What a week!

The past week has been just so amazing. I spent last Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the new showroom of Georges Hobeika in the first arrondissement at 15 rue Royale, the one that leads to the Madeline from Place de la Concorde - quelle addresse! The PAA is on rue St. Jacques, in the 5th, and I was running a little late on my first day; given the distance, ended up spending about 2- 1/2 hours a day traveling back and forth. Walking into the Georges Hobeika showroom. I was kind of shy in some ways, slipping in and just saying who I was and where I was from. Everyone said, "ok, hi" and I felt comfortable. Marianne was instrumental in making me feel at home. She is really a great person who is talented and full of life and humor. I spent those three days putting on and taking off incredibly georgeous gowns from professional models who each had such an interesting personalities - but I'll go into detail about all of these experiences with pictures and everything as this month progresses and I have time to process everything!

I just wanted to give an overview of what the week was like. So on Sunday I got to go help with fittings for the model casting process at Dany Atrache. That was really interesting as well; a modern luxury hotel on rue des Pyramides just around the corner from the St. Louis statue and Hotel Regina. From then through Thursday  I conducted an interview with Polish designer Eva Minge and attended her show,  worked with the Hobeika team and student dressers during the actual couture show, was a guest at the haute couture shows of Stephan Rolland and Basile Soda, stood out in front of the Chanel show and whatched the public, went to the button exhibit at the Fondation Bismark, used shibori techniques to create some beautiful fabric under the guidance of Sharon Kilfoyle, and went to the showroom/ office of Franck Sorbier. At Franck Sorbier I saw the fabric and the dresses up close and interviewed Franck for almost 45 minutes. Not to mention reviewing the dossiers of the candidates for the semester scholarship that the PAA is offering and meeting with Ryan and Peter and Sharon about developing a brochure for the PAA semester program.

Well, I am back in Boston and I kind of feel like a martian in a foreign country. As I look around these surroundings that are so familiar but that yet seem foreign at the same time, and I reflect about the experience I just had since I got to Paris, on June 12. I am feeling SUPER inspired to document the experience and to design. I have threecollections that I want to develop. One, of course, uses the shibori fabric I made with Sharon, and the other is a black/silver chiffon fabric I bought last year in Paris - focusing on black, silver, and white a la Greta Garbo; I want to shibori something up to go with that line; with nuno felting too. The third one is a line of African batiks on reversible linen jackets. I found just the African resource in a merchant at the Porte de Clingaincourt... so many ideas, so little time.

Anglomania Styles

Anglomania Hair and makeup

Backstage Paris: Anglomaina Vivienne Westwood fashion show

Students from the Paris American Academy July program dressed backstage for the Summer 2011 ready-to-wear fashion shows at the Bourse in Paris: Anne Valerie Hash & Vivienne Westwood Anglomania. This is my friend Tracy Jennings and her four students.

The collection was SO Vivienne Westwood! The model lineup was on the end of the first rack, and of course each model had her own page for her dresser to follow.

Lots of fun denim, painted, distressed, and always very tight, EXCEPT for the crotch area which is more often than not dropped to mid-thigh. I know it sounds odd, but when it's done well it actually looks great.

Paris mood photos

Student's last night in Paris

We finished the trip with a dinner boat cruise up and down the Seine river. Peter Carman came along, and it was a wonderful, wonderful evening. Our tables were right in front by the doors that open to the deck, and despite the heat, had a nice breeze. The cruise ended up in front of the Eifel Tower just as it started sparkling!

First invitation to couture show OMO & Georges Hobeika fittings

What a day this was! I received my first invitation to a couture show - earned on my own OMO!! As they say, seek and you will find!
After recouperating my dear invitation, I rushed off to the showroom of Georges Hobeika to help with the model call fittings. It was fascinating. M. Hobeika is very nice and I was in the room with him and his assistants the whole afternoon. We had model after model come in, and they tried on the same black dress - it was cut so slim through the ribcage! Some pieces in his collection show an influence of detailing from the Masai tribe in Africa, mostly through the embellishments and some of the shapes. There were some gowns that were masterfully draped, and a fabric made of sequins that looked like fur. When you brush the sequins they change color. It's really beautiful.
Super thin model after model came in and after about an hour or so I had sore fingers from stretching the elastic on and off of the shoes and tugging on zippers. The shoes are georgeous! The models, too, but many of them were surprisingly not made up and very natural-looking. Lots of girls from Russia/Eastern Europe, some from Brazil, the Congo, and the Ivory Coast. I think only one or two were American. After the rush with the models, I helped rename the files of their photos on the computer and print them out. I hung around to witness the trial makeup, hair and nails. There were two older French-looking women with thick black larger glasses who were consulted about the styling. I don't know what anyone's role was, except Marie-Ange (I think that's her name) who was my "boss" and Georges Hobeika. Well, time for bed because I must be fresh for tomorrow. I think we're going to be putting together the model cards with the looks - and who knows what else!

Parisian graffitti

The graffitti in Paris is often done with stencils and very sophisticated. Check out these that I photographed on rue Mouffetard!

Students working hard on projects in Paris

Yes, we enjoyed the stores, the culture,and the professors, but the students also worked very hard on their projects as well. The teams paired designers and merchandisers, and they worked together to develop a couture line and a diffusion line from that. Sketches, fabric sourcing, photo shoots and mood boards were developed in unison with the experiences they had during the trip. Here are some photos of team meetings in the garden of the PAA.

Retail research: Dries Van Noten boutique

We went to the Dries Van Noten store on the left bank next to the Seine and they were very nice to us - surprisingly nice for such a high profile boutique. They explained that the Dries philosophy was to maintain the character of the original space of his boutiques. This space had been a bookstore and the first room to the left really reminds one of an old-time bookstore with a ladder - except that it's georgeous clothing and not books! The other rooms felt like a living room with georgeous antique furniture and a collection with a beautiful ethnic influence. The students took the experience very seriously and it was wonderful to see them taking notes in their notebooks with the fashion show logo.

Quick cultural flash: Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

As we were leaving the super fashion department store with our French deli delights, we walked past the shirine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, and were drawn in depite our hunger pains. It turns out that on this spot the Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Catherine Laboure in 1830, twice! St. Vincent De Paul is also depicted in the mosaic and the statues.

Professor Carey went in an bought Miraculous Medals and gave them to all the trip participants. That is one of the best parts of Paris: The contrasts. One second you're in high fashion and the next you're contemplating St. Vincent De Paul's Congregation of the Mission and the Duaghters of Charity!Professor Carey went in an bought Miraculous Medals and gave them to all the trip participants. That is one of the best parts of Paris: The contrasts. One second you're in high fashion and the next you're contemplating St. Vincent De Paul's Congregation of the Mission and the Duaghters of Charity!

Le Bon Marche - Merchandising merchandise!

Leave it up to the Grand Epicierie to create promotional merchandise so chic that you can't resist it~ and to display it in such a classy and modern way!

Le Bon Marche: Le Grand Epicerie Cool Food!

One of the most wonderful lifestyle components of Le Bon Marche is the grocery store - believe it or not! I was particularly impressed with the unique offering of rice combinations. Impressed by the way they must taste but also by the beauty of the packaging. They are so pretty!
Rice with Pineapple and Figs! ... next to good old Uncle Ben's.


Rice with Milk and Southern Violets

Five Flavors for your Rice!! "A walk in Asia"