The Collector by Karen Rempel. 26″ x 20″ aluminum print.
I exhibited this piece at the National Arts Club in 2023. Gallery price was $3,000. Web direct from artist, $800.
I was also honored to display this piece at the Salmagundi Club. This work was in their 2022 Annual Photography Exhibition. I experimented with printing onto aluminum, and hoped the results would do justice to the subject, my friend Arthur and his collection of Richard Gallo art glass.
Photo of the work hanging at the Salmagundi Club, taken by my wonderful photographer friend Brigitte Stelzer.
It was a pretty dark exposure to begin with, and I think the final result was equally as luminous as viewing it on a light-emitting monitor, the way you view the original photo at the top. Many thanks to Tribeca Printworks for really bringing out the light in the photo. Other artists in the exhibit—who took better photos to begin with—achieved much more spectacular results with their aluminum prints. I have much to learn!
Stunning works by other artists. The photo to the left of mine, of the Vessel at Hudson Yards, is also printed onto aluminum.
The exhibit ran from July 18 to August 5. I want to thank my friends who came to see the exhibit, and especially my friend Brigitte, a wonderful photographer, who took this picture of me with my art:
I have exciting news! I am honored to be welcomed as an exhibiting member of the National Arts Club. This means a jury of professional artists evaluated my work and deemed it worthy of hanging on those hallowed walls! I am really flabbergasted!
I’ll send updates closer to the date, but please save some time to visit the Club during the period from May 12 to June 15! My work will be on display there as part of a group exhibit.
This sparked a creative surge and I decided to try my hand at watercolors. It was the first time I’d used watercolors since I was about seven years old. My sister Kim, a very accomplished artist, shared Anna Mason’s pear tutorial. It was so fun to do! Anna is a very friendly, encouraging artist. She teaches a wet-on-dry technique that allows for layering of color.
I learned from her to look at hue, intensity, and shadow in a whole new way. My favorite part was mixing the colors on a white plate. It’s so pleasing to wet the pans of color and mix up different shades!!
I felt sadness and a profound sense of loss that a precious piece of New York is slipping away when I learned that the iconic rink at Rockefeller Center is scheduled for demolition in January 2021. It is classic New York sensory overload to skate here, with the magnificent Christmas tree shining rainbow colors above, and golden Prometheus forever falling to the ice at rinkside. Colored lights flash and bathe the ice in pink and blue, and sometimes the music from the Saks Christmas display across Fifth Avenue is so loud it drowns out the music at the rink, which seems to range between Christmas classics and funk.
When I read the news, I immediately went online and bought a ticket to skate at 6 PM every Saturday from November 21 to January 16. The first Saturday, the splendid 75-foot tall Christmas tree (which weighs 11 tons!) was in place, but not strung with lights. I went downstairs to the skating area right at 6 PM, pasted a yellow sticker from the ticket taker on my right leg, and rushed towards the rink. I was enchanted to see two angelic ice dancers in white costumes with fairy lights walking down the hallway to the dressing room ahead of me. I found a locker, put on my skates, and rushed onto the ice. The ice dancers were already out there, filming a video. They spun and twirled and swooped in the center of the rink for the entire time I was on the ice, which seemed to last only 20 minutes.
It was my first time on skates in a couple years, so it took the full 20 minutes just to warm up and feel less wobbly in the ankles, but still I soared past all the other skaters on the rink. I kept telling anyone who would listen, “I’m Canadian!” to explain my superior performance, possession of my own skates, and knowledge of ice grooming. The ice was a choppy mess, in fact. But I loved the feeling of gliding and tentatively trying out a few of my skating chops—switch to backwards skating for a few seconds, try a twirl in a quiet corner. And secretly wished I could skate like the ice dancers.
Because of Covid, the ice was socially distanced, meaning less crowded than usual, but it was still at the maximum allowed, filled with couples holding hands and trying to keep each other vertical, kids falling and skating in the wrong direction, and packs of people taking each other’s picture and blocking the flow.
