An American in Paris

These bikes are all over Paris.

I’ve really been enjoying Cathryn Horyn’s posts about Paris over on the NYT’s fashion blog On the Runway. I like the fashion reportage of course, but her travelogues are incredibly charming. From her post Paris, Saturday:

Then I pushed on to the Marais–I thought I’d drop by to see Azzedine Alaia. When I got there, he was working on the right side of a jacket for the new collection and wanted to finish it with the atelier. I stayed for lunch: baked chicken and mashed potatoes. Carlyne Cerf was there with her dog Jack, a big, great-looking Jack Russell. The conversation around the table was about the French film awards, the American election and the Milan shows. Afterward, Alaia came out to the street with me. He was worried that my shopping bags, in the metal basket of the bike, would spill open, so he stopped and tied them. Then I peddled toward Les Halles.

Reading this rrrrrrrrrreally made me want to get back there, oh-so-badly, even if lunch with Azzedine Alaia won’t be on my agenda when I do.

A meal (not the one Ms. Horyn describes) with Azzedine Alaia, photographed by Alec Soth.