It looks like a hurricane is going to take summer with it this weekend. Pffff. I knew it, I mean, it is back to school time and everything, but ever since I saw September 1st on my cell phone yesterday, even if it’s unbearably hot here in New York, everything’s different. Everyone is running everywhere, the email boxes are exploding and I’ve even started getting invites to fashion week!  Whoaaaaa, easy there, slow it down!

Mmmmm, I seriously have to consider thinking about…

- Packing away my jean shorts : Like all girls in the world, I spend my summer in jean shorts (with the pockets hanging out the bottom, of course). Aaaah, it was awesome. But yeah, hello creativity. Jean shorts and a shirt, yep, all summer long. I don’t know how to dress myself anymore.

- Getting back up on my heels : Wait what? Heels? The word simply disappeared from my vocabulary when I started being all cool in my flats. I swear, I tried on a pair of stilettos on monday (yes, this word still exists, why would you think otherwise?), and I just about fell flat on my face in the middle of the store. Classy.

- Putting on my makeup : Listen, well first wait, where is my makeup? During the summer, I end up with blush + mascara, even on red carpet days (?). Even just saying the word “foundation” in my head gives me chills up my spine.

- How to do my hair : Aaaaah, the bun is totally over, I CANNOT keep just tossing it up. Even Scott said to me yesterday (and I’m telling you, September first does something to everyone!) (breathe Garance, inhale exhale), “So I was thinking that from time to time, maybe, just maybe, and it’s just a suggestion, you know, but maybe I was thinking you could do SOMETHING with your hair?” I didn’t take it personally. But I don’t know that I remember how to turn a hairdryer at all.

- Get waxed : —— —- — Naaaaan I’m totally just kidding.

Okay, off we go kids, to work! It’s back to school! For real now! Bonne journée!

—————-

PS1 (C’mon no, not the bag! How many times am I going to have to say this?) : But yes of course, take a closer look, this photo totally makes sense with the subject du jour. It represents the coolitude of summer, no?  Am I right or am I right?!

PS2 : Am I right ? Or right ?

PS3 : Ok, I really gotta quit it with the rosé. That, too, is summer. Aaaaah, how stupid is this back to school stuff?!

Translation : Tim Sullivan

Kids, I’m totally becoming a fashion pro. Get this :
Saturday, in the middle of August, sauna-esque heat in New York, there I am, Gaga, heading out for a winter shopping mission.

So I’ll stop you right there. All the girls I take photos of during fashion weeks are gonna say, “Well, what’s the big deal? That’s normal as can be. You’re even a little late little one!”

Still, it’s hard for me to consider it normal to get to buy a wool jacket, cashmere pants and an angora scarf on the 28th of August. But I came across Dianna at Barneys who showed the big wool winter coat and the furry shoes she’d just bought and I finally gave in. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe this is the perfect time to buy a fur hat, you never know.

And I need a snowboard too. It’s definitely time to order my snowboard for February.

Okay… So back to me in huntress mode. Up to the fifth floor at Barney’s, Stella McCartney, finally, ah, awesome. I love her collection. I see the coolest parka, perfect for a snowy January. I try it on, oh goodness, it’s so beautiful, and then the salesgirl corners me and says :

“JUST SO YOU KNOW, THAT PARKA IS THE ONLY ONE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. And we have it because (and yeah, I stopped being able to understand her here, she was talking so fast, so here’s what I imagined she said to me) – Stella knew that you were coming today and she designed it just for you – and so that’s why we’re the only people in the world to have one and it’s the last one, IN THE ENTIRE WORLD.”

Whoa. How cool is that? The only one, IN THE WORLD. But as Scott wasn’t quite convinced by the salesgirl he told me Garance, look, if it really was made just for you, come back in three days and it’ll be here waiting for you. I listened to him because honestly, he’s a really smart guy and the parka was really close to $2,000.

So we continued our little journey down Madison Ave, following intently my little list of to-buys that I concocted – First time in my life I’ve ever done that. But now I have this new fear of waiting until it’s cold to buy a coat and then hear the salesgirls all laugh at me saying, A coat? In September. We don’t have any more of those since August, ahahah*!

On my list, there were some pointy ballet slippers… with studs, from Valentino. Kids, if you haven’t been living under a rock, then I’m sure you haven’t missed them. They’re in all the magazines, ALL OF THEM. So I went to Valentino and asked for them, and this is what I got:

The ballet slippers? The ones in all the editorials? Ahahah*, they haven’t gotten here yet, and we’ve already got a waiting-list longer than you can ever imagine.