Unfortunately, my mind kept finding fault with every little thing for the entire 20 minutes until I was told people wearing the yellow sticker had to get off the ice. Then the problem was that my miserable time had been cut short!
I went over to the skate rental return counter with my litany of complaints. I didn’t have any skates to return, having brought my own (because I’m a Canadian). But I complained about the quality of the ice and the short session, which was supposed to be an hour from beginning to end. After lodging my comments with the skate rental attendant, I waited for a manager, and then repeated the litany. The manager asked to see my yellow sticker, and my ticket, and went to investigate. It was the first day of rink operations, and the manager–let’s call him Tim, since that’s his real name–determined that an error had been made in the color of sticker I was issued. I should have received a blue sticker, not a yellow one. He said I could go back on the ice, but by now I had changed out of my skates. He said they were still working out the system but that next week would be better.
Then we turned to the matter of the ice. “The ice was a mess!” I said. “We cut it every few hours,” Tim said, clearly not realizing that this was completely inadequate. “I’m a Canadian!” I said. “I’m used to better ice.” He appeared to be quite sympathetic to my plight. I obviously knew what I was talking about, since I was a Canadian, and besides, I’d purchased eight tickets in advance.
He gave me the general manager Kristen’s business card, and said to email her on Monday. Which I did. I didn’t mention the fact that I was a Canadian, but my expertise in ice matters must have been convincing; by end of day she had changed my remaining tickets to the 7 PM session, immediately after the ice cleaning, which for some reason they call cutting here. That’s quite a stretch, considering the puddles of water everywhere on the rink. Their ice is not exactly cuttable!
The next Saturday, I knew the drill. I was first in line to go downstairs to the rink. Since I was the only one who brought my own skates (quite probably the only Canadian) I changed into my skates in a flash and was the first on the rink!!! For five minutes I had the rink to myself! I couldn’t believe it. The lights were on the tree, casting a magical glow. There were hordes socially distanced above on 49th Street, waiting for their timed visit to look at the tree. And here I was, circling round and round, the rink and the tree all to myself. I wept at my good fortune and craftiness. Finally I could relax. I had controlled the universe. And when others started to trickle and totter onto the ice, I smiled with fond benevolence. I was the ruler of the rink!
Check out my new video, “Crappy Skaters”!
P.S. They use an inferior ice cleaning machine called “Olympia,” perhaps in deference to Prometheus’s family. Every Canadian knows that Zambonis are the ice machines of the gods.
A seldom viewed deer-populated forest outside the dressing room
As many of you know, I have been writing for WestView News since 2017, and have had my monthly column, Karen’s Quirky Style, for 18 months. During this time I’ve gotten to know the remarkable cast of characters that run the paper, write for the paper, and read the paper. I love these people and want to help our community paper. It is a West Village institution, and the only independent voice left in the Village after the closure of the Village Voice and the buy-out of The Villager by Schneps Media.
Today, WestView News is launching a crowdfunding campaign in a final bid to survive. Here’s their appeal. Please help if you can. Thank you.
George Capsis, publisher of WestView News
Crowdfunding Appeal from WestView News
We are asking for help because our beloved local newspaper is in danger of folding forever. With ad revenues sinking as our local businesses struggle to survive in the face of the COVID 19 pandemic, WestView News can no longer make payroll and pay printing costs. We have distributed the paper for free to 12,000 West Village homes, year after year, and to another 500 paid subscribers. Without your help, we can’t do it anymore.
Publisher George Capsis recalls: When I started the paper 17 years ago, I found myself giving it a subheading, “The Voice of the West Village.” I wanted the readers to talk back—to ask the newspaper to use “the power of the press” to get things done. This paper has made incalculable contributions to the West Village community during the past 17 years, from holding free concerts for seniors to successfully campaigning for a Village Heart Lab at Lenox Hill Hospital—a vital local resource to save a heart attack victim in the 15-minute window from attack to medical treatment.
