

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Cynthia Rose

Early portable phone in Paris, Pont d'Alma, pic: Steve Sampson IOS6

There’s little doubt about the romance between Parisians and their iPhones. Today, despite the shockwaves from an anti-Islamic cartoon, the plight of a doomed Peugeot plant and fresh terror over genetically-modified food, every paper devoted acres to this fave subject. As shown above, portables were always important here. As shown below, the new panorama feature adds something on way to and from work…

Pont des Arts, morning, click to enlarge; pic: Steve Sampson

The iPhone 5 appears tomorrow. Crowds of fans have been camped out for 48 hours in front of all three Apple stores. But no one knows how many of the 1,500 employees will be inside come the crunch moment. Since June, they argued with management over several points. One is their meagre salaries; $1,638 a month doesn’t go very far in Paris. Another is “demented” working hours that can run from nine to twenty-three.

Louvre by iPhone IOS6, click to enlarge, pic: Steve Sampson

Above all, they have demanded tickets repas or tickets restos. Almost every French employee gets these simple luncheon vouchers. But Apple’s American bosses apparently shrugged off the cultural difference. As a result, the employees now have massive sympathy. When even little Mom-and-Pop outfits spring for the vouchers, Parisians are shocked that a billion-dollar company wouldn’t. With only hours to go, the company finally caved and put meal tickets on the table.

Too late: the strike goes ahead at 8 am.

Famous store + iconic actress + funky artist

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Cynthia Rose

Catherine Deneuve windows, le Bon Marché

Le Bon Marché, which opened in 1852, bills itself as “the world’s first department store”. Certainly, it did pioneer a bunch of stuff – fixed prices, mail order, home delivery and fancy designer displays. Everyone knows this partly because Emile Zola wrote a best seller about it in 1883. His Au Bonheur des Dames (The Ladies’ Paradise) was sort of a mid-Victorian Sex in the City: capitalism meets romance and retail therapy. This year, the store turns 160 and they chose actress Catherine Denueve as their “muse” for special celebrations.

Catherine Deneuve eating oysters, le Bon Marché

The best part of these is ten funky windows, 3-D versions of drawings by Persepolis artist Marjane Satrapi. They feature Ms. Deneuve running around “her” Left Bank. She swings through the Jardin de Plantes like a female Tarzan, checks in moviegoers at the Cinema Saint-Germain and tweaks the nose of that giant rhinoceros statue outside Musée d’Orsay.* You have to be tickled the store chose something this offbeat rather than its usual scenography.

Catherine Deneuve in the rue de Fleurus, le Bon Marché

* The work of sculptor Henri-Alfred Jacquemart, it’s almost the same age as le Bon Marché. Jacquemart finished it in 1878, for that year’s Universal Exposition.

• Why is Marjane Satrapi‘s work great? Find out from Fantagraphics.

Parisian shoes reach new heights

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Cynthia Rose

Top, Robert Clergerie; below, 1940s propaganda photos by collaborationist lensman André Zucca

It’s not often someone revolutionises shoes in Paris. But a single photo of Isabel Marant in her baskets compensées (literally, high-heeled sneakers) has introduced a mania for platforms. Marant’s shoes retail for €395, but there are hi-rise models for every occasion. The name for them all is compensées, French for “wedge-heeled”.
Last winter, ankle-high bottine wedges were everywhere. The style won hearts because, while the heel height lengthens legs, the wedge supposedly adds stability. More important, though, is that these are seen as Parisian. The same is not felt about the platforms with super-stilettos so dear to Hollywood stars. Even when created by the likes of Monsieur Louboutin, those play no part in Parisian street style.

