Postcards From Paris: No. 3

This week's Postcards from Paris is a little different from the last two, mainly because I’ve spent most of my free time running around Paris trying to catch a glimpse of the Paris Fashion Week runway shows. Although the week has been less touristy, I feel like I’m living my true Parisian dreams!

Paris Fashion Week: The Glamour & The Chaos

Over the past couple of weeks, a plethora of fashion designers, models, fashion enthusiasts, celebrities, and photographers have flooded into the city for Paris Men's Fashion Week and Haute Couture Fashion Week. To make Paris Fashion Week especially exclusive, neither the brands showing nor the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (who organizes Paris Fashion Week) reveal the location of the fashion shows until after the fact. Therefore, finding the venues entails a fair amount of sleuthing and stalking on social media. Fortunately for me, one of my roommates has great investigatory skills, so I more or less followed her around the city whenever the opportunity presented itself.

In my current position as a nobody in the fashion industry, it is impossible to get into a Paris fashion show as the events are invite-only. So my first fashion week experience consisted primarily of dressing up, standing outside of the venue, and watching the invitees arrive.

While this is how most of the week panned out, there was one isolated occasion where my roommate and I actually got to see the show. By chance, we found a spot in front of the entrance to a covered passage, which looked directly onto the runway of the Kenzo Menswear show. Despite not being particularly interested in this designer, it was one of the coolest experiences. The only thing going through my mind as I watched the models saunter down the runway was: "This is why I came to Paris."

Even though I couldn't see many collections, I loved every minute of Paris Fashion Week. I've discovered that the atmosphere surrounding fashion shows is intoxicating. Aside from the photographers and people hoping to catch a glimpse of the famous attendees, everyone else is there for their love and admiration of fashion. It's really a celebration of personal style; people exude confidence and feel self-assured knowing that there is the freedom to experiment without judgment. In fact, the more experimental and expressive people are with their unique style, the more likely they are to be photographed (whether or not they are famous). I've seen so many amazing outfits from people on the street and have left each show feeling inspired.

The Luxembourg Garden: People Watching & Reading

The Luxembourg Garden was my favorite discovery of this week. Located in the 6th arrondissement, the garden offers a peaceful escape from the surrounding urban atmosphere. I meandered there two days in a row, and both times I found myself sitting in front of the fountain that looks onto the Luxembourg Palace. Despite the chilly temperatures, I was very content reading my book and people watching. It’s baffling to think that people who live nearby view this space as just being their local park. Most of the parks I’ve been to don’t have a palace on the property or statues casually littering the grounds; it's something I could get used to ;)

In Vogue: The Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris

My Mass Media and the Fashion Industry class took an excursion to the Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris to see the 100 years of Vogue Paris exhibition. Although the exhibit was small, it was interesting to see how the magazine has evolved over the past century. I especially loved seeing the early editions of Vogue, which catered to my love for vintage fashion and old-school glamour. In addition, the exhibit also had some of the most iconic pieces in fashion history, including Christian Dior’s Bar Suit and the Yves Saint Laurent Mondrian dress. These pieces have been referenced in my various fashion classes, so it was amazing to see them in person.

The Food: Being Plant-Based in Paris

Now that I’ve been in Paris for three weeks, I feel like I can finally talk about the food. As a 95% vegan, I have not tried much traditional French cuisine. However, as that 5% implies, I’m certainly not going to turn down the occasional crêpe or croissant. When in Paris….

Overall, it’s easy being plant-based in Paris. While there are certainly some restaurants that do not cater to vegetarian or vegan diets, there are so many places to eat in the city that you are bound to find something. The only challenging part has been avoiding cheese; it's on almost every menu item. Making changes to the order by requesting certain ingredients be left out has been a hit or miss situation; sometimes they say it's not possible, sometimes they say 'ok' and then forget, and other times it really is no problem.

Here are some of my favorite vegan or vegan-friendly spots:

• Le Paradis du fruit (the best meal I’ve had so far)

• Holy Ramen

• Mamie Sushi

• Hanks Burger

• Wild & The Moon

Fruit markets and French baguettes share the top spot for my favorite aspect of food in Paris. Although I'm not a foodie, for whatever reason, I really love grocery shopping, so the Parisian way of making frequent trips to the market suits me. There are fresh fruit and vegetable markets all over the city with the most delicious produce. Since it’s citrus season, I’ve been eating a ton of clementines, and I swear they are sweeter than any I’ve had in the U.S. As for the bread, well, I've eaten a lot. If I could, I would live off of French baguettes – again, something that has not been successfully replicated back home. The local boulangeries smell like heaven, and usually, the bread is still warm when you purchase it!