-
Exploring the Musée de l’Art moderne and YSL
What happens when your tour guide does not show up at the art museum? You become the beholder of the beauty on your own: Couturier art, painted art, creative food art and chocolate art. When the guide did not show up, a group of us walked into the Musée d’Art moderne (MAM) and found Yves Saint Laurent’s couturier art and explored the MAM on our own to our own delight. After the ad-lib visit, we went downstairs to the Forest restaurant and were surrounded by dancing art on the walls in an imaginary forest. For dessert, two of us went foraging for chocolate and came upon more art: artisan chocolate…
-
Christian Louboutin Exhibition(iste)
For Christian Louboutin, "a shoe has so much more to offer than just to walk". The fashion designer known for his over-the-topThe sign that impressioned Louboutin between 10 and 12 to work with heels footwear with the red soles, Louboutin was inspired to create a line of high heels after a visit to the Museum of African and Oceanian Arts. Here he observed a sign forbidding patrons to wear high heels because of the delicate mosaic tile floor. Inspired by the museum in the 12th arrondissement where he lived, Louboutin used motifs, architecture, color, Indian and Egyptian movies even the iridescent fish in the museum’s aquarium to interpret this multi-cultural neighborhood in his…
-
Lift the Mask and Smell the Rodin Roses
Alain Baraton recommends the garden at Musée Rodin for the perfume of roses. Colleen’s Paris recommends you hurry before all the petals fall off. It is the end of July. The alternative is to save the date for next year. You will be swept away by the variety of scents. Early Saturday morning, Mr. Baraton convinced me to make the museum’s garden my focus for the morning. He responded to a listener’s question on the radio: If one is in Paris, what garden would he recommend for a garden visit? He saw rabbits in the garden; I saw the Auguste Rodin’s Le Penseur (The Thinker) surrounded by roses in an…
-
Shuttle Arc de Triomphe to Fondation Louis Vuitton
Do you prefer light, airy, electric transportation? Would you like a scenic ride along the fashionable Avenue Foch to and from the Arc de Triomphe? When you plan a visit to the Fondation Louis Vuitton (FLV) you have alternatives: Line 1, Buses 63 or 244 or the FLV shuttle. The requirement to use the shuttle is to have an admission ticket to the museum. Oh my! What if you decide to go to the museum on a whim and have not purchased a ticket!?
-
A Rare Moment in Paris with Frank Gehry
Frank Gehry had just left the auditorium in a conversation with Jean-Louis Cohen at the Fondation Louis-Vuitton. After listening to his architectural journey as it relates to the "free and independent" architect Charlotte Perriand, I walked up to him. I thanked him for sharing his thoughts and for his unique design of this Fondation Louis Vuitton museum shaped like a boat, which is the symbol of Paris. He touched my arm and asked if I had seen the Charlotte Perriand exhibit, which had opened the day before.
-
Pierre Cardin’s Permanent Paris Museum
Pierre Cardin goes to his studio everyday, continues working with his stylists and leaves a notebook next to his bed to make notes and drawings.... In 2014 the fashion designer told his closest assistant and former apprentice, Renée Taponier, that just in case no one pays homage to his legacy of work after he passes on, he might as well do it himself. He opened a museum on rue Saint Merri. What a collection! This visit opened a new world for me about someone who I thought just designed men's suits and the Beatles collarless jackets. Ingenuity and a view to the future with no pang of nostalgia are alive…
-
Saint-Sulpice, A Tower With A View
For DaVinci Code trackers, your souvenir photo showing the church Saint-Sulpice has a major distraction. If you visited the church after the the book’s publication in 2003, the north tower is shrouded in scaffolding and hidden from view. It is time to return to Paris for a new Kodak moment photo shoot. Completely dismantled stone by stone and put back together again between February 2006 and January 2011, the north tower is completely restored and stable. The tower, which rises 233 feet above the ground, carries the weight of 22 tons for the Evangelist statues, 41 tons for the belfry frame and 17 tons for the five bells. A protective…
Enjoy Paris Through My Eyes
