Paris’s Eiffel Tower
Editor’s Note: Jessica Marati will be traveling the globe over the next several months and plans to send us dispatches about the local artisans, trends, and amazing finds she uncovers. This is the first in a series of posts about her trip to Paris for the spring/summer 2010 Fashion Week.
Last year around this time, I decided that I wanted to attend Paris Fashion Week.
I had just graduated from college and had decided to take some time off to “find myself.” Clichéd, I know, but after a rigorous four years, it had to be done. My search for identity brought me to Paris, where I found a job as an au pair and took French classes at the Alliance Française while trying to establish myself as a freelance writer.
Carrousel du Louvre, the epicenter of Paris Fashion Week
I had barely any experience, save for a couple of magazine internships, but I was determined. I e-mailed everyone I knew in the fashion industry, offering my services as a café au lait fetcher for editors and buyers attending the shows. Weeks passed, and I didn’t receive any responses. So I decided to take a risk. I sent a letter to each designer’s press contact, introducing myself and requesting permission to review his or her collection. I received a few responses. A few days later, I politely followed up, and I received more responses. By the start of Fashion Week, I had invitations to 18 shows. I spent the week rushing from venue to venue, writing articles, snapping photographs, and capturing video for CosmoGirl.com and BonjourParis.com, all while documenting my adventures in a blog that I launched called Crashin’ Fashion Week. Needless to say, it was the experience of a lifetime.
This week, I’m here again in Paris. I was pleasantly surprised to arrive at my old apartment to find a stack of invites. The schedule is packed: Hiroko Koshino, Lie Sang Bong, Sharon Wauchob, Bruno Pieters, Rick Owens, Lutz, AF Vandevorst, Atsuro Tayama, Issey Miyake, Gaspard Yurkievich, Vivienne Westwood (!!), and Veronique Leroy. And my last day in Paris: Chapurin, Viktor & Rolf (!!!), Sophia Kokosalaki, Vantan Tokyo, and Andrea Crews. Plus, there’s the Tranoi accessories show at the Carrousel du Louvre, and La Nuit Blanche, an annual all-night arts festival. And of course, I can’t come to Paris and not check out the latest exhibition at the Centre Pompidou, called elles@centrepompidou, or visit my favorite fromagerie in the Marais. It’s so good to be back.
Centre Pompidou