But the news for newspapers is not good:
The Daily News recently closed their one of their offices. Hinting at the cost, the New York Times recently announced it will no longer print their TV guide. Shortly after the Times finished their gleaming new headquarters, they found the mortgage onerous and sold the building and rented back their offices.
A major New York real estate firm contracted to buy the expensive back page of WestView when the pandemic prompted a quick cancellation. Restaurant ad sales have fallen as well: you don’t advertise a restaurant that can’t be entered. The traditional way of funding a newspaper via advertising is dead and it is very easy to predict that the bankruptcy of newspapers will continue until they will only be found in museums…
We think that some of us still like the feel of a real newspaper, and would like to try to continue WestView for a few more years and maybe even make it a little bit better.
Today, we are asking our neighbors and community to help. If you love the paper, we ask you to help save WestView News. We need community support to help us pay a backlog of bills and keep the paper printing for the remainder of the pandemic and the following year as our community rebuilds.
Your contribution will help pay our staff and our printer, but more importantly, you will help us bring the local news to the people of the West Village. Our stories, told by the people who live here. Which bird Keith Michael and his dog Millie spotted in the Village this month… How you met your husband… What the Village was like 40 years ago… The most exciting thing that ever happened in your life… This is your paper. Without WestView News, there will be no one left to tell these stories. Please help if you can.
Please support our crowdfunding campaign. Please give what you can afford, what you think the paper deserves. And please ask your friends and neighbors to give as well. Thank you. We greatly appreciate your support.
Sometimes it takes a martini. This espresso martini is the sublime ending to a pandemic-shattering brunch at Osteria 57, 57 West 10th Street.
July was one of the strangest months I’ve seen in NYC. The pandemic is “under control” but everyone is wearing masks. A necessary but bizarre and disturbing daily reality. The protests continue on. It’s been over two months since the first protest in New York, on May 30. Protestors are much more organized now. There has been a lot of legislative change and massive increase in public awareness of systemic racism, so the protestors have succeeded in their initial aims, but clearly the desire for real change has not been met yet.
Homeless man rests on church steps on West 10th Street.
Homelessness is a growing problem. An estimated 20% of New Yorkers are unemployed, and it’s uncertain whether the pandemic rent protection will continue much longer. Indeed, parts of the protection plan have ended. I am very concerned about what will happen as more New Yorkers lose their homes.
Homeless man sleeps on brownstone stoop. He is mentally ill and uses the stoop as his toilet. He blocks the passage of tenants into the building, and they literally have to step over him to enter or leave.
On the bright side, outdoor dining has taken over some New York streets, bringing a sense of unreality as people eat, drink, and be merry in the sunshine. Once seated at the table, the masks come off, and it seems like life is back to normal. I met with the brunch gang for the first time since March. Most of my friends have been in strict quarantine since the pandemic began. The company and decadently indulgent food and wine at Osteria 57 made us feel glad to be alive. The feast was capped with complementary canoli and the above-pictured espresso martinis. Almost worth waiting 4 months for.
Joyful hours with friends as we have our first meal together since March.
And in the most unusual July 4th celebration, the city shot off fireworks from the top of the Empire State Building. It was quite a symbol of our times to see the Empire exploding. A clever idea, of course, to allow a modest celebration that all New Yorkers could view, from all over the city, without crowding the streets as is the custom for July 4th firework viewing.
Moon over the rooftops of Manhattan on July 4th.
I feel a heavy dread in my heart, and it has been difficult to write anything for this blog, as I usually have something positive to share. As REM said so stirringly, it’s the end of the world as we know it, but I don’t feel fine.
Sun sets into New Jersey as I have a solo picnic by the Hudson River on July 4th. I reveled in the gooey, crispy tacos de pescado and a tart lime margarita from La Contenta Oeste on 6th Avenue. A moment of serenity as a man plays acoustic guitar on a nearby bench.
