BRASSERIE GABRIELLE

Aaaah it’s fashion week, my little cats!

I won’t hide the fact that, for several seasons now, I’m less excited about them. I don’t mean to bite the hand that feeds me, but it’s a lot of time and energy that I don’t put towards the office…And it’s also hard to get tickets when you have a blog, you practically have to fight for it, you have to find an angle in order to find something new that surprises you, readers, and gives you the opportunity to learn something new.  “The famous reader’s advantage” because it’s great to see the fashion shows but I’d really rather be sharing something unprecedented with you…

 I find that it’s become like a circus, who’s the most “street-style” OVER dressed, who will rub the most elbows to get THE coolest photo backstage without bothering the make-up artists and dressers who are actually there working… So for 2 seasons now, I’ve been watching fashion week on the web, I daydream while looking at Style.com with the sublime street styles of Tommy Ton, on Vogue.com so I don’t miss a single figure on the runway, and I keep an eye on beauty backstage for my favorite lines on Instagram, in peace and quiet at my desk.

But when I receive the invitation from Chanel, I don’t care, I race over there. I want the pandemonium, the snobby looks from the journalists, the front row seat to a wedding between Kanye West and George Clooney, I want the crazy décor, the magnificent work, hundreds of outfits, and I never, ever want to leave – even when it’s over…I want it ALL.

I feel like I’m the one becoming a snob now, but if it means I have to choose, I really want to see a show. And this time, pure insanity! I think that since I’ve been lucky enough to attend, each time it’s even crazier, the show is just as great in the hall with the guests and their looks, as it is when the models are on the runway! Between the Chanel supermarket, an island coming out of the sand of Dubaï and a street in Paris, this time it was the Brasserie Gabrielle. Le Grand Palais (the Grand Palace) was transformed into a giant, typically Parisian brasserie, decorated as if it were late 19^th, early 20^th century. And the other times, I was so into the décor that I forgot about the fashion, but this time, I felt that they achieved a perfect balance. The set design and the story told by the fashion models really complemented one another.

The décor was over-the-top, you could have sworn you were in the legendary brasserie Chartier, only under the cupola of the Grand Palais. There was something surreal about seeing the guests eating deviled eggs whilst leaning on a zinc bar counter, black coffee in hand, wearing extravagant outfits…Last Tuesday I felt like a time traveler…

I really liked the models dressed in neo-Parisian kid styles, little heads with plastered-down hair, XL smokies, tweed oversized cuts, super-elaborate embroidering…Once again, for me, there was magic in play…

And what about you, what was your favorite moment from fashion week?

Translated by Ida Driscoll