Ah yes, I forgot. Get it published in a magazine and sales go through the roof.

Pfffff. To console myself, I stopped at Intermix, a New York multi-brand shop. I saw an entire section of Stella McCartney and, you’re not going to believe me, but I’m not kidding here :

Three other parkas just like my parka that couldn’t be found anywhere else IN THE ENTIRE WORLD.

…

I let out a yelp, I grabbed it and then poof! No longer did I have any desire to buy it. The fact that it wasn’t at all unique (but what was that salesgirl at Barney’s thinking?)(Wait… Maybe she WASN’T a salesgirl at Barney’s… Ouuuh, craaazyyy.) made it – almost – a little dull.

And there you have it! I tried to get myself together and become a killer fashion pro, but I’m still trapped in the endless cycle of supply and demand. Scott winked at me.

Ahahah*! I still have many miles to go before I’m a fashion pro.

———–

PS 1 (No, not the bag. You’re all obsessed.) = This post has no rhyme or reason, at the beginning, I wanted to give you my point of view on the back to school trends, but yeah, maybe next time…

PS 2 = Don’t worry, I got a lot of pretty things. 80% of them I won’t be able to put on before November, but they’re pretty none the less, and all lined up nicely in my closet. You could even say it looks like a shop — a little chaotic, the shop.

PS 3 = New York Zara is terrible. It’s hard to get over it’s European cousin. And harder on my wallet, too, seeing as I have to live with Chloé now. Pfff! Depressing…

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* Ahahah ! Stupid bitch.

It’s not only in fashion that you find creative and exciting jobs. Denise, for example, is a flower stylist. Isn’t that the coolest job ever? Just look at the title!

She started up, just like that, because she loved putting bouquets together, and then word of mouth got around and she started free-lancing. You’d call her for decorating parties, putting together floral arrangements for restaurants, films… You can always find her around about the coolest places in New York.

She’s called Flower Girl, she’s got a logo and everything that totally rocks. I love it.

A few months ago, opportunity presented itself for her to open her own boutique inside a cool denim shop on the Lower East Side, Earnest Sewn. She told herself that this was the right moment, and off she went.

Ah! I love when people follow their passion.

And that’s it. The boutique is awesome, a mix of fresh flowers and a bygone era, and the shot above is the bouquet that I walked out with which has scented up our entire apartment for three days now. You see what I’m saying? It’s not just fashion that can make us happy, you know?!!!

Outside of all that, I love her double ring.

Oh and her scarf too.

And her bustier-jumpsuit, what do you think?

Saaaawwwweeeeeat!

Translation : Tim Sullivan

Breakfast in New York, it’s something. Most of the people I know have it on the way to work and you can see them go around, coffee cup in their hand.

I did the same in the beginning, but I soon went back to my very french café-tartines at home. I even found my baguette at the Pain Quotidien on the corner of my street. Some things never change!

PS : Me too,  love Jenna’s bag!

It’s funny, the first thing that I realized about New York, apart from it’s gigantitude and the noise, is that all the girls have PERFECTLY MANICURED nails.

Pfffff, too easy. There’s a nail spa on every corner, they have all the Essie colors in the world at your disposal and it’s quick, cheap, and so no New Yorker should have ANY EXCUSE  not be perfectly put together up to the cuticle (eww).

Still, it took me  little while to get addicted to it. But I mean c’mon! How was I supposed to know that for the perfect manicure, you need:

#1 To learn a new language.

The first time I walked into a nail spa, I stopped at the desk and I started off at the hostess,

“Hello! I want a manicure, a pedicure, some color, and what’s this paraffin thing? Can you take me right away? How long will it take? Can I bring my own polish? What are all these crazy machines over there and what exactly do you mean by “facial?” And what do you call that thing that, errrr, I forget, do you think I have good skin? What would you recommend for…”

…

Wait, what did I say? The receptionist looked at me with big round eyes, a little terrified. After a rather embarrassing two minutes of silence, she started at me, repeating:

” Manicure ? Pedicure ? Manicure ? Pedicure ? Manicure ? Pedicure ? Manicure ?”

I looked around, a little lost.

And then a very pretty and very busy looking girl blazed into the salon. She picked out a polish in two seconds, put it right in the receptionist face and with no hello, but with a big smile said, “Manicure! Pedicure! Facial!” This was met with a knowing smile and she was guided into the salon.

And then I finally got it… The receptionist doesn’t speak english.

I picked out a polish and said, “Manicure!” And look at that! It worked!

#2 Buy a pair of flip flops. Even if you hate them, get some flip flops.