Les compensées, however, are now an epidemic; even seasonal espadrilles and loafers have gone up in the world. To me, the wedge-heeled “baskets” look clunky; I prefer less casual compensées. Accessoire Diffusion, with some of summer’s nicest shoes, has several models in suede. Carven‘s Guillaume Henry commissioned special models from the master label Robert Clergerie. In addition to those loafers and lace-ups, Clergerie also has high-rise sandals and espadrilles. At Carel there are tall slingbacks in gingham, at Repetto wedge ballerines. Plus, Geox – an Italian label for a “shoe that breathes” – offers a sporty patent model.

Because local pavements resist the springiest soles, Parisian podiatrists are protesting. Louder than these wails, however, are historic echoes – from a Paris of sixty years ago. Under the Nazi Occupation of World War II, one of the hardest things was keeping shoes on one’s feet. (The occupiers requisitioned all working footwear and left few raw materials). According to historian Dominique Veillon, that era’s shoes were homemade with high wooden soles. Period memoirs often feature the sound of their heels in the streets.

So at least in Paris, the compensée stood for resistance. During the war, fashion-hungry women wore high soles with defiance, making them individual with hand-made uppers. Today’s woman is so spoilt for choice this is hard to imagine. Nevertheless, the devil-may-care stride is still in evidence. Trying on a pair makes it easy to understand; compensées confer authority with the height. However, they’re something to approach with caution. If you slip off the wedge, it’s a long way down.

Top, 1940s propaganda photo by collaborationist lensman André Zucca; below, left, Isabel Marant baskets; right, Geox wedges

• See Andre’s Zucca’s controversial photos of Paris life under the Occupation.
Accessoire Diffusion; Carel; Carven; Isabel Marant; Repetto; Robert Clergerie; Geox

Ceux qui sont enfin arrivés: Paris summer trends

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Cynthia Rose

(From top, left to right) Café Coton shirt, Claudie Pierlot dress, slippers at Palais de Tokyo, Clergerie for Carven, Isabel Marant capris, more soda pop, Pierlot style

In Paris, the trends are les tendances. It was their persistent hints of spring in the shop windows that kept us going through weeks of chilly rain. But now it’s safe to grab one’s sunglasses, this summer’s choices are out in the streets. My five favourites are:
1. Les compensées • This version of the platform arrived last year with ankle-high bottines and Isabel Marant “baskets” (high-heeled sneakers with interior wedges). The compensée, or raised sole, can be seen everywhere. Girls like the idea it makes their legs look longer but, for me, the best ones are flatter: Roland Mouret’s at Robert Clergerie, for Carven.
2. Les couleurs dragées • Dragées, sugarcoated candies sometimes used on cakes, come in the most delicate, pale pastel colors. As a feature of weddings, first Communions and baptisms, they play an extra sweet, romantic role in France. In addition to the usual bleu-blanc-rouge, this summer both Louis Vuitton and Chanel devoted collections to such soda pop tones. Now, you can find them in every high street shop.
3. Le Capri • Invented in 1948 by the Prussian designer Sonja de Lennart, this is the year Capri pants make a comeback. Even if they’re now just low, narrow jeans with a roll-up.
4. Le Vichy • Le Vichy is gingham and it’s gaining on those other two summer perennials: stripes and petit pois (polka dots). It’s most visible on espadrilles and wedge shoes, casual bags and sundresses or cotton shirts for both men and women.
5. Le dandy • It won’t displace the much-loved ballerine. But, as with many aspects of le style anglais, Parisians love the idea of stylish gentleman’s slippers for women. It has just that little touch of Yves Saint Laurent’s le smoking.

Audrey Hepburn in Capri pants

Gaultier trips Coca Light trantastic

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Cynthia Rose

Jean-Paul Gaultier for Diet Coke, Blvd de Sébastopol

Age isn’t slowing down local hero Jean-Paul Gaultier. He celebrates his sixtieth year with more designs for the fancy home store Roche Bobois. Later this month, he also joins the jury of the Cannes Film Festival. But – far more exciting for locals – he’s redesigned the Diet Coke bottle! In fact, he’s become that company’s Artistic Director, replacing über multi-tasker Karl Lagerfeld.

