Wednesday 19 January 2011

2 Little Boxes from London

The first leg of my recent trip to Paris was in London.  I went to see the ballet at the Royal Opera House - Les Patineurs - a beatiful ballet based on ice skaters - and The Tales of Beatrix Potter - I am not familar with the tales themselves but I know of the characters etc... the costumes were so precise to the books they were amazing and it was a lovely evening at the ballet.

Earlier in the day I went to Harrods and at the
Hermès counter there I found exactly what I was looking for - may I introduce my 2 new gavroches:-
Monsieur Parfum













Mademoiselle Soie













I deliberately chose 2 contrasting colours so I can wear them together - here I have folded them into a basic fold then linked them with a small scarf ring at the back, and then tied in the Friendship Knot (instructions here ). 
With Hermès prices going ever skywards I am pleased that this season has so many lovely designs in the gavroches!!

Sunday 16 January 2011

City of Lights

On my trip to Paris it was lovely to see the lights from the festive season were still adorning the city.

The Champs Elysees are usually lit up anyway but here is the view looking towards the Arc de Triomphe.














And looking the other way towards the ferris wheel at the Place de la Concorde.















A closer look at the Ferris Wheel

The pretty trees on the Champs Elysees















Here some of the light displays near the Grand Palais - they looked very pretty.


















The Christmas decorations were still up at the Village Royale just by FSH.


Friday 14 January 2011

Paris

I was in Paris earlier this week the main aim being to see the Monet exhibition. As I had been down in London to see the ballet I was able to go direct to Paris for the first time on the Eurostar train - I loved it! Here is the train at the Gare du Nord.















After checking in at the hotel I went to the Grand Palais and took up my place in the queue to enter the exhibition!  I waited 2 hours and was caught up in a mini French Revolution - the people in the queue were mainly French and they got fed up waiting because the queue was not being properly managed.  Very few from our queue were allowed in as the security men seemed to favour those with timed tickets and groups but as one lady said we were paying too!  Anyway after much shouting the boss of the Grand Palais appeared and then they started to let us in as well! 

The exhibition was worth the wait and there were many beautiful Monets to see - my favourite was the picture seen here in part on the poster for the show, it was on loan from the State Hermitage St Petersburg, Russia and was truly beautiful.




Another painting that I liked was Champs de Tulipes - a picture of a Dutch tulip field and the still life pictures of flowers and fruits.
Picture: art-reproductions.net


















Photo:www.ociaw.com
Monets are easy on the eye and I enjoyed the show very much.

Also on in a neighbouring part of the Grand Palais was the Bulgari jewellery exhibition so on Monday I went to see that as well.














What I had not expected to see was the Elizabeth Taylor Collection of Bulgari jewels- they were magnificent!  Here is her fabulous emerald and diamond necklace.
Photo: Bulgari/nytimes.com




Photo: not known
jewel.jpg

There was also a case full of "en tremblant" diamond brooches which were amazing - tremblant meaning they tremble - and if you looked closely you could see the tiny springs upon which the gems were mounted so that they moved with the wearer's movement!  Here is one of the many stunning diamond brooches which were on display.
Photo: Not known
Bulgari jewel

There were far too many people to enjoy the show really as there was a lot of pushing and shoving in the queues plus it was very hot in the rooms due to the spotlights, however I managed to extricate myself from the queues and skirted the edges so I was able to see everything without my space being quite so invaded LOL!

During my brief visit to Paris I went to see the new Hermes boutique at Rue de Sevres on the Left Bank and the new boutique is spectacular and is housed in the old swimming pool from the neighbouring Hotel Lutecia - just look at the photos:-




The new boutique includes an in house cafe and a florist - guess it is a sort of posh "one-stop-shop"!  Here is the outside showing the florists (not the best of photos!).

I called by Hermes FSH as well and they have decked their windows out for Spring with lots of flowers and butterflies!















There was quite a confection in the main display - patisserie was by Pierre Herme.

Friday 7 January 2011

Scarf Necklace - How To

Over on TPF I recently wore my Gloria Soli as a necklace which I plaited. 














Since then the lovely ladies on TPF have asked me for instructions on how to do the plait/braid.  It is a bit difficult to show but I hope you get the idea - if you can plait/braid normally then you should be OK with a scarf -you may need to practice it a little bit until it looks right. 

Remember you need 3 tails to plait with so they are made up of the 2 tails of the scarf PLUS the bit of the scarf that goes around the back of your neck so you kind of plait onto that piece as you will see in the pictures.

1. Fold scarf in the "Basic Fold"












2. Then the easiest way to do this is to put the scarf around your neck and make a single knot tight enough that you can then pull the scarf off over your head so you can plait it more easily - if you can manage to do it with the scarf on you then that is even better and you will get a longer length of plait, but you may need to be a contortionist to do that or have a friend plait it for you.  Try to get the tails of equal length.













3. Get your 3 "tails" and start to plait/braid:-


Note how you use the round bit that goes around the neck as the 3rd tail to plait with.














4. Pull the tails tight and carry on plaiting/braiding......



















5. Until you run out of tails.

6. Tidy the ends of the tails by tying a tiny knot on what will be the underside of the necklace and tuck any length into the plait folds if you need to.  You can just make out the knot here at the bottom on the left.

7. The finished article - you should now be able to slip this back over your head to make your scarf necklace - unless you are really clever and managed to plait it while the scarf was round your neck!  I have not got that knack yet!!
Hope that helps!  Good Luck dear Scarfies!