so all week, chris has been talking about these fashion shows (apparently, it's fashion week in paris...i would never know if it weren't for maddy, mal and chris). he says they're SO fun and that i had to go. on friday night we went to one, but it was kind of a bust, so we ditched that and went to one of the greatest dinners i've had thus far. anyway, last night, chris convinced me to go to another fashion show (some head designer for dior...hell if i know/care). i didn't really expect it to be much fun, but i wasn't doing anything else.
here's a surprise--i was wrong! the fashion show was way fun. we stood near the entrance and watched the glamorous and famous flash their VIP tickets to get in the door. when the show ended, we watched the teeniest models slink out (still in their over-the-top make up) next to celebrities (naomi campbell and kanye west and uhmmm crap, that one top model girl who almost one a couple seasons ago) next to tired looking journalists. the atmosphere was exciting and i got a rush just standing there. most everyone was too busy to look us college kids in the eye, but near the end, a model came out laughing with a bouquet of balloons, looking like the happiest person in the arrondisement. we couldn't get enough of her and had to take a picture.
after all that excitement, a few of us hopped on the metro to get to line 14 for nuit blanche. (i don't know how long that link will be good for...maybe just wikipedia that) in a nutshell, it was hundreds of varieties of art displays set up from 7pm to 7am along metro line 14. it seemed as though all of paris came out for the event. others dropped out, but chris and i made it through the night until the first metro of the morning (5:30 am...see the last post). we were walking around notre dame area at 2 am, but with the amount of people out, you might have guessed it was something like 9:30 pm. it seemed like ALL of paris came out to celebrate the nuit. this is why i love paris (we must have said that line 2349075 times in the night). i could never imagine any city in california setting up art displays all around the city for an all night event.
i won't bore you with too many details (i'll have lots more details about the exhibits in my captions on fbook). i'll just give you my highlights.
the tuileries was the most beautiful display. they had taken gardening pots, put something flammable in them, lit them on fire and arranged them in huge balls that were smack in the middle of the gardens. the pots also lined the sides of the walkways, and were on floaty things in the middle of the fountain. looking straight down the path from the louvre was spectacular. i tried to look for a good picture to show you, but they're all really lame in comparison to what it was.
the most moving display we saw was one put on by the "médecins du monde." it was pictures of some of the most impoverished, ruined people of the world. there was a photo of a 20-yr-old girl who had already birthed 10 children (8 of whom had died) and been married (at age 10), but her husband divorced her cuz she was giving birth to fragile children. another picture showed a soldier holding his chest, oozing with blood. the caption said he died just minutes later.
hey, how's that for an upper? after that, we walked quite a few blocks to see what was supposed to be short films directed by the director of "eternal sunshine of the spotless mind." we waiting in line for about half an hour to get in to what was the most beautiful theater i've ever seen. it had 4 floors with a sparkling glass chandelier hanging from the ceiling. then they played music videos. seriously. kanye, bjork X2, white stripes...cool videos, but def not short films.
there was this question mark display listed in the program that we decided we wanted to check out. after getting a little lost (keep in mind, it's also 4:45 am), chris and i found our way to the église st-paul. we walked in and there was a HUGE question mark hanging inside this gorgeous church. think about it: a fucking question mark in a church.
anyway, it's the first sunday of the month, so most of the museums are free. we're headed to musee d'orsay. like i said, never stop going. :-D
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