ROUND THE WORLD #5. WORK, EN PARIS.
January 24, 2010

It's been a hectic past couple of days, so apologies for the late updates. Whilst a lot of people and friends (who weren't exhibiting) were coming into town specifically for the shows, the parties or a couple of meetings, our schedule for the first couple of days was rammed back to back with a mixture of viewings, events and shows. In other words, we had actual work to do. Before I forget, thank you to everybody who extended us invites to their respective shows/events, you're all too kind.

The first stop was the (capsule) show here in Paris, for a quick reccie to see if anything piqued our interest. The show was located inside this building in the Marais area, with branched out into different hallways, levels, and floors. Definately not your normal tradeshow experience, which was a little nice as you didn't always feel like you were walking around in circles all day long but at the same time left you wondering if you had seen the entire show or not. A good selection of established brands, up and coming brands, and a few progressive brands - you can see this by seeing a lot of them produce items that are right on point with the market place & consumer right now, instead of hundreds of tee-shirt stands. Work boots seem to be the new Nike dunk high though (although perhaps not in bad way), and it seems like the fashion lumberjack look has still got a couple of legs to stand on, perhaps in Europe anyhow. I think a bigger cafeteria area would've been nice so we didn't have to have our coffee/snacks outside in the cold, and I'll pass on Nico's feedback as well - instead of champagne open bar hour, why not free massage hour? (Deirdre, you can hit up Nico about that one). Otherwise, great show. Nice seeing old friends again, and meeting new faces.

By the way, I'd like to point out that the garbstore pictures are credited to I-A-N P-A-L-E-Y.

Also headed to see the visvim FW10 showroom straight after (capsule). Sorry guys, no photography allowed. Think... outdoors. Thanks Matthew.

Comme Des Garcons Homme Plus. After our taxi driver took us to the completely wrong side of town, we arrived literally to a swarm of people trying to bum rush the entrance outside, and only got in with a CDG staff escort with about ten seconds to spare before the music came on just after we crossed the runway. A little typical, but also some surprises as well - fur/pile trench undercoats, double breasted suit jackets, and fur lined hoods. Apologies for the lack of photos, my camera wasn't co-operating with the shutter speed settings. For a complete overview you can see the entire collection's photos here.

Last stop of the day - the N.Hoolywood showroom. Designer Daisuke Obana (aka Mister Hollywood) has been putting his N.Hoolywood brand out there for about 10 years now, and although it remains a little enigmatic to some outside of their home market of Japan, it has a formidable following there. He told us he originally got his nickname (Mister Hollywood) after he started travelling to the USA to buy vintage clothing to bring back to Japan to sell, many years ago. To this day, these type of clothes inspire the themes of his collections. One of his signatures is to put special 'features' into his garments - ie, the 'dual sized pants', 'tongue holder' in his canvas sneaker, and the transparent internal jacket lining. This FW10 collection from his COMPILE line is no exception, with its theme inspired by the wild west, american indians, and European settlers.

Rounded the evening off with dinner in St Germain with Bebetan and the Tokyo LeBaron mafia. Nice spot.

Restaurant Alcazar, 62 Rue Mazarine, 75006. Tip - the fish is better than the steak.

More soon.