March 2008

March 3rd 2008
Paris via Florence

I have just returned from Paris which was très, très fun.  One particularly fun night began with drinks at The Ritz’s Hemingway Bar with Jessica Stambaugh who was HOLLYWOULD’s star intern at age 19, long before she had ever tasted alcohol (see Aug 8, 2005 entry). 

After a few strong Ritz cocktails, Jessica and I realized we would be late for dinner if we tried to walk, so decided to take advantage of Paris’s new Velib bike system, which enables you to rent a bike by machine anywhere around town, and then return it at another Velib location.  If you’ve been to Paris lately you’ve probably noticed very nice futuristic bicycles on just about every other corner, which can be rented for one Euro/day, all by machine, and returned all over the city.  Say what you will about the French (je les adore), but this idea is truly genius.

From our Velib station at Place Vendôme we zig-zagged our way down Rue Saint Honoré to the Palais Royal, where we were meeting star designers Chris Benz (see his fab show on style.com) and Prabal Gurung (who works with Peter Som at Bill Blass – see their fab show on style.com) for dinner at our favorite Parisian/Chinese haunt, Davé.  If you work in fashion and/or read this diary you have likely heard of Davé (see Sept 26, 2005 entry), which is the place to either see, be seen, or just get good fashion gossip any time of year.  Chris & Prabal made for excellent and hilarious dinner partners, and by the end of the meal Jessica and I had convinced them that they also needed to rent bikes so we could hit our next drink spot on wheels.  They were quick to agree, and soon all four of us were tipsily riding through Paris, lead by Prabal (aka: Maria von Trapp) in a chorus of “Doe, A Deer”. 

The next stop on our Tour de France was a bit of a ride (which gave us a chance to perform the entire Sound of Music soundtrack), and is the au courant hotspot du jour, Café La Perle.  For those of you who don’t know, Café La Perle is located on la Rue Vieille du Temple in the Marias and is where toutes les hipsters de Paris convene for a beer or absinthe every night of the week.  When we arrived the crowd had spilled out onto the street, and we got many props for pulling in on bikes well past most cyclist’s bedtime. 

The crowd at Café La Perle is as hip as can be, and we commented that the outfits on boys & girls alike provided endless inspiration, and were pleased as punch to find the beer on tap appropriately named “Edelweiss”.  From there we headed to another bar of a much different kind, and suffice to say I was the only girl in the room, and the men didn’t seem to mind.  Despite the shirtless bartenders I decided to call it a night, and headed home (on my bike!) for some beauty sleep.  I am now in Florence working on next year’s HOLLYWOULD Spring 2009 Collection, which will definitely feature multiple outfits appropriate for bicycle bar-hopping, no matter where you live.

In the meantime, if you live in Russia please pick up the new Cosmopolitan magazine, which prominently features HOLLYWOULD in its pages, and if you live in Florida, please pick up the new Palm Beach Illustrated, which features a saucier-than-reality photo of Yours Truly in its pages...

And last but not least, big shout-out to Vanessa Minillo who was shopping chez nous this week.  Every time we see her she just looks gorg, and we’re happy to have her looking gorg in HOLLYWOULD.  Merci beaucoup!

Baisers & Baci… xoxo