Two things about all this are interesting. One is how far JPG can leverage what are basically three ideas. He’s always stuck to matelot (sailor) style, women’s lingerie from the Fifties and gender transgression. But the second thing is: he remains very well-liked. Even London clubbers and designers, from whom he has filched for years, have always had respect for JPG. In the late ’90s, I interviewed transvestite couturier Dane Goulding for Trade Secrets. Gaultier’s tattoed mesh (which remains important in his ouevre) goes back to a Goulding show he saw at a body art convention in – of all places – Dunstable. But even Goulding, a struggling createur, laughed off the plagiarism. He did point out there was a widespread tendency to flee if JPG appeared anywhere one was showing off a new creation.
The deference Gaultier gets is partly for something one sees in these posters: that what he takes most seriously is not himself. It is the parallel presentation of style and its subversion. Of course it doesn’t hurt at all that Coca light (for the girls!*) and Coca zero (for the boys!*) have become Paris’ most popular guilt-free drinks.

* According to everyone I’ve ever asked in Paris.

Jean Paul Gaultier for Diet Coke, Châtelet métro

Paris romance in the rain

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Cynthia Rose

Paris as everyone dreams of it

A week of rain and there is still nothing new on the iPhone app, just drip after drip. This involves practicalities (because it’s so windy, your raincoat needs a capuche or hood) and niceties like never carting a wet umbrella into shops. (Look for the container; it’s usually by the door). However, here you can really celebrate the rain. Do it rhythmically like Raymond Queneau or wallow in it like Baudelaire. Go to a gazillion movies, especially classics in black and white. Even better: after schlepping to the market and the office, bunk off to Musée du Quai Branly. There a whole exhibit is dedicated to la Pluie. This expo proves it rains differently in different places, shows you protective gear from around the world and tells you how to make rain arrive when you want it. It also reminds one that women shopped during the downpours of the 1880s, too (at least according to Zola). It runs until 13 May 2012.
P.S. Two of the most effective hooded raincoats:
• My favourite this year: Claudie Pierlot’s “Gentil” parka. In white only, it has big pockets and a good weight. Your knees may be damp but you’ll still feel great. Only problem: sold out in most of Paris due to the rain.
• My trusty autumn choice was found on sale in the shoe shop Carel. Lined in fleece but light enough to throw over an arm, it’s fleece-lined black vinyl. It’s not stocked anymore, but I’ve still seen it online.

Twilight in the rain by Steve Sampson

What to bring home from Paris?

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Cynthia Rose

Petit Pan, rue François Miron 75004

Last week brought a bunch of emails about Paris presents and/or souvenirs. Broadcasts are hopeless to search, but I write about shopping for a travel site called Girl’s Guide to Paris. So, from now on, I’m referring people to these:
• Candles with a history
• Funky French souvenirs
Since I wrote this, Pylones opened a shop in the Carrousel du Louvre; they also have a stand in BHV.
• Jars of stars What I love here is the sequins. They come in glassine bags of stars, etc and can be sprinkled into other presents or just into letters…NB: The two Petit Pan shops in rue François Miron have now swapped spots.
• Packable souvenirs from Plastiques We have the most gorgeous tablecloth from here, with plastic coasters. I love them both.
• Perfect presents for the cook One of those magic stores, which now has a lot more prominence. They currently stock more proprietary products and have a mini-stall at BHV. But they’re still as delightful as ever.
• Treats for the gardener or garden-lover
• Two spots for one-stop Christmas shopping This is about Le Grande Epicerie and the Beaubourg. The sculpted sugar presents at the GE are there all year and everyone always loves them. Here you can also find Miel de Paris (formerly Miel of Paris!), the souvenir guys like to buy. There’s an Eiffel Tower on the label and the jars are small. On the other hand, each one costs 14 euros.
• Xmas presents that say “Paris”

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