B is for Barbie: a childhood remembered

Barbie, Ken, Alan, Midge, Skipper and Scooter.
My dolls.
They defined the 60's, my childhood, spending hours and days creating make-believe worlds, setting up their homes, dressing them and for a decade my collection expanded.
My mother made clothes for Barbie and friends. She knitted blankets and sewed linen for their beds. Pa made me the furniture. Shawni now has my collection.

No question I had to go past the Barbie Exposition being hosted at Les Arts Decoratif on the Rue de Rivoli.
She is 57 years old, a universal icon and the brochure talks about the 'ancient dolls and dresses' on display.
Oh my!

I delighted in seeing these original dolls and how they have evolved over the decades. Behind the scenes videos on the design process was fascinating as was how Mattel has contextualised and evolved Barbie through the decades.

Who knew that Barbie got to the moon before Armstrong! In my day she was a nurse or air hostess and played tennis.

Barbie, friends and family.

First time Barbie comes to Paris.

Quite wonderful the impact of one person's vision.

S is for Summer Sales in Paris: a declaration realised

I am not quite sure when I first made the declaration to go shopping during the Paris sales for my first grandchild.

We lived in Marly le Roi 30 years ago. Shawni and Barry were babies. I recall window shopping while wandering around Paris, loving the children's clothing, the French designer flair, the colours and styles just beautiful. I remember buying gorgeous mohair wool and knitting for the kids, buying seersucker pink fabric and sewing a pair of pants for Shawni using a trendy Parisian pattern.

It's the Summer of 2016, it's July in Paris, the summer sales are in full swing and my first grandchild is due in September so I went shopping.

How completely wonderful.

July in Paris, shopping for Baby Hadfield.

T is for Toiletpaper: Summer of 2016 at Galaries Lafayette

Lipsticks and handbags, of course! 

Ties flop through holes in a book, kilts and scarlet macaws.

Galaries Lafayette, summer 2016, Tioletpaper takes over.

Window shopping in Paris.

Galaries Lafayette invited Tioletpaper, an Italian duo, Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari, to create it's Summer of 2016 look.

I am completely intrigued and wowed, the window displays are eclectic, comical, startling, colourful: parrots, croissants, fish, jars of jam, lobsters, cars, lipsticks.

Under the wondrous stained glass dome is a phallic Eiffel Tower squeezed between enormous 'eggs'.

Blue, blanc en rouge, lobsters and sunbathers. Crazy about those knitted shorts.

Handbags, croissants, macaroons and waffles.

A little orange dress among the clutter!

Irreverant Tioletpaper installation under La Coupole, Galaries Lafayette.