Paparazzi on the Champs-Élysées

Umm...hi.  Is this girl for real? Who are you? I'm pretending she's a glamorous Russian heiress hitting up the Louis Vuitton flagship for a little afternoon shopping spree.  Just a shot in the dark, but I'm assuming most French women wouldn't be striking a pose outside the LV boutique on the most touristy street in the country.  But, I could be wrong.  Who do you think she is?

Here she is trying to runaway from me and my IPhone camera.  Seriously, who can walk in those shoes? Moscow's "it girl," that's who.   It's irrelevant anyway, I'm sure she has a driver or an extremely high tolerance for pain.

Rhi at the Paris Flea

Louis Vuitton trunks for days! The average trunk price I saw was about 8,000 Euro.

I saw a Travel Channel special on the flea markets of Paris once, and haven’t gotten it out of my head since.   Visions of vintage Chanel jewelry, old issues of French Vogue, and bureaus and chairs costing more than my annual salary danced in my head every time I thought of Paris.  Since I didn’t have enough time for a proper treasure hunt during my first trip to the city of light, this time I wasn’t going to miss it.

I set my sights on visiting the most famous market, Les Puces de Saint-Ouen, known to locals as Les Puces.  To Americans, it’s simply, “the Paris Flea Market.” 

Due to my non-existent grasp of the French language, I figured I needed a professional to help me navigate market's hundreds of stalls.  I arranged a tour and looked forward to meeting “Louis,” our guide, who promised he’d be wearing a pink vest. Score!

On the day we were to visit Les Puces, it dumped rain like you’ve never seen, but nothing was stopping me.  My husband and I took the metro out to Porte de Clignancourt, a place you probably don’t want to be at night, or alone in the daytime, to meet Louis.  Turns out, we were the only fools who showed up to drown in the puddles of what was left of Les Puces.  Our one guide turned into two and we were off for the ultimate private tour of Les Puces. 

Let me tell you, no one was selling handmade yarn dolls at this show. I have NEVER seen more Hermes, Chanel, Christian Lacroix, Celine, Yves Saint Laurent or Louis Vuitton in my entire life.  There were Birkin bags, Louis Vuitton trunks bigger than my apartment and furs that would make you weep, and not because you were a PETA member.

Well, our eager (and awesome) tourguides really wanted to "help" us buy something.  But, there was one problem; I couldn't afford a candlestick at this market.  So we went through the motions of pretending to be interested in purchasing something, while we wandered around in the downpour through miles of stalls.  Through our rain-soaked journey, we learned about furniture styles, art, valuable farm antiques and how to tell a real Louis XVI desk from a fake.  Very important stuff in my world. 

Who shops here anyway? Madonna and Woody Allen were both recently sighted at the market.  And, according to our tour guides, Russian billionaires are big shoppers at Les Puces.  Apparently they're big fans of Napoleon era finery. 

Anyway, pictures with descriptions below. Note: Most sellers weren't cool with photos, so I couldn't get half of the pictures I wanted. Enjoy!

Bracelets like this were a dime a dozen.  1,500 Euro

Proof that creepy people like antiques too.  I thought the bible was a nice touch. 

Looks a little different than flea markets back home. 

Here I am. This is right before I pretended to know some of Edith Piaf's most famous songs. Umm....

Unfortunately, the rain kept a lot of dealers away.

Best husband ever. Look, he actually seems like he enjoyed learning about furniture in the down-pouring rain. 

Check out the pink vest!

Want to learn more? Check out this piece from The New York Times. 

I Don't Care, I Love it

Warning: Icona Pop's new track might make you think you're a nineteen-year-old without a care in the world. Do you see yourself? There you are, dancing like a maniac at the best party of the summer, swilling Bacardi Limon, and snapping pics with your Kodak funsaver.


Well, that girl is gone, and she'll never go to a party like that again.  Now, she's chained to her desk listening to "cool music" on YouTube. Isn't growing up fun?


Anyway, you must listen to these twentysomething's infectious tune about dancing in the street, crashing their car and throwing their boyfriend's crap onto the street. I don't care, I love it.

The Hart of Fashion

Move over Gossip Girl.  When it comes to fashion, the CW’s Hart of Dixie is giving you a run for your money. Sorry Blair and Serena, in Bluebell, the hemlines are longer, and the styles are a bit more on trend.

It’s no wonder Hart’s wardrobe is to die for; fashionista Rachel Bilson is the show’s star. 

The show follows New Yorker Zoe Hart, who is fresh out of medical school and finds herself working at a practice in Bluebell, Alabama.  Small town drama ensues! However, the storylines of the hour-long comedy/drama/soap opera are a little weak and rumor has it, the show is on the chopping block.  Come on, is any show safe enough to watch with your 5-year-old child, mother, mailman and elderly neighbor really going to catch-on with the masses? On Dixie there are no gun shots, bar fights, malicious schemes or activities of the illegal nature.

But, if there’s one reason to watch, it’s the fashion. It’s off the hook. Bananas. Rachel Bilson (Zoe) and co-star Jaime King, who plays Lemon Breeland, kill it week after week. 

Hart’s downtown chic juxtaposed with Lemon’s sultry Southern belle is like watching two different magazine spreads come to life every Monday.

Observe:

Left: Lemon wears bright red pants, a printed blouse and a sweet shade of red lipstick. I actually think I have all of those items in my closet.  Well, save for Lemon's hot fiance George.

 Left: Who knew pearls, metallic and polka dots worked so well together?  Check out these AG polka dot ankle jeans in the style of Lemon.

Right: I'd say that's got to be an Equipment blouse on Zoe.  If you haven't heard of Equipment blouses you must check them out. They're silk, they're awesome and they never go on sale.  Find them at Nordstrom, Bloomingdales and if you're in Boston, check out Dress on Newbury Street.

Left: Skirt, Marc by Marc Jacobs. On sale at Revolveclothing.com for $195.00.  Find similar top at ASOS.com.

Right:  Umm...hello Burberry.  I think Zoe's rocking the Burberry London Leather Sleeve Gabardine Trench.  If she's not, she's wearing a really hot knock-off, and I need to find out where to get it.  The Burberry version will set you back a cool $1,995.00.

Not sure who makes Zoe's shoes. Find similar lace-up wedge booties here.

Left: Horses, cats, zebras, oh my!  Animal prints are all the rage this season. I couldn't find Lemon's horse print blouse on the internets but I did find this really weird $230 one-piece horse bathing suit on ASOS.com.  If you're looking to repel men at an upcoming pool party this is the bathing suit for you.

Left: If you're a long-time reader of my blog, you may remember my hatred of formal shorts.  Well, when it comes to Rachel Bilson, I guess I take it back.  




Right: That's totally the Chloe Paraty shoulder bag.  Clean out your savings account and buy yours at Net-A-Porter.

I Want to be the Girl with the Most Art

Courtney Love is an artist.   "And She's Not Even Pretty," Love's art exhibit, opened this week in NYC.  Here, a few of her scribbles:

Does that say Feral Shelter Cats?  No, wait, it says "Feral Sheter Cats"?  Meow.

Hmm...I'm no financial advisor, but if she has 42 Birkin bags maybe she should sell them and get her arse out of debt. 

Did I trick you? I bet you thought this was part of Ms. Love's exhibit.  Nope, this was all me! It's a DTRH exclusive.  If anyone has a connection at a Boston gallery let me know.   I'd really like to quit my day job.