A magazine junkie, I picked up some groovy reading material in Paris. Clad mostly in Helvetica, Clark hits the funky side of street culture, graphic design and music. The May/June issue features interviews with artist Steven Harrington (who designed the cover) and the boys from Justice, as well as a snippet called Tee-shirt Blog plugging tees from six cool t-shirt labels.
A bilingual magazine out of Paris, Sneaker Marmalade is a visual feast for sneaker addicts. I had no idea that Nike released a Transformers series while Reebok did the same with Voltron. I wonder if Gobots will be next.
Spent Tuesday afternoon touring minimalist and concept shops in Paris. Here are a few that I checked out:
American Apparel
On my way to Pierre Herme, I noticed that AA, our T-shirt supplier, opened its first shop in rive gauche right off rue Bonaparte just south of Saint-Germain-des-Près. As always, the shop brims with colours and apparel made in the US of A.
BHV Homme
Although you can’t see it clearly in this pic, BHV’s flagship shop for men boasts a stock market board listing the prices of its best selling jeans.
GUS
Although it’s been around for about 7 years, this was my first trip to Gus, a cool concept store for men. Tucked behind the Grands Boulevards on the unassuming rue d’Uzes, the shop spans two floors selling books, clothes, accessories, electronics, and homeware. Gus was definitely the highlight of the tour.
Kulte
Stumbled onto this one just to see if the popular watering hole La Perle was busy as usual. I love it when a shop pays attention to details - the door handle is in a shape of a K. Note: the T-shirt on the left actually says “Don’t photograph me“. Sorry, I just couldn’t resist.
Surface To Air
Another easy shop to miss, considering that the S2A shop in the 3e has no window display and sports only a discreet sign on the door. They sell trainers, magazines, T-shirts, and jeans at prices for the hip and trendy Parisian.
Addresses
American Apparel: 7, rue Gozlin, 6e, M St-Germain-des-Pres, website
BHV Homme: 36, rue de la Verrerie, 4e, M Hotel-de-Ville, website
Gus: 7, rue d’Uzès, 2e, website
Kulte: 76, rue Vieille du Temple, 3e, website
Surface To Air: 68 rue Charlot, 3e, website
I’m back in Europe. Spent last week in Paris meeting friends, scouting, shopping and indulging in fine food. More to come tomorrow, in the meantime here’s some street art that caught my eye in Paris.
Graffiti by Eric O Chet in the Jewish quarters on rue des Rosiers right off rue Vieille du Temple:
The Frenchies are at it again, adding their touch to the world of electronica. It’s called Tecktonik, a new style of dancing sparked by the electro sounds that permeated in late 2005. I’d describe it as a mishmash of Dance Dance Revolution, hip hop and breakdancing moves.
Confused? Just watch this dude, who goes under the name of Spoke, lick those tunes.
Here’s another great one:
Pretty cool, huh? You’ve heard it here first folks… well at least in English.
The video of the original track features an excerpt from a cult short film called C’était un rendez-vous, the story of a guy who takes punctuality seriously dashing through Paris to meet a girl (would’ve been funny if she arrived late). Amid the flaky weather in Montreal, it makes me want to go back there.
Note: a song with a similar mood is the smashing remix of The Killers’ Mr. Brightside by Stuart Price (aka Jacques Lu Cont).
On the eve of its 10-year anniversary, the popular lesbian hangout Le Pulp is closing. The building it’s in was recently sold to property developers who are unfortunately converting it into luxury flats.
The small consolation news? The wild, delirious nights do not end tonight as it was previously thought. According to the schedule, Le Pulp will sneak in another two months of cutting edge electro music. That’s just enough time for me to go back to Paris and party with the girls on a Wednesday or Thursday, when guys can go in and, I hope, Ivan Smagghe and DJ Chloé are working their beat thumpin’ magic.
In another odd case of closure, Old Street’s 3-floor boozer 333 had to shut its doors last month after it was slapped with an ASBO (Anti-Social Behaviour Order). Fortunately, it has re-opened since.
P.S. We did think of making an ASBO T-shirt but the hip folks at A-non were miles ahead of us.
Colette isn’t the only thing that’s hip and stylish in Paris. The city’s leading patisseries (cake/pastry shops) have eschewed the traditional rustic display opting instead for a modern, minimalist look. Here are some of the sleeker ones:
Pierre Hermé
Fans of his flagship store in Tokyo might be in for a disappointment. The shop on rue Bonaparte has just enough space to queue and order. But the cakes are just exquisite and heavenly.
