Season's greetings

*Paris in a bottle* wishes you a wonderful and merry Christmas with your loved ones!

Presenting *Mademoiselle Paris*

Share something exquisitely Parisian or treat yourself to a little chic with this limited edition collection!

17 designs, only one of each available

Just in time for Christmas to treat your friends or yourself to a piece of Paris.

With a choice of earrings, bracelets and necklaces, the collection features Eiffel Tower charms, 

and combines style and charm.

All *Paris in a bottle* pieces come beautifully presented in gift wrap, making them ideal as presents.

*Paris in a bottle* in Kindred Sole Edition

*Paris in a bottle* is delighted, excited and very proud (all that!) to have been selected to feature in the latest Kindred Sole Edition magazine.

The magazine can be found on the Kindred Sole website.

Have a read!

Christmas markets

Come and meet *Paris in a bottle*...

Plat du jour: jewellery to suit all tastes with up to 30% off...

To celebrate the French's love affair with food, and partake in the Thanksgiving festivities, 

*Paris in a bottle* presents...

PLAT DU JOUR

A three-course meal to suit all appetites for quirky jewellery!

Entrée: 

It is all about familiarisation...

Get 10% off when you purchase one item by quoting 'Plat1'

Plat: 

Then comes the conversation...

Get 20% off when you purchase two items by quoting 'Plat2'

Dessert:

 Stay for late-night seduction...

Get 30% off when you purchase three or more items by quoting 'Plat3'

Discounts apply to whole order, excluding delivery charges. Offers end 28th November at midnight.

A supermarket like no other

A supermarket like no other. A must for any food addict.

Introducing...La Grande Epicerie de Paris

For hours, you can wander around the aisles, staring at the delicious foods. 

Everything looks just right, in the right place, in the right shape, with the right taste.

A delight for all the sense, that is best appreciated in moderation... it is the exclusivity and scarcity of it which makes this place a truly remarkable shopping experience.

Perfect to prepare a nice meal for your loved one, or have lunch with a friend in their conservatory.

*Paris in a bottle* is feeling celebratory!

*Paris in a bottle* is celebrating its two-month anniversary today!

Get 20% off and free delivery TODAY ONLY!

Quote 'celebrate' at the checkout 

Perfect to treat yourself to a beautiful piece of jewellery 

or to do some Christmas shopping ...

Enjoy!

All the answers to all the questions...

Delightful Stephanie from The Raspberry Branch has once again featured *Paris in a bottle* ...

Find out more about the brand, how it came to life, tips on buying jewellery for others and what the new year holds for *Paris in a bottle* in an exclusive Q&A session.

Visit The Raspberry Branch here

Sunday market

*Paris in a bottle* exhibited at the

Leicester Winter food and crafts market yesterday.

Thank you very much to all who came to say hello and for the wonderful feedback on my designs!

Here are some photos of the stand:

If you missed me there, you can still see me at:

The Leicester Tigers' Christmas market at the Tigers stadium

on 3rd December from 10 till 2.30

The Queen's Road crafts fair on Queen's Road, Clarendon Park

on 4th December from 10 till 5

I wish for sparkles and style

So many wish lists will be collated and compiled in the next few weeks, in the hope that Father Christmas brings sparkles and style to all.

To me, presents should be functional (something you actually need) but also things that you would not dare buy yourself... because it is too expensive, because you know you would only wear it a few times, because as adorable as it might be, it doesn't quite fit in with your kitchen... 

Things that you would never buy, but that you are all the more happy to receive.

I expect this list to grow and grow when I actively start looking for ideas, but for now here are a few items which I have found irresistible in the past few weeks...

A timeless case from Williams Handmade

The mot desired Miu Miu shoes

Stylish Mugtail cups from Kinto

Deliciousness from MarieBelle

Primrose shoes by Yull

Somewhere to think from Bluesuntree

Really adorable post-it notes from Cupcakes for Clara

What's on your wish list so far?

*Paris in a bottle* loves Christmas...

The Christmas gift guide is now available online...

So much inspiration, so much choice.

Hyperreality

For those of you who love design

For those of you who love satire

For those of you who like to dream of a better life

For us all we have shopped at Ikea

Absolutely fantastic.

Click here to view the video

Magic in a bottle...

Curious? Read the article here!

Fashion with a claw

Trends have for a few seasons now blessed us with animal prints and their many subdued messages. If only for a few seconds, they make us feel stronger and powerful, as though we were proudly dominating the jungle.  

There is no other pattern that is quite as expressive as animal prints.  They are very much a status symbol, not so much in terms of class but more so in terms of personality. It creates sides, with those who love them and those who loathe them. 

Animal prints bring us back to elementary times, and make us wonder about our relationships with the environment we live in, but also the sacrifices we must live with.

Sunday blues

Are we all chameleons?

Are we all chameleons, changing skins are fashion trends take ahold of us?

Every season, we buy new pieces of clothes. Pieces that fit into our homes, our lives and likes and dislikes – or so we think.

Mainly, we just buy what is available in shops, all these items someone else has chosen on our behalf, not really asking ourselves whether we like it for what it is rather than liking it because it is fashionable.

As new trends come in and out of, we embed their appeal and include them into our wardrobe, perhaps discarding other trends as we go. Fashion is used to  show different facets of we we are at different times, ...