On top of the global and city-wide events, our building is mourning the loss of our beloved doorman Moss Kuqi, who died in June of a heart attack. He was a welcoming beacon of joy to many who live here, and I always felt uplifted by his warm greeting when I returned home. I miss him dearly. Blessings on your spirit, dear Moss.
The music consists of 14 one-minute original compositions inspired by the Shadow Play artwork series. The music performance will begin at 8 PM.
About the Artwork
Shadow Play is a series of 14 miniatures exploring the connections between shadow, familiar forms, color, and emotion. The series was first exhibited at the Havana Art Gallery in Vancouver, BC. The second phase of the art project took stillness into motion, adding a multiplicity of personal responses to the art, and resulted in this video. The third phase of the project brings the music dimension of 14 original compositions in response to the art. The fourth phase of the project is you!
Consent to Be Photographed
The event will be photographed and filmed. By attending you grant permission for your photograph to be used in the fourth iteration of the art project.
Further Contemplation
What is the difference between substance and its shape? Is it an absence of light, a reflection of light? The shadow seems to reveal new potentials for the object. New possibilities, alternate realities. A hint of magic, hidden within the ordinary.
The Heart Sutra in Buddhism includes the statement “Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.” A shadow is empty, yet it has form. Perhaps a single shadow is a doorway into understanding deep universal truths.
Yet the creation of this series was a playful act, form arising spontaneously from emptiness, yet never really existing. From light and shadow waves to eye, electrons, neural circuits, to pixels and bytes to dots of ink on paper, the final result is a tiny form, reflecting the inconsequential temporariness and changing insubstantiality of a shadow on a living-room wall.
Exhibition Dates
The artwork will be on display in the Revelation Gallery from March 3 to 28. Gallery hours are:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 10 AM to 3 PM
About the Performers
An exciting lineup of talented musicians will be performing original compositions and improvisations in response to each piece of art. Each performance will be one minute long.
Three time Emmy-nominated Steve Sandberg, piano virtuoso and composer
The electrifying Aeon Ensemble, an NYC-based collective specializing in contemporary concert music; the Aeon Ensemble will also be performing a synaesthetic concert in response to the artwork on March 12 at 7 PM
2019 Goal List and my modelling comp card. Dusty Berke took the two photos on the right—my two absolute favorites of the year. Red pants photo by Morgen Purcell. Leopard photo by Zoë Pappis Schultz.
I just read an interesting article about creative geniuses. The key to great ideas like Edison’s light bulb, sublime music like Beethoven’s “odd-numbered” symphonies, and influential plays like Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is to be continuously working and creating. Not all ideas are good ideas, and not all works will bear fruit. But the people who have reached the pinnacle of success have been driven to create (in enormous quantity), for better or worse, and haven’t been afraid to fail.
As I look over the past year and my successes and failures, I am cheered by this perspective.
I worked at my “day job,” technical writing, for the first quarter of 2019, and then was lucky enough to spend the remainder of the year pursuing various interests and creative projects. I tried a lot of new things, and was generally happy with the results. Even when I may have failed (to live up to my idea of what I should achieve), I am still glad I gave it a try.
At the beginning of the year, I wrote down my goals for 2019 on a small piece of notepaper that I kept by my computer all year long. Every now and then I whited out some bits and added new items or details. I also took great joy in noting my progress on the goals and putting a checkmark beside the ones I accomplished.
Modeling
Modeling was the first item on my list. Although I didn’t have an agent, I had quite a successful first year as a model:
A monthly style column, Karen’s Quirky Style, in West Village’s beloved WestView News, with my picture appearing every month
A print ad for a local healthy juice restaurant, Juice & Joy
Related video and sandwich board ads
2 photo shoots for glossy fashion magazines: The Face and Vogue — both amazing experiences!
