Since I moved to Brussels, Paris feels like a comfort escape place, a feel good city. Being 7+ months pregnant felt like it’s a good moment to visit the city for one last time before the D Day, where D stands for Delivery in my case. This visit coincided with Who’s Next in Fashion, that was celebrating its 30th birthday. The event was massive and I had the chance to discover a bunch of new cool designers and also to listen some very interesting keynotes. Let me know in the comments if you want to know more about the things I saw and heard while I was there, I wasn’t sure if it’s a topic you want to read more about.
But since I was there why not to spend some time out and about, doing my favourite things: observing and taking pictures. I just had to start my trip with a lobster roll, that was haunting my pregnant ass dreams the last three months. So first stop: Homer Marais. One cannot miss this lobster roll.
Maybe not the substack you come for food advice, but I had to share this treasure. But let’s move to a topic that is typically my type of content: How’s the city influencing people’s fashion choices. There is a very obvious improvement in the city and the way that people dress is being influenced by this improvement. Paris went from zero to hero on bike lanes and clean roads. Probably Olympics has a lot to do with the latter, since the mayor has made a huge effort to prepare the city for the great athletic event and honestly I think she should make an effort to keep the city that way.
On top of that, and according to a friend claims, the increase of bike mobility in a city is going hand-to-hand with the decrease of criminality! I don’t know if there is enough data to prove this point, however a research from Portland State University highlighted that bike lanes can contribute to local economic growth by making neighbourhoods more desirable and increasing foot traffic, which can indirectly reduce crime through the “eyes on the street” effect. More people biking or walking can increase surveillance by passersby, which deters criminal activity, which might as well be the case with Paris. Many businesses have opened in the area, brands that they try to keep the style of the neighbourhood in tact, even by going as far as not removing the old frame of the previous business, which leads to a Nike shop in an old Library or a Bimba y Lola store in an old Pharmacy.
Everything looked so much better but also people dressed so much better which I think it has a lot to do with the state of the city. I read somewhere that people used to really dress-up to step outside of their houses in any occasion, just because they wanted to show their respect to the city. It’s hard not to want to “show your respect” to a city like Paris of today and especially Marais. And ok I know Marais was always a beautiful spot in Paris, of course you will find some less lit and fancy spots in this vast city, I’m just saying that it has never been as beautiful, which seems to inspire the people walking the streets of Marais. Here are some of the fits I spotted while I was there.
My overall impression of the city was very positive and I do find that Parisians do dress up more and more. We might have less of this effortless Parisian style we were all been talking about 5 years ago but it’s not that it extincts either. I like to think of this style evolution as a metaphor of someone that appreciates both Vogue and 032c; different style but they both have an interesting input on the fashion world.