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ViViDogWear


Kate Spade

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Going to London & Paris with Grandma!
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My company has been doing furloughs I ended up having 10 consecutive days off in March. Since everyone else is worried about finances and job security, I've decided to take a trip with my Grandma, who is retired.  We got a GREAT deal on RT to London and I'm SOOO excited since everyone in my family's been there already but me. 

Of course we'll have to do some of the typical tourist attractions (Westminster Abbey,  National Gallery, The Palace, The Eiffel Tower, etc).  but I'm MORE excited about the non-traditional stuff I guess.   I'm excited to go to the Portobello Market, Bourough Market, see where Coco Chanel lived, etc. 
Being the style mavens y'all are - anyone else have some other recommendations for this fashion fiend to visit?  I need to rent the last few episodes of SATC again to see where Carrie visited! :)



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Hermes

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Wow - what a nice granddaughter you are!

Are you taking the Chunnel between London and Paris?

For London, you'll want to walk Carnaby Street and check out the shops. You will also probably want to check out a Topshop there as well.  For entertainment, I highly recommend a candle lit concert at Saint Martin in the Fields, specifically Vivaldi.  There is also a 1/2 price day-of theatre ticket kiosk in Leicester Square (pronounced "Lester").  As far as design and fashion exhibits, you will want to go to the Victoria and Albert Museum.

For Paris, Versailles is a must see in my opinion, as is the Louvre, and Notre Dame.  Try to have coffee or lunch at Deux Magots, and dinner at Chez Rene.

In regard to shopping in Paris, I found this on the net:

Haute Couture shops found on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré and Avenue Montaigne in the 8th arrondissement.
Top quality shoes, bags, and leather goods are the province of Rue du Cherche-Midi and rue de Grenelle in the 6th.

Truly trend-setting fashions may be seen in the shops on Rue Etienne Marcel and Place des Victoires bordering the 1st and 2nd arrondissements.

Some of the better-known emporiums of Haute Couture and jewelry include: Cartier (8th), Celine (8th), Chanel (1st & 8th), Chaumet, Christian Dior (8th), Christian Lacroix (8th), Piaget, Yves Saint Laurent (16th), and Van Cleef & Arpels (8th).

Sadly, the Champs-Elysées — formerly the bastion of fashion and class — has degenerated into a neon strip of fast food chains, banks, airline offices, malls, and cinemas aimed squarely at the tourists. Exceptions to this trend are the Guerlain Parfumerie, with its turn-of-the century elegance and its curved staircase, as well as the neo-classical Virgin Megastore, a mammoth retail haven for recorded music.

Les Halles offers a subterranean shopping center with more than 180 stores, connected by a maze of escalators and mall-walks guaranteed to give anyone a headache. If you can survive the nightmare, it is possible to find low-budget copies of Parisian-chic fashions and other trendy clothes here.

For a pleasurable and mainstream shopping experience à l'américaine, shoppers should check out the department stores in Paris. Two of the most famous rivals, Printemps and Galeries Lafayette, may be found side-by-side on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement, carrying designer, brand name and private label merchandise.

La Samaritaine, located in the 1st between Les Halles and the Pont Neuf, is a five-store complex which prides itself as the one where "on trouve tout".

Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville - BHV, located in the 4th, is better known for practical commodities, such as furnishings, do-it-yourself supplies, lighting and auto parts, though they do stock a decent selection of clothing and accessories. Le Bon Marché, the only Left Bank (7th arrondissement) department store, earns top marks from both shoppers and food lovers, with its adjoining food halls and roof garden.

One of the most renowned places to find treasures in Paris is at the flea market. Paris has three main flea markets of ancient descent, situated around the old gates of the city. The origin of the name refers to the cast-off clothes of royalty which were commonplace in centuries of old, teeming with the little insects.

Entertaining in every respect, they are a good source of bargain treasures if you go early enough (between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m.), before the massive influx of shoppers. Antikita's official web site of the Saint Ouen Flea Market (Porte de Clignancourt, 18th arrondissement ) provides a map of the sprawling complex and permits virtual windowshopping of its merchants' wares. The other major markets may be found at Porte de Vanves (14th) and Porte de Montreuil (20th).

Prices varied. If you're coming from America, be ready to pay double for regular items. Be selective, the value of the dollar is lower than the Euro.

Bookworms will find most books in Paris to be somewhat expensive, particularly foreign books.
However, one of the most charming fixtures in Paris consists of the rows of bookstalls perched against the parapet of the Seine River, known as les bouquinistes. Here, many a connoisseur of ancient tomes has been able to find a particularly valuable first edition, given an appropriate degree of patience and a seasoned knack for bargaining. For general French titles, the largest and most convenient shop is the FNAC in the Forum des Halles.
Two of the better-known English-language bookstores are Brentano's (2nd arrondissement ) and Shakespeare & Co. (5th).


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AllieGurl


Marc Jacobs

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ahhh shopping in Paris! I went a few years ago and it was heavenly! I took a guidebook, but I also did alot of wandering and discovering cool places and that was fabulous as well. Here are the places that stick out:

Louis Vuitton Flagship Store - I am a huge LV fan and this store was INCREDIBLE.

Galleries Lafayette - Stunningly pretty dept store in the heart of the city with incredible fashion. http://www.galerieslafayette.com/#fr/intro.htm

Colette - A famous boutique with mens and womens fashion and misc home accesories . http://www.colette.fr/

Mistigriff- designer seconds outlet, some of the best known brands carries men's, women's and children's wear, discounted by 25 to 85%.

Repetto - A famous ballet store that also sells ballet shoes and fashion ballet shoes. They can be found at the dept stores as well, but the actual store offers amazing sales.

Make sure you make time to see all the beautiful places in paris as well -
1. The Luxembourg gardens and palace
2. Musee D'Orsay - My FAVORITE museum in paris!
3. Holocaust Memeorial Museum

Also, I highly recomend doing a day trip to chateau De Versailles - The most incredible palace and it is so amazing to walk admist the history of king Louis and Marie Antoinette. http://www.chateauversailles.fr/en/


I suggest you buy a shopping guidebook in advance and highlight all the places you want to see, just to give you a sense of areas to check out.


I have not had the opportunity to go to London , so I cant really help you out there.

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lynnie


Chanel

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Yay!  I'm going to Paris in April for 2 weeks (as well as Nice, Grasse, and Belgium) so keep suggestions coming!

Also- the March Lucky has a shopping guide for Paris!  That should help a lot! Their guide mentioned Gaspard Yurkievich- beautiful shoes that I've only seen in one boutique in NYC, as well as Le Mont st. Michel- a sweater line that i've only come across occasionally stateside.  Sandro was a line I remember liking a few years ago in Nice, as well as Les Nereides for their perfumes and colorful jewelry.  I also want to go to Colette.  You should also go to Pierre Herme for the macaroons:

http://www.pierreherme.com/index.cgi?&cwsid=7454phAC194316ph6683599

Someone brought me some from Paris and they were incredible.


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