2 photo shoots for clothing designers, for use on social media: New York’s Engineered by Andrea T, and London’s sustainable swimwear designer Elliss Clothing (photographed by the fantastic Rosie Marks)
1 runway gig at the United Nations
3 photos of me were on exhibit in an art show at the prestigious Salmagundi Club, and one of them won an award
My friend Dusty Berke from WestView took this great photo, which won an award at the Salmagundi Art Club. Definitely one of my fave moments of the year, doing this shoot with Dusty.
I didn’t earn a wack of dough, but most of these gigs paid a bit, so I was actually paid for working as a model.
National Arts Club Membership
I fell in love with the National Arts Club (NAC) last year, when we had our graduation dinner there for the United Nations Association New York’s (UNA-NY) Worldview Institute leadership training program. I started attending their FashionSpeak Friday events, and set a goal of becoming a member. I put quite a bit of attention into creating a resume and application worthy of this institution, and with the help of two wonderful sponsors, Francis Dubois and Phillip Edward Spradley, I became a member on May 28, 2019!
Linda Zagaria, president of the National Arts Club. I wrote a story about Linda for WestView and Karen’s Quirky Style.
What a thrill. I attended a gala there honoring the best-selling and much beloved author John Irving. (I also attended a UNA-NY gala honoring those who have worked to end human trafficking. I was blown away by the enormity of this problem when I researched this subject for a story for WestView News.)
Ann Nicol, Executive Director of UNA-NY, and me, at the gala at Essex House on Central Park South. Gorgeous designer dress loaned by my friend Andrea, owner, designer, and creator of Engineered by Andrea T!
Photojournalist for WestView News
My byline is on the cover of WestView News!
This was not on my to-do list at the beginning of 2019, but WestView News became an enormous part of my life this past year. I researched and wrote more than 40 stories for them (which would make the State of California deem me an employee—one of the 2019 larger news stories that made all freelance journalists shiver). One of my stories was even a cover story! Thank you, George, publisher and dear friend. It was fascinating to interview people and write about them, and made me feel a happy part of the West Village community.
But more than that, I became friends with many people at the paper and feel like I’ve found another family here in New York. This has been a tremendous blessing in my life. I feel so lucky to contribute to one of the last remaining local Village papers in New York. (You may recall that the Village Voice closed in August 2018. Lincoln Anderson was fired from the Villager in October 2019, heralding a new era of schlock.)
Photography Course & Video Series
As I mentioned previously in a story about taking my friend’s portrait, I started an online Master Class with wizard Annie Leibovitz in the fall of 2018, and it was on my to-do list to finish the course in 2019. Aargh! Failure! I still have about 7 lessons left to do, and my membership expired.
Summer Piano in Washington Square Park was on exhibit at the Salmagundi Club!
But on the plus side, the course has been a huge inspiration, and I have had a few great impacts from the course:
My work was exhibited at the Salmagundi Club. (Picture shown above.) I learned about professional photo retouchers, printing, mounting, and framing. I was very happy with the result hanging on the wall.
I accompanied almost every published article for WestView with my own photos.
I did another class through the site, taught by Anna Wintour, and it was very inspiring. Main takeaway—be inspired by life around you. Hello, New York!
I also took a workshop on video storytelling through the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.
And Wow! I did 13 videos for YouTube in 2019. My goal was to do one a month to add to my New York Love Affair video art project, but I always feel like I’m neglecting my pet project. I guess I didn’t do too badly.
This was a very fruitful, creative part of my life and yet I feel like it is a demon, always chasing me to do more! I went through about 10,000 photos (from New York only) to find appropriate images to enter in the Greenwich Village exhibit at the Salmagundi Club. Of those, I entered six, and one was chosen. And didn’t sell. So I feel this tremendous urge to produce, but I don’t feel that I have succeeded fully. Partially, yes. It was a great honor to have my work accepted in the exhibit. (It was an item I added to the list partway through the year, when I received an email about it from Village Preservation.)