The second time I went to a nail spa, it was in the middle of winter. This time, I wanted to try a “Pedicure! Manicure!” The only thing was that my feet were trapped in boots, and I got a little worried about the end of everything when I’d have to get the boots back on without letting the nails dry properly.

With the help of a few huge big gestures and hand signs I signaled the receptionist about my boots, “You have a solution for these?”

No problem, she said with her thumbs up, and showed me their futuristic drying machines.

And I thought, Pfffff they have it all together in NYC. They even have supersonic nail dryers.

…

Yep, yep yep yep. Of course. New Yorkers have thought of it all.

But then when I got back home and saw my new nails totally ruined, I finally understood why, even in the middle of winter, I had seen New Yorkers walking around the city, with perfectly manicured nails, IN FLIP FLOPS.

#3 Learn to tip fast, and well.

Yeah, so my post is much too long (no but seriously, how do I just get going like this?!) But this whole tipping thing in the States deserves its own post. And especially because the mega-terrible reputation that us Frenchies have, I’ll have to come back to it.

All this just to tell you the three fundamental lessons (talking, flipfloping, and tipping). Soon enough, you’ll feel totally at home at the nail spa and you’ll have always superb nails. You’ll be oh so very classy.

And there you have it. Now I have no excuse, and I mean NONE WHATSOEVER not be perfectly put together up to the cuticle (eww). Too bad!

———-

In the illustration, there’s one of the new Chanel Khaki polishes. When we first got them in at the studio, all the girls (and at the time, we were in the middle of a casting, so there were a few) fell all over themselves they were so beautiful. The khaki rose, aaahhh!!! It just kills me.

Translation : Tim Sullivan

You remember the first shot I took of Dianna? Since then, she got a haircut. It looks so great!

My summer has been so crazy and jumbled. I worked on twelve things at the same time, did my first project where I was the artistic director, shot some editorials, some ads, and worked night and day on illustrations. I even tried to keep my blog going the best I could, tried to get myself in shape, and in the middle of all this, I…

Moved to New York.

It’s awesome! I definitely have to tell you soon what it’s like to be a Parisian in New York. It’s — really — another life.

But the thing is, in the middle of all this madness, I had… a kind of panic attack. I’m not going to go into too much detail, but all this, it’s scary. I had to hit the breaks just for a second like. I had to get myself swimming, reading, or doing… nothing. Nothing at all. I took a deep breath, finished my projects, and after all was sent in and ready, I totally unplugged for two weeks.

Oooyeaaaait’ssoniceeeeeetoonothaaaaveaaaaaareiiiiinnnnntheeeeeewooooooorld!!!!!!

And there you have it!!! I’m back a total back to school mood, with a list of things to do as long as can be, and a list of things to buy that if I actually go through it, I’ll single handedly jump start the international economy, my hair is freshly cut, my nails are blood-red like a true New Yorker, and I’ve even got an appointment with Jeffrey, my personal trainer in a few hours (= long story, I’ll get to it, crazy me.).

But above all, I’m super, super excited to get back with you all!!! Big hugs!

Translation : Tim Sullivan

Do you remember the casting I did in Australia ? We all fell in love with Cisco…

It was for Muse magazine. It is out now, and the issue is great ! Here are a few pictures of the story…

Oh my god, now I CAN’T WAIT TO GO TO THE BEACH !!! Kisses !

Take a good look at these sneakers… Do you see what I see? The most amazing detail ever? Hahaha.

These sneakers have heels HIDDEN INSIDE THE SHOES!!!

So I was doing a shoot with a dozen girls that were all more fashionable than the next, and all of us were stopped cold by these shoes, and everyone had her own reaction…

“Wait, what’s the point of walking around in heels if no one can notice you’re in heels?”

“NO WAY if you’re short, they’re perfect. You could fool everyone!”

“It’s like a pushup bra for the legs. No one knows it’s there and you seem so cool in your sneakers like nothing’s up, and then bam! You get 3 inches taller and no one knows any better.” (—-> that’s me)

“Yeah, okay. But aren’t sneakers just for giving the feet a day off?”

“Pffff, not at all. Sneakers like that are style accessories just like anything else. Not something to take a day off in, what’re you thinking?

“I’m with you. They’re awesome.”

“Me too.” (—-> Anda)

“Me too.” (—-> Masha)

“Yeah! And then on top of that, they’ll make your feet look small, like an optical illusion. I love it.”

“As for me, anything Isabel Marant does, I’ll take it.” (—-> all the girls in unison)(Yep, Vive la France!)

———

And there you have it… Everything I remember.

So, what do you think of ‘em?

Translation : Tim Sullivan