The Latest Trend in Paris?

Fresh off the runway:

The pidgeon hat!

Every statue who's any statue has one.

Latin Quarter, 5eme

Windblown

Wind and long hair are enemies, I've decided.

dress- H&M

tights- ?

blazer- random store in République

boots- Target

Don't forget to enter my giveaway-- A beautiful ring from MaruMaru! I'm keeping it going for a little while longer.

Discover Paris: The Eiffel Tower

Interesting facts about the Eiffel Tower:

-In French it is called La Tour Eiffel. Eiffel is pronounced ay-FELL. Like "they fell", except without the TH.

-It's 1063ft tall

-It's named after its designer, Gustave Eiffel

-It was created in 1887-1889 for the Exposition Universelle.

-Eiffel originally wanted to build it in Barcelona but it didn't really fit with the aesthetic of the city.

-Then again it didn't fit with the Haussmannian architecture of Paris either. In fact, Parisians hated it at first! Now they like it more.

-It's 3 blocks from my school

The following outfit pictures (makeup-free!) were taken under it:

dress- H&M

boots- Target

tights- Hue

necklace #1 (choker)- Urban

necklace #2 (butterfly)- Works in Progress (Etsy shop sadly closed)

Discover Paris: le Marais

Le Marais is the Jewish district of Paris. Its name means "marsh" or "swamp", which I imagine it was a bunch of years ago before, like, a city was built on it. I like le Marais because it's abundant in three things: sweet old-school European architecture, attractive Jewish men, and delicious falafel. Not in that order, though. Falafel trumps all:True story: I got the falafel à emporter (takeout) so I could wander around as I ate it. I was chowing down when all of a sudden one falafel FELL OUT ONTO THE DIRTY PARISIAN STREET and I actually screamed. Good thing there were three more hidden under all the vegetables. Let's get a closeup. Click to enlarge (you owe it to yourself):
Even though Jewish men are my next favorite, I didn't get any pictures of them. So I guess... here are some buildings. Just as good, right? Right?!
Une jolie petite rue.

I got the falafel at L'As du Fallafel on Rue Rosiers (Métro St. Paul). I've made it my goal to try every falafel in le Marais by the end of the semester, so I'll keep updating about that. I just hope the others can compare to this one.

Juste pour vous montrer quelque chose de drôle

Moi:

Et mon amie Sylvia:

(Photos prises à Belleville)

Je sais bien que la robe est trop courte. C'est la faute de la machine à laver!

Manteau- Zara

robe- Urban

bottes- Target

Sac- NY&Co

gants- Tie Rack

guêtres- Claire's

écharpe- ?

Thigh Warmers

It's awesome having a camera that doesn't work inside, especially if you like your pictures bright orange, overexposed, and blurry.
It took SOMUCHEDITING to make these look even kind of ok.

Funny fact about this skirt-- I don't know how European sizing works so I accidentally bought it too big. It fits in the hips but the waist is like, HUGE. In order to help fill it out I cooked myself a big, traditional French dinner of spaghetti and a baked potato.

headband- CVS

t-shirt - VSPink

skirt- Etam

tights- Hue

leg warmers - Claire's

boots - Target

Style Icons: Serge and Jane

One of the benefits of being an American in Paris is the access to French cultural media (another benefit is that when you speak to skeezy French men in English they are 100% more likely to get frustrated and give up trying to pick you up after a few tedious, broken sentences, but that's another story entirely). About a week ago, some of my classmates and I went to see the film Gainsbourg: Vie Héroïque for our theatre class and it was pretty awesome. The film was kind of a biopic of famed 70s Jewish-French singer Serge Gainsbourg, who happened to be married to the infamous Jane Birkin (yes, as in the Hermès Birkin bag-- THAT Birkin) for about 12 years before he went kind of nutso and she left him. But wait! While they were together, I have to say that they were a pretty nice-looking, if not slightly mismatched couple:


I'm loving how much leg she always shows. I'll have to try to pull this off when the weather gets warmer.

RIP Lucy Gordon, who played a stunning Jane.
French actor Eric Elmosino, who is extremely appealing in an unorthodox way, played Serge.

I'm not sure if they make it with English subtitles or dubbed into English yet, but if you can get your hands on this film somehow I would highly recommend it. I must warn you, though, it is a typical French film: dark, creepy, mysterious, a little disturbing, and very poignant.

In other, totally completely unrelated news, can I just say how much I love the Blog Awards system? Seriously, it just makes everyone feel so good.

Recently I got an award from Adeline of My Vintage Image and I wanted to share it with some special people whose blogs I genuinely enjoy:

The Good Girl Gone Blog

La Vie en Ginger

Bright Side Dweller

So Damn Stylish

S and O Productions

style4me

Chic on the Cheap

Girls, who do you think deserves an award?

Black and pink is my favorite color combination anyway

Knowing full well that I would stick out like a sore thumb against all the neutral-colored Parisians, I decided to wear my new brightly-colored cardigan today:
Huge surprise coming up here-- none of the strangers I saw gave a rat's ass about my burst of color. No shocked stares, no angry mobs, no cries of "Oh la la!" or "Mon dieu! Elle fait quoi alors?!" Looks like I wore a bright magenta cardigan in the heart of Paris and lived to tell about it.

cardigan- Zara

scarf- ?

hat-Loehmann's?

dress- American Rag

leggings- American Apparel

boots- Target

L'Arc de Triomphe...

... was the landmark of choice today
I also bought a bright magenta cardigan on the Champs-Elysees, which was apparently a HUGE faux pas, considering the French only wear shades of black. But I'm going to wear it anyway :) I'm not French yet!

jacket- Zara

leggings- American Apparel

bag- NY&Co

gloves- Anthro

hat- Chrismukkah present

scarf- random shop in the Latin Quarter

Quelques photos de mes premiers jours a Paris

Some pictures of my first days in Paris (en Francais!):
La Tour Eiffel
A la Sourbonne
Au Pantheon au quartier latin

Mon echarpe
Ma bague

coat/manteau- Zara

scarf/echarpe- ?

hat/chapeau- Forever21

boots/bottes- Target

jeans-Nordstrom

bag/sac- Urban Outfitters

gloves/gants-Anthropologie

ring/bague- ?

La Tour Eiffel

I've been so busy unpacking my life, cementing my class schedule, getting to know my classmates, and trying to find a normal sleep schedule I haven't been able to do any outfit pictures; that is, until yesterday when my friend Danielle and I braved the cold at the Eiffel Tower:

I literally took my huge sleeping bag jacket off for 30 seconds, she snapped the picture, then I put it back on. It wasn't off for very long but it was for long enough to elicit a few "bravo"s from some skeezy frenchmen. Ahh, Paris.

cardigan- F21

top- Anthropologie

skirt- Charlotte Russe

tights- Hue

necklace- Urban

beanie- Chrismukkah present