However, in March I have a solo exhibit for Shadow Play, phase four. We’ll see what happens there! (More details on that later.)
Shoebook.me
Failure! Or I’m not sure what to call it. This was a genius idea I had for social networking for shoes, Christmas Day, a week before I moved to New York. People like the idea, and I’ve got the domain name, built the site once and took it down, started again, and then abandoned it. I guess I am pulled in other directions. Perhaps I’ve lost my enthusiasm for shoes? [Moment to ponder additions to my shoe collection this year. Hmmm.]
My 75% successful shoe acquisitions in 2019
Honestly, I needed all of these shoes. Well, most of them…
Rubber boots to wear when I clean the shower with CLR
Two cool pairs of sneaks to wear while travelling in Scotland, London, and Paris
Wingtip brogues were actually a re-do; I stripped and painted these 70s-style platform boots for my David Bowie tribute performance at the NAC
Black flip-flops replaced an old pair, and I wear them all the time for doing errands around my building
Rainbow flipflops – cute mistake
Silver Margaux flats – just a mistake; I thought I could eventually like them, but it never happened. And I didn’t get any ad revenue from them, either! Moral of this story: never buy ugly shoes, even if you think they will be comfortable.
But I guess I have been following too many alluring tracks this past year to sit down and focus on shoebook.me. Maybe in 2020! I’m not putting it on the list, so don’t hold your breath.
Dance Parade
Yup! This was a lot of fun. I set the goal of participating, and couldn’t find anyone to go with me, so I joined another group and had an amazing time.
My butterfly costume for the Dance Parade. I danced with the exuberant, colorful, kinky House of Yes, a “performance fuelled” dance club in Brooklyn.
In addition, I’ve continued to study ballet at the world-renowned Joffrey Ballet School, and I took a couple of classes at Lincoln Center, taught by dancers from the New York City Ballet. What an amazing opportunity. Plus, of course, classes at Barre3 five times a week. When I had to stop running in 2018, I was worried about losing my figure, and also my sanity. I’ve managed to retain the former through Barre3, and found another family there as well. As for the latter, it might be highly over-rated!
New York Love Affair Website
This is another partial success. I had the domain name loveaffair.nyc for quite some time. When I first created the 20-minute video of excerpts from my New York Love Affair series for the Vancouver International Film Festival, I created the site to support the video series. But I never kept it up, so this year I folded it into this very website that you are looking at now.
My wild New York view from my favorite reading chair. Ah, autumn in New York!
I rebranded this site Wild Visions: Love Affair NYC. I didn’t want to lose the tremendous SEO I’ve achieved with the bcwildernessvisions URL, so I’ve kept it, and I point loveaffair.nyc to this site. I also revamped the graphic design a bit, and added an email sign-up option. Go ahead, sign up!
You won’t be inundated, as this is simply a monthly blog. If you want to dip into my New York doings from time to time, this is the place.
Total Blog Entries in 2019
I mentioned above that I wrote over 40 stories for WestView News in 2019. I also wrote lots of blog entries:
I would have to count this as a rousing success! Almost 50 blog entries. This is probably what gives me the most satisfaction of everything I do. But wait… Every time I sing I feel a mix of euphoria and angst (wishing I was better). And there’s nothing like the feeling of dancing freely to music that moves me…
This year I’ve continually asked myself the question what am I meant to do? What is calling my heart?
I’ve sung, danced, modeled, written, photographed, created videos, and in general explored my artistic passions to the fullest of my capacity within a given year. I love all of these activities. I guess there is no single answer to what satisfies the heart. Except, perhaps, a singular mystical answer about abiding in the mystery. So they say!
