electric_dress: [Paris] The Marais

Comptoir de l'Image

While at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, I got the Wallpaper* guide to Paris. The architecture and design magazine produce with Shopping, Restaurants and Hotel sections chosen on the basis of great aesthetic design. I was most captivated by a boutique "Comptoir des Images", a photography and fashion magazine bookshop in the Marais where apparently Parisian based designers like to go for inspiration, so I made a day of exploration and shopping in my favourite Parisian district. It took all day to locate the bookshop, and on the way I visited my favourite French boutique, the Kooples, as well as Zadig and Voltaire, both of whom work a rock chick meets classic French style that I love. The heavy knits and skull embellishments are been-there-done-that for some people, but it's an anti femininity I find refreshing.

I also went to French staples Maje, Comptoir des Cotonniers and Iro, all of whom had great new colours in their Spring selections. A new discovery was Woojungmi, a Korean menswear line whose funky shapes and use of texture made me seriously consider cross-dressing. I passed a cute little Jewish bakery; ironically if you like, the former traditional Jewish quarter is now peppered with Arabic influences as a new generation of immigrants move in. The more the merrier, I say.

Finally I found the bookshop; I didn't actually buy anything, if only because there was simply so much to chose from! Biopics of great designers and photographers, books on people and places to inspire, and back issues of magazines lke The Face, L'Officiel and of course, Vogue. I had a browse of some original copies from the fifties and the wealth of illustration used back then really made what Julie Verhoeven to Susie Bubble when I saw them in London ring true; that a whole art form once mainstream is sadly left out, although having said that, I do see it cropping up now more than ever in campaigns and editorials.

By the time I left the Marias late that afternoon, I was freezing cold, hadn't been to nearly as many places as I'd have liked, but the feeling of inspiration was warming the cockles of my heart. First step? Move to Paris asap.