Re-writing history and the fashion news from Paris

This will be yet another apology post. It seems – in my earnest desire to help you understand French chateaux and how the various kings of history built them – that I “invented” a king, and credited him with some architecture.

This was pointed out to me – kindly! – by one of my reader/friends.

There are two clear lessons here: 1) there was no Andrew VII – in France or anywhere else and 2) I am of limited historical use to you.

Lacking historical competence, I decided to focus on fashion during my current stay in Paris. First, I had to meet up with my favorite travel partners, Kris and Jim!

Jim was totally game to come along as Kris and I toured the La Galerie Dior – a museum dedicated to telling the story of Christian Dior, from his formative years as a fashion illustrator and designer for other fashion houses to his own couture debut in 1947, unveiling the “New Look”, with long hemlines and full skirts.

(Note: You can trust me on this one – I have checked and can confirm that Christian Dior was an actual person who lived).

People take this place pretty seriously. There are lots of decked out people taking selfies. Traveling 5 weeks with just a carry on, I cannot compete on fashion but kudos to Kris, though, for rising to the occasion. As we waited in line to enter the Galerie Dior, she revealed her dress was from the fashion house of Dick’s Sporting Goods.

I’m including these pics so you can get a sense of the pilgrimage it is for some people:

It was interesting to see Dior’s life story – even as a non-fashion person. But it was surprising to see how taken Jim was with the fabric/design/glamour world. Here he is, in fact, typical Jim in a museum, blissfully reading every sign and unknowingly blocking an entire room of women behind him as he brings the Dior museum flow to a complete stop. We were so excited to show him this picture – he was horrified, but this might be my favorite Jim moment ever.

Here are some more interior shots – I really thought this place was excellent fun. This is the Diorama Staircase – 4 stories of color-coded miniature designs and accessories:

And this was my favorite dress:

Here are a few other rooms:

We also went into Galleries Lafayette on the famous Boulevard Haussmann. This flagship branch of the department store has some gorgeous interior features and is 750,000 square feet. Here’s the outside:

Inside is a 141-foot stained glass dome from 1912 – worth a stop in the store despite the incredible crowds in there:

As beautiful as that dome is, it was just a warm up to my next Paris adventure though…even more stained glass!

I’m lucky to have an actual friend from college who lives in France and she designed a stained glass day for us – where we rode around Paris stopping in at churches with unusual glass. This was one of those truly spectacular travel days!!

To show my appreciation for her efforts, I embarrassed us at a cafe when I tried to order a crepe for a little snack. They offered butter crepes and sugar crepes and, natural chef that I am, I immediately ordered a crepe with butter and sugar.

It was just like the Gate 1 tour all over again. The waiter was unhappy with me and my friend Pam had to explain to me that butter and sugar on a crepe is just not done in France.

Listen – I really like these French people but they have a lot of rules about butter.

The waiter – pushed to the limits of decency and in what I guess was a French/American diplomatic overture – did bring me a crepe with butter and then – at the urging of Pam, brought me a container of sugar but he would not be involved of the mixing of these two items. If I was going to sweet/savory hell, I was going alone.

Here’s Pam, butter-whisperer and my friend for almost 40 years:

We saw three churches – all from the early 1900s and with some of the coolest stained glass I’ve come across. They were all so different than the medieval glass I’m always seeking.

CHURCH ONE

Elise Sainte-Odile – constructed between 1935 and 1946, with the tallest bell tower in Paris. The outside is sort-of Byzantine and modeled after the Hagia Sofia in Instabul:

But the inside looks like this – almost like a spaceship:

The glass design is by Francois Decorchemont, using a system of pate de verre – literally “glass paste”, made using finely crushed glass and a binding material. The windows were extra vibrant because most of the rest of the church was made of the cement you see above – the contrast was beautiful:

CHURCH TWO

Eglise Saint-Christophe-de-Javel. This one was built between 1926 and 1930. The structure is unique for being the first “prefabricated” church. The architect, Charles-Henri Besnard, worked with reinforced concrete – and the columns and grills you see below were built offsite and delivered to the church. Besnard’s thought was that it would allow for cheaper construction – no need to stop for bad weather – but hoisting the massive prefabricated pieces proved way more expensive than planned.

The Christophe-de-Javel church was my favorite one of the day because of the sunburst stained glass. These pictures are not going to convey the shock of walking in – it seems like entering into heaven or Shangri-la or…I don’t know…something otherworldly:

I was also taken with an Art Deco painting over the choir by Henri-Marcel Magne. It’s Saint Christopher (patron saint of travelers) surrounded by kneeling figures, using various modes of transportation – including people traveling by bike, train, car and even hot air balloon:

CHURCH THREE

Saint-Pierre-de-Chaillot was built between 1933 and 1938 and is another reinforced concrete building:

The majority of the stained glass was missing when we were there – removed for cleaning and refurbishment but the church walls are covered with frescoes:

In the picture above, clear glass is visible – that’s where the key missing glass was – so here are pictures from a few years ago:

I’ve got a couple more days in Paris – including my first-ever tickets to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower, per request of Kris and Jim. I don’t like elevators, I don’t like high walkways…it remains possible that I won’t actually make the ascent but we’ll see.