Day: 20 (Day 4 in Paris) Km travelled:10,192 Steps: 6.52km
September 26th, 2017
Fashion fades, style is eternal
– Yves Saint-Laurent, Head Designer for the House of Dior 1957-1960
While in Normandy, one of my travel companion had stumbled upon the fact that there was a special retrospect exhibit in Paris about the House of Dior, a long-standing luxury fashion label. Obviously, this was something we had to do! How often do you get the occasion to drool over decades worth of iconic dresses by iconic designers, all in the same space?
The exhibit was housed in the ‘Musée des Arts Décoratifs’, situated next to the ‘Musée du Louvre‘. No trip to that famous area is complete without laying eyes on the famous museum and its infamous glass pyramid. It’s easy to pick out the tourists here, they are the ones proudly snapping selfies in front of the glass structure, fascinated by the landmark and all of its conspiracy theories swirling about (Da Vinci Code anyone?). As for the locals, they’re usually the ones averting their gaze from the ’90’s eyesore addition!
Guilty of the cliché tourist photo in front of the Musée du Louvre and the pyramid; in my defence, at least it wasn’t a selfie! (above)
Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (below)
After one failed attempt the previous day to try to be admitted (the line up was hours doing), we headed over first thing in the morning, ready to secure our spot in line. And that we did, along with the few hundred other people with the same intention. And then we waited. And waited some more. And waited again. Undeterred, we finally succeeded in breeching the museum doors 1.5hrs later and what awaited us was beyond worth the wait. This was fashion as art. From the layout, to the lighting, to staging, everything had clearly and meticulously been laid out to feature the best of the House of Dior. Covering over 3000 square feet, the exhibit ‘Christian Dior, Couturier du Rêve’ featured and celebrated 70 years of the famed designer house and its various heads over the decades, from Dior himself to Saint-Laurent to John Galliano to the present day Maria Grazia Chiuri.
The best things in life are free.
The second best are very expensive
– Coco Chanel
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I will let these snaps feebly attempt to convene the genuine beauty and amazement that the displayed couture exuded. (Disclaimer: I apologize in advance for the volume of photos I’ve about to post; to be fair, this is the paired down version of what I shot that morning!)
The rest of our ‘girls day’ was spent following the same theme: fashion o course! A leisurely walk from the Louvre towards the ‘Boulevard Haussmann‘ was just what was needed to take advantage of the Parisian sunshine. And of course, no trip to the 9th arrondissement would be complete without a quick stop at ‘Les Galleries Lafayettes’.
Being surrounded by luxury and excess all morning must have gotten to our heads because we decided to indulge a little while there…. Not 1 but 2 flavours of gelato! (we split it of course!)
Loved seeing the photos.