Friends and Family
Friends in wigs on Christmas Eve: me, Shawn, George, Dorothy, and Dorothy’s neighbor
The recap of the year wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the amazing richness I have in my life, of friendships and wonderful times with my family. My cousins Irma and Julie and Stephan visited New York and we saw many amazing special corners of New York. My Mom and I went to Arizona with my dear friends Sally and Bill, and I also went on trips with Deborah (Scotland) and Rosanna (Switzerland), plus dipped into London, Manchester, Paris, and Big Sur. Wow. Some friendships may have ended last year, but many wonderful new friendships have begun, and I am very grateful for the ongoing friendships with people in BC, New York, and around the world. Thanks especially to all the friends who came to hear my Bowie performance. That meant so much to me.
The focus of this entry was on creative flow, so I didn’t touch on everything I did this year, but of course there were also many fantastic cultural events and lots of fun time with friends. All of this gladdens my heart and brings more inspiration in a reinforcing cycle of creativity.
Where’s the Money?
You might have noticed that in the upper left corner of my notepaper list for 2019, I had written a high number. I didn’t earn anywhere close to that. Not even a quarter of it! True, I only worked at my day job for one quarter of the year. I had hoped that some of these various endeavors might have led to a new income stream. Not yet!
But I have always looked to my technical writing career to pay the bills. I didn’t want to put any strain on the creative stream to have to be successful. That way the creative expression can be pure joy and love. My art doesn’t have to suit other people. I don’t have to convince anyone of its merit. It’s 90% creative flow for its own sake, as an unstoppable source emerging from my being. But there’s still that 10% that hopes someone will like it!
I guess in that sense, it has been a successful year. I hope yours was too. Thanks for reading. And all the best to you in 2020. There is much possibility for hope and positive change in the new decade.
A triptych of Claude Monet’s Water Lilies, 1914-1926. Altogether he painted about 250 pictures of water lilies in the series.
MOMA is closed for four months for a major $450 million renovation. The reno will add 40,000 square feet and improve traffic flow. The good news is the museum will be able to display more pieces from its permanent collection.
The museum will reopen on October 21.
I went on the last day before the closure, June 16, in a pre-emptive move against MOMA withdrawal. Here are some favorite works of art from the permanent collection for you to enjoy if you are missing our beloved museum.
MOMA One
It almost seems a crime to present these inexpertly photographed works of art, especially as better versions are already available online in abundance. So I hope you will take this in the spirit intended—to share my love and appreciation of these works with my friends and family.
MOMA Two
Did you notice any suprising new artists or works of art in the above slideshow? 😉
I went to Paris for the first time in early June, and was very interested to observe the style on the street, Parisian fashion. Of course the area around the Louvre was swarming with tourists (days after the strike by museum workers concerned about severe overcrowding), but I hoped that by staking out a corner on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, I would be able to see what actual Parisians were wearing as they shopped on le weekend.
Crowds at Le Tuileries
The style themes I noticed are:
Parisian women almost always accessorize with a scarf
Fancy sneakers are popular all over the world, including Paris
Cross-body bags are a practical favorite
Leather jackets remain cool as ever
I snapped some Parisian pairs, which are featured in my July “Style on the Street” column in the WestView News. Here are some additional shots of stylish Parisians:
Paris Fashion
So exciting to see the Chanel shop in Paris, but this look says Chanel is past it. That white dress under the classic Chanel suit is ugly, I’m sorry!Stunning dress at Balmain on Rue Saint-Honoré. The pleats and folds in this ivory satin asymmetrical number are exquisite. That’s me in the mirror in a magenta raincoat and fantastic pink satin sneakers by Diana Broussard. (A French designer in New York.)
And of course I had to take some pictures of the sights as well.
The fantastic Hôtel Les Rives de Notre-Dame (with the red flower boxes in the windows). I was in a room facing the river.My room was a glorious orange, just like my first New York apartment. I loved it so much!
I was staying on the Left Bank in the Latin Quarter, very near Notre-Dame Cathedral. It was so sad to see this glorious old dame scaffolded and barricaded.
I was stricken by a majestic statue guarding the travelers who cross this bridge across the Seine. To me, she looks regal, yet humble and severe—a protective presence.