But is it too fast, is it too much? Do we lose part of yourself and our personality on the way?

Les beaux jours de Doisneau

Enjoy the quietude of these photos - a moment in time frozen for ever. 

What happened before? what will happen next?... 

Every-day personalities are bared naked for us to judge and assess in our personal way, 

creating a story and imagining a world to accompany the image as we go...

Photos: Robert Doisneau, the master of French photography

 

 

 

 

Which one inspires you most?

Give me the love of an orchestra

Most people will have a song, an album that they can hear over and over again, without ever feeling tired or bored by it, and keeping in tune with the lyrics, hitting repeat again and again.

Recently enough (in the grand scheme of my life), I have discovered Noah and the Whale 

and their magnificent album 'First days of spring'.

It is one those albums which will, to me, forever define the band, and be the one
against which all others will be assessed and judged.

Whenever I hear it, I feel a sudden burst of energy, a feeling of happiness and lightness.

Seeing them live a few days ago portrayed their music differently, 

in a way which was even deeper and more intoxicating. 

Listening to all the instruments play, absorbing the noise, I was in complete awe.

First days of spring

The love of an orchestra

Winter inspiration...

The cold weather has arrived and it is time to rework the wardrobe and include wonder winter warmers. Here is some inspiration to keep you warm in style!

National dish

It is well known that I have a tiny passion for food. Food is good and worth all the calories! :)

Over the years I have noticed that there is clearly one 'French' national dish which everybody loves, 

talks about and wants to eat over and over again.

It is not really a dish, but you can make one of it (add in fruits or speculoos or use it for crepes, 

cakes, etc...) and it is definitely not French, but there we are. 

We French people LOVE NUTELLA!

Be honest - how much do you really love Nutella? and what is your favourite dish?

Vintage and the new old

Reading a lovely post for The Raspberry Branch yesterday made me think further about vintage….

The trend for ‘new’ shabby chic style and ‘old’ vintage items has never been so popular. 

The Laura Ashley style of an aged white piece of furniture is ubiquitous, and the trend has also been prominent is fashion. 

This winter will see a new trend arise, that of a dark yet glamorous movement. Ruffles, pleats and bows took to the catwalks in some of the most luxurious materials such as lace, chiffon and silk. Drawing upon the 50′s feminine looks after the WW2, the trend will project depression-era glamour, to focus on an ever present nostalgia.

Of course, this trend can and will be adapted to today’s consumers, but it fails to explain why it draws upon so much on nostalgia of a past long gone.

Nostalgia is often an understatement for a greater lack of ideas, and a constant fear to lose the feeling of warmth and safety which comes with re-enacting past trends.

The mistake commonly made is the belief that supporting the shabby chic ethos will bring you as much comfort as the true ‘vintage’ original found in your grandmother’s closet or attic. It is where Laura Ashley fails to bring truly new ideas, and where the glamour of this winter’s trend will subtly blend inspirations from both a nostalgic past and contemporary individuality.

Vintage is good in that it recycles ideas, re-uses garments and creates new looks. Vintage should form an integral part of one’s home and one’s wardrobe and be adapted and mixed with newer items; it should not be a trend, and it should certainly not become a consumerist activity.

Join the conversation!

Fashion, the French way... oh la la!

For many years, I have denied, if only to myself, the fact that perhaps there was such a thing as a French way of dressing. A recent trip into the land of fashion however told me otherwise, and there I laid completely struck, crying and screaming inside about the disastrous state of the fashion I walk amongst on a day-to-day basis.

People seemed liberated about what they can wear; their clothes did not have to be from the height of fashion, they did not have to show lots of skin, they did not have to be overcomplicated and most importantly, they did not all have to dress the same. It was simply elegant and chic. Very.

In the streets, it was refreshing to see people whose life and passions were not centred around fashion, or the so-called ‘fashion’ of fads and seasonal throw-away culture.

I wish there was a certain degree of pride remaining and an appeal for timeless and stylish pieces. All clothing items are of course fashionable, in that they are designed, bought and worn at a specific time period, and will encompass given trends. However, there is an urgent need to focus on quality items which will last through time and blend with other items, creating at last a unique and elegant look, the French way.

Guest feature for The Raspberry Branch

I  had the pleasure of being picked to write a guest feature on the Raspberry Branch blog. 

The topic? My favourite pieces and trends for Autumn Winter 2011. The result?

To read the article, visit the Raspberry Branch blog here. 

What are your 'I want, I need' pieces? :)

Un peu de lecture...

Song of my youth

Listening to it for hours on end; now just humming its melody 

and so many memories come back to me.

Bones, sinking like stones,
All that we fought for,
And homes, places we've grown,
All of us are done for.

And we live in a beautiful world,
Yeah we do, yeah we do,
We live in a beautiful world,

Bones, sinking like stones,
All that we fought for,
And homes, places we've grown,
All of us are done for.

And we live in a beautiful world,
Yeah we do, yeah we do,
We live in a beautiful world.

And we live in a beautiful world,
Yeah we do, yeah we do,
We live in a beautiful world.

Oh, all that I know,
There's nothing here to run from,
Cause, yeah, everybody here's got somebody to lean on.

Don't Panic by Coldplay

Something for the weekend...

As we say... 

Les gouts et les couleurs, ca ne se discute pas!

Pierre Herme

Laduree

Which one if your favourite?

Happy Friday to all!