Fauchon
This venerable institution was the former employer of Pierre Hermé.
Gérard Mulot
His stores in the 6e and 14e (shown below) are a contrast between old and new.
Jean-Paul Hévin
He’s one of the world’s best chocolatiers and has an in impressive shop to showcase his addictive creation.
Sadaharu Aoki
His cakes are more exotic, a fusion of French and Japanese flavours, like his green tea éclair and red bean macaron.
Addresses Gérard Mulot: 76 rue de Seine, 6e, M Odéon, website Fauchon: 24 pl. de la Madeleine, 8e, M Madeleine, website Jean-Paul Hévin: 6e, M Vavin, website Pierre Hermé: 72, rue Bonaparte, 6e, M Saint-Sulpice, website Sadaharu Aoki: 56 blvd de Port-Royal, RER Port-Royal, website
Tsk, tsk, I didn’t blog yesterday. The plan was to follow up on last week’s comments about T-shirt design contests but I worked instead on new t-shirt illustrations on the Eurostar .
Was great to spend a few days in Paris. It’s one of the few cities in the world, where walking from one end of the city to another is a real treat. I suppose that’s a reason why a lot of Parisians are not overweight.
Although the retail scene in Paris has less buzz and fewer store openings than in London, New York, and Tokyo, it makes it up with its abundance of independent stores, especially in Le Marais, the 6e arrondissement, the 18th and increasingly the 3rd. Here are some of my favourite ones in Paris.
Colette
It’s the quintessential concept store located in the heart of Paris on rue Saint-Honoré. If you’re not familiar with it, here’s a great video tour of this temple of design.
Le Bon Marché
Ok, it’s a department store, but like Colette and unlike other mass retailers, it infuses design carrying mainly stylish products. I used to go there 2-3 times a week, mainly to do my groceries, when I lived in the 6e. No, the cheese was not sleek looking.
OFR
It’s a small bookstore specialised in design tucked in the corner of streetwear shop Kiliwatch (didn’t realise K is Japanese). Also has a branch in London in Brick Lane.
Le Marais
This is the best area to shop in Paris on a Sunday (stores close on Monday instead). Too many independent stores to mention, but the good ones are on rue Vieille-du-Temple and rue des Francs-Bourgeois.
Note: French retailer BHV recently opened a standalone Men store. Wasn’t able to check it out as it was closed when I walked by… Spree in Montmartre is another interesting concept store in Paris. Didn’t know it also has a shop in the 6th.
Images courtesy of Flickr and Wonderwall.
Addresses BHV Homme: 36 rue de la Verrerie, M Hotel de Ville, website Le Bon Marché: 24 rue de Sèvres, website Colette: 213 rue Saint-Honore, 1er, M Tuileries, website OFR: 64 rue Tiquetonne, 2e, M Etienne Marcel, website Spree: 16 rue la vieuville, M Abbesses, website
Like weekends in London, Saturday night in Paris was quiet. It had nothing to do with avoiding long queues or overly crammed bars. Since I was staying at friends of the family, I had to either retreat early or party all night. But Paris is just not the best place for all-nighters.
Cabs are nearly impossible to catch, making bar-hopping difficult to sustain. Places that close late are mostly packed with kids, especially around Montparnasse. And then there’s the awkward “what do we do” gap between the 5am closing time and the first Sunday train.
I ended up chilling in the Bastille area, chatting with a friend who’s my living encyclopedia of electronic music. Perhaps if he had assumed the decks, it would’ve been a different story.
This is our take on the iconic I love NY symbol. We deviated from the classic I Heart style and used a new concept, the arrondissements in Paris (don’t think it’s been done), to give it a fresh look. We hope the women who adore Paris will love this T-shirt.
We expect to roll out this idea to the other arrondissements - 4e, 11e and 14e for Men, and 1er, 8e and 9e for Women - in the following months. I think we’ll use the slang Je kiffe instead of J’M for the Men’s Tees as it sounds a bit effeminate.
Just a reminder that all our T-shirts will be printed on a limited basis. Not sure what the actual figure will be, but the goal is to reduce the possibility of seeing someone else wearing the same Tee. Eventually, I’d like our system to cap the sales of a particular T-shirt by city (taking into account the population).
