Haute Couture Week: Maurizio Galante

Maurizio Galante is a highly regarded Italian/French couturier, who studied architecture before following the path of fashion. His personal approach fuses artisan techniques with industrial technology to process materials and bring them to life. Galante's collection shown during Haute Couture Week Spring/Summer 2013 blended an exotic oriental theme of Asian influences along with traditional European tailoring. Chiffon, silk, organza, crepe and rhodoide were just some of the fabrics used in a variety of colours, making way for an exciting spring/summer season ahead.

Here's a short video taken during the tail end of the show...

And here's some photos...

Men's Fashion Week: Saint Laurent

The fashion house of Saint Laurent delved into 'California grunge' style for their fall/winter showing at Men's Fashion Week 2013-14. Leather biker jackets, ripped skinny jeans, flannel check shirts, frayed cuffs, chunky scarves and distressed detail all featured heavily. There was also 80s inspired jewellery, tuxedo jackets and some sparkling embellishments to jazz up the collection, which was unveiled at Grand Palais, Paris.

Here's a short snippet from the runway show...

And here's some photos...

Men's Fashion Week: Paul Smith

British fashion icon Paul Smith put on a fabulous fall/winter show at Men's Fashion Week in Paris. Staged at the magnificent Centre Pompidou, Smith incorporated colourful knits, texture, detail, prints and patterns into his fashionable line-up in preparation for the cooler months ahead. You can read my review here on Fashion Journal.

Here is a quick video from a portion of the show. Apologies for the heads in front, but they do belong to Paul Smith's family so I couldn't exactly ask them to move. ; )

And here's some photos...

Chatting to Paul Smith backstage after the show

Men's Fashion Week: Kolor

Japanese label Kolor was just one of the exhibitors at Men's Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2013-14, which was held in Paris from January 16-20. Designer Junichi Abe injected some modern funk into the staple autumn colour palate with pops of green, pink, blue and orange.

Here are some photos from the Kolor runway show held at Palais de Tokyo. And, if you want to read more about it, just click here for my review on Fashion Journal.

Snow days...

Snow is still such a novelty for this kangaroo in Paris. There's something kind of magical about watching snowflakes fall all around you when taking a walk. Here's a few snaps I took on a very quiet Sunday morning in January...

Louis Braille of France

World Braille Day is celebrated on January 4, so I thought I'd take a minute to acknowledge Frenchman Louis Braille, who invented this form of communication used right around the world by people who are blind or visually impaired. Louis lost his sight after a childhood accident and, at just 15 years of age, began working on his own adapted codes for reading and writing using the French alphabet. Clearly a very talented man!

This image was kindly sourced from here.

Happy New Year from Paris!

Just a little video of the Eiffel Tower to kick-start the new year... The grand old 'Iron Lady' sparkles every hour on the hour at night-time.

(Apologies for the background noise of high heel shoes clomping across the bridge!)