Protecting travelers who cross the bridgeSaint Geneviève statue at the Pont de la Tournelle. I later found out Saint Geneviève actually did protect Paris from Atilla the Hun! She is the patron saint of Paris.
I went to a couple of late-night jazz clubs in underground caverns: Le Caveau de la Huchette (built in the 1500s; Count Basie and Art Blakey played here in a later century), and Le Caveau Des Oubliettes. So cool!
Le Caveau Des Oubliettes late-night jazz session—in the dungeon carved out of the stone, where prisoners were left and forgotten
And afterwards, people get crepes at an all-night stand on Rue de la Huchette. It was raining a bit, and at 2 AM there was a crowd of 10 people ahead of me waiting at the window for their crêpes. The cook makes them on a flat round griddle just inside the window, so it is performance art as well. And then the delicious reward—in my case, a cone of crêpe enclosing mushroom, tomato, and cheese. So French, so delightful!
Waiting for crêpes in Rue de la Huchette. There were many all-night cafés and restaurants in the neighborhood. New York, take note!
I spent the final morning of my whirlwind visit (two nights, one day, one morning) going to as many pastry shops as I could find and reveling in French delicacies with espresso. I managed to go to four during my quest for an open post office. First off, I had two choux—cream-filled little round pastries—in la Maison Odette, a charming, narrow 4-story pastry shop and café with curving black staircases, near my hotel. Then a pain au chocolate at a sidewalk café near the Sorbonne.
I was surprised how modern and severe the Sorbonne looked (this is the Campus Pierre et Marie Curie, for the faculties of science and engineering). Closed for the summer, it seemed desolate and forbidding.
Next, I had a clod-foot cherry clafoutis on Île Saint-Louis, sitting on a stone bench on the north side, away from the hordes, watching boats go by on the Seine. And yes, reading Vogue! The final treat was to sit at this charming café, Au Vieux Paris d’Arcole, on Île de la Cité, the oldest, original part of Paris.
Blissful moment drinking espresso at Au Vieux Paris d’Arcole, on Île de la Cité—wearing my New York black now, and feeling more like myself!
I hadn’t realized that Paris began on Île de la Cité, possibly dating back to pre-Roman times (52 BCE), when it may have been a fortified crossing point held by the Parisii, a small Gallic tribe. By 300 CE, it was a walled city with wooden bridges on either side.
Curving street on Île de la Cité
But a few more modern sights were evident as well:
Abandoned scooters littering the sidewalk in a fashionable residential neighborhoodPolitical posters, probably from 2017. The first I had heard of Frexit!The ubiquitous phone ad defacing beautiful architecture. I saw a similarly hideous iPhone 10 ad when I was in Barcelona.The Great Canadian Pub, eh?
I would be remiss if I didn’t include a few classic Parisian landmarks that everyone loves.
Arc de quoi?That famous French tower and a golden-domed mosque gleaming in the rays of the setting sunMe in pink and the tower in grey. So romantic!Sun graffiti near Notre-DameHôtel Plaza Athénée on Rue Montaigne
Thanks for joining me on my little Parisian jaunt. Remember, we’ll always have Paris!
I revere Anna Wintour and Vogue magazine. ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ is my favorite vacay movie. But just to cut through the idealization, this time I’m going to take the piss and show how style translates from haute couture to proletariat.
Highlighter hues as seen on the celebs in Vogue.
I ripped this page out of May Vogue for inspiration, when I was in Paris checking out the style in the Fashion Capital.
When I got back to New York, I spotted these highlighter hues everywhere! Taking it to the street…
Delivering laundry & multitasking on the phone.
Strolling on the street with a soda. Girl in foreground is in highlighter pink.
Waiting for the subway at Penn Station, phone in hand. Woman on the bench is in highlighter yellow too.
Unloading a truck on Sixth Avenue.
So you see, you don’t have to be rich and famous to dress like the stars. Just color-match and you’re there!
