Two shows converged at the industrial warehouse setting of Halle Freyssinet in eastern Paris. Sonia Rykiel’s show was followed immediately by John Galliano’s, and both drew many fashionably-dressed people out in the bitter cold.

A great bright yellow parka adds great color in winter. (Despite the fact that it was a March day, it was freezing.) Note the cropped trousers and oversized scarf. On him: black fur. It’s not just for women anymore. Excellent sunglasses on both of them. Continue reading…

There aren’t a lot of good bagels in Paris. A shop in St. Germain sells them, but the shop doesn’t open until about 12pm or thereabouts, and the food item in question is spelled “beggel” on the sign outside. If only I had smuggled this into the country. Behold Bagel Spice, discovered by Urban Daddy, available online now for $4.99. Some culinary genius has taken all the zingy taste of an everything bagel – garlic, onion, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, salt, and, well, everything – and bottled it.

Imagine the wondrous things you could do with this! The Bagel Spice site suggests using it on top of eggs, but the possibilities are endless. Think of grilled meat or shrimp kebabs rolled in everything bagel spices, for instance, instead of plain old sesame seeds. You could use everything bagel spice on the rim of a Bloody Mary glass. Or a brilliant Passover solution – matzoh bread with cream cheese sprinkled with everything bagel spice.

It’s enough almost make you give up the original everything bagel – almost.

Bagel Spice ($4.99), available online

Urban Daddy: Spice World

Ann Demeulemeester’s modern goth aesthetic is often described as edgy and avant garde; the same description could also be applied to her fans. On the runway, the long, lean, black silhouettes of her fall 2010 collection were broken up by flashes of red patent leather detailing. Outside in the courtyard of the Couvent des Cordeliers, black, minimalist clothing was favored by many of the guests, too.

She has this androgynous petit gamin look that’s just fascinating. A good example of how the guests can really bring a designer’s vision to life at a fashion show.
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Sometimes just getting a meal in Paris can be a titanic battle of wills. Take the steak frites place we tried to go to on a recent night. Though recommended by a seemingly reliable guidebook (plastered on the windows there), it was nearly empty at 9:30. We walked in, walked out to consider our options, then walked back in to give it a chance. “The kitchen is now closed,” the proprietress told us. “We can’t stay open just for you. We are tired.” It was a Friday night, and two in our party had put on five fashion shows in one day. Tired.

On to the next place: Delaville, a newish addition to the slew of Costes restaurants in the city. When we asked for a table in the shabby chic dining room, we were referred to a tall guy who barely paused between waiting on tables, bartending, and managing the staff to tell us that the wait for a table would be at least an hour, though there was no sign of anyone else waiting. We were welcome, however, to eat in the bar, so we settled in there. Our table on the cold, glassed in patio had all the charm of the old Dallas BBQ on 8th Street. Ah, Paris. Continue reading…

Viktor & Rolf took over the tent at the Tuileries and attracted mobs of onlookers on this Saturday in Paris. Editors and buyers mixed with French fashion bloggers and paparazzi. The vast, wide open space and very windy day made the dry grounds of the Tuileries feel like something out of Lawrence of Arabia – with more fashion.

A patterned cape and exaggeratedly long black legs with wedge boots. Continue reading…

With three stores in Paris and another opening in New York’s Soho in April, French designer Isabel Marant has developed quite a following. Her distinctly urban, cool-girl clothes work really well on the streets of Paris or anywhere else that calls for a tough chic aesthetic. A couple of the guests looked familiar for a reason: they were spotted the day before in Marant’s store in St. Germain.

A fluffy gray fur jacket catches the March afternoon light in the courtyard of the Couvent des Cordeliers. Continue reading…

How many generations of fashionable Parisians have taken a turn around the Tuileries to show off their exquisite clothes? The tradition continues, with editors, buyers and chic Christian Dior customers walking from the Place de la Concorde to the tent that housed Friday’s Dior show.

One thing is very different from olden times – there are many more photographers! Continue reading…

By Parisian standards, La Ferrandaise is a very young bistro. Open only a few years, manned by a chef who has yet to see a gray hair on his head, this spot in St. Germain falls into the same traditional category as venerable institutions that have been open a hundred years or more. Yet it hasn’t had any trouble keeping up: it was packed on a recent night, and it won the Lebey award for Best Parisian Bistro in 2006.

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If Maialino is an Italian restaurant that faithfully renders the classics, Faustina is the opposite: It takes Italian cuisine and turns it on its head. Why serve cannelloni the traditional way when you can break it down and reconstruct it as separate layers of pasta, cheese and fresh tomatoes? And the art of crudi here is outsourced to a Japanese chef manning a sort of Italian sushi counter in the dining room. This is what’s happening at Scott Conant’s Faustina right now, and the result is an exciting new take on Italian cuisine.

Bacon-wrapped shellfish are nothing new—until you take prawns ($16), and wrap the tender midsection in the thinnest layer of lardo so that the whole thing dissolves in your mouth. These come on a bed of rosemary lentils. The whole dish is the perfect combination of sea and earth. Continue reading…

Tell someone the address of Almond restaurant, and they’re liable to say: “Wasn’t that Borough/Rocco’s/Caviar and Banana/Commune?” The answer is yes, yes, yes and yes. Walking into the space may also make you experience déjà vu all over again, because interior has many of the same elements of its predecessor Borough – the same tables and chairs, the same posh billiards room  in back, the same rough-hewn wood lining the walls, the same popular bar scene – with a prettified face lift of coral wallpaper and gilt-framed mirrors.

Before you consider the place doomed, know that while this is still El Chod’s space, the owners of the very successful Almond restaurant from the Hamptons are much of the time, making sure things run smoothly. The crowd has gotten a polish too. Gone are those grubby locavores that patronized Borough, now the crowd includes stick-thin women in wrap dresses and big jewelry, men with winter tans and cashmere V-necks. (”They’re not on our team, ladies,” our waitress whispered.) Chelsea Clinton dined there on a recent night. Celebrities, gays, emaciated women, face lifts: Almond is a Hamptons away from the Hamptons, and I mean that in the best possible way. Continue reading…