What to do on a rainy Summer day in Paris?

Madame Grès at La Musée Bourdelle

La Musée Bourdelle was spectacular and

in my opinion a perfect setting for Madame Grès' designs.

Who was Madame Grès? She was born Germaine Émilie Krebs in 1903 and was first known as Alix Barton and later as "Madame Grès." She launched her design house under the name Grès in Paris in 1942. She was formally trained as a sculptress and produced haute couture designs for women such as the Dutchess of Windsor, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo and Jacqueline Kennedy. She was revolutionary in the design world for her immaculate draping technique. She was also one of Azzedine Alaia's major influences and clearly you can see the similarities!!!

These early gowns were used for films under the name Alix.

WOW WOW WOW

The first gowns were made from Polyester not silk - CRAZY, right?

This dress and the next one are wool jersey which she developed with the mill.

The first Alaia influence!!!

There were sketches were all over the exhibit and the later ones as Madame Grès were all donated by the house of Yves Saint Laurent

Simply Gorgeous!!!

The yellow dress was donated by Alaia

Hmmmm, this one looks a little Lanvin to me???

Beautiful Goddess Dresses

I want to wear that eggplant dress right now!

Winter Dresses

Look at that! I remember this dress from the 80's. Genius!

Fin

Miami to Paris

I went from this...

To this...

But I am always happy to see this...

Spent the entire day walking around my favorite city so I wouldn't fall asleep.

Stopped at Simraine in Saint Germain to get another tablecloth because you can never have to many of these gorgeous block printed Indian prints and colors.

Had to check out the new Hermès Store on the Left Bank. All I can say is WOW! It's the most beautiful store with the coolest wood sculptures and on top of it they have a florist, a café and a chic book store inside. The building housed the original pool for the Lutétia Hotel and then later was the offices of the clothing designer Dorotheée Bis. I remember going there in the 90's with Charles Gallay for a fashion show to work an appointment.

Here's a few snapshots as I was trying to be discreet!

Look at the mosaic tiles on the floor - super chic!

This bag is so Seaton - need to make my version of it for next Summer.

My last stop was Cinquième Set (means 5th Set) which is the BEST little tennis shop in Paris. They carry the European stock of Nike so I needed to get my boys some prezzies.

Au revior and Good Night!