Bourgeois(e) in NYC

 I begin my January visit to NYC with text, first, a book I saw in the MOMA bookstore, with many wonderful archival photos of college women at all women's colleges. Have added that one to the Amazon wish list. On the right, the pretentious -- at least I thought it was pretentious -- explanation accompanying the rather uninteresting -- I found it uninteresting -- exhibit at MOMA asking the question "Is Fashion Modern?" Fashion is difficult to display in a museum. I find that it looks best in dark rooms. The only piece that had me intrigued was

this one. 

I want to make this with different elements. It seems fairly straightforward. Perfect for recycling all kinds of materials. 

 While waiting for my daughter Clara, I observed the crowd from one of the staircases. My eye was drawn to a very nicely dressed woman, tall, elegant, perhaps yes, bourgeoise. It's too easy to make that pun, when the show we were visiting was the Louise Bourgeois retrospective. (I came up with another bad pun joke: she had three sons. What do you call her sons when they were small? "Petits Bourgeois." Haha. )

 I was pleased to see that Clara was wearing the necklace I had given her for Christmas. But it looks really nice on her! (all her clothes are used, by the way. I must ask her the origin of that animal shirt, it's amazing!).

 More bourgeoises at the Bourgeois retrospective.

I was also intrigued by the printer in Hinsdale, New Hampshire. Her prints are enormous, and I wonder why she chose one in New Hampshire. I must look them up to see if they're still around.

 The note taker in front of one of Bourgeois's late enormous prints.

LB recycled old fabric and added her own painting and stitching. 

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And a discovery in Williamsburg to end with: Junk on Driggs Avenue. 

straight lines/messy year

Well, it's the end of 2017, not a great year here in the US, the less said the better, soso year in Britain, awaiting its Brexit, okay year in France where Macron managed to pull it off.

I end with geometric lines, accumulated during the Paris week in December. 

 I followed this woman in the Métro because I really liked the way her Freitag bag, silver  and black, went so well with the white and black stripes at the bottom of her coat. I do enjoy people watching, and observing what they are wearing, how they are presenting themselves to the world. Here, she was just no nonsense, let's go, I need to get to work (or wherever she was going).

 The movie theater on the Boulevard de Montparnasse, Les 7 Parnassiens, still shows really good independent films and still has a small cafe space where you can drop off books, and read new ones.

And then, last but not least, a nice surprise at Orly Airport. Fun colorful bathrooms. 

Here's to the comfort of straight, geometric lines in what has turned out to be a difficult year. 

Mid December in Uppsala, Sweden

In Uppsala Sweden for the weekend before heading back to the States. Uppsala is a university town, and my friend Laure who lives there with her partner has shown me the second hand stores, consignment shops and charity shops. 

The Swedes love Christmas, and decorations are everywhere. 

So are winter coats, that can be acquired very cheaply, including beautiful furs and sheep skins. The Swedes seem to favor puffy coats in the winter, and have clearly become more ethical about their winter wear, hence the profusion of animal skin coats in the second hand stores.

Paris endures

This December, I am back in Paris for a week for many reasons, including simply being in Paris. Simply being in Paris means, for me at least, lots and lots of walking.
One can choose any street and follow it, until one decides to move to a different street.
This week, I followed rue Falguière in the 15th to rue de la Procession in the 14th, only to discover the urban planning of the 1960s and 70s. I was looking for a place to drop off my compost, which I did find in a community garden in the middle of a "ZAC" ("Zone d'aménagement concerté), an urban zone in which private and public entities work together to find solutions for lower income dwellers.

...

Paris endures, Paris doesn't change. Paris still has women in thick woolen scarves elegantly wrapped around their necks.

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Paris also means the continuing existence of the "librairie papéterie," where one can not only buy books but also paper, notebooks, pens, and all kinds of colorful leather items.

Paris means museums, like the Musée de la Monnaie where I quite enjoyed the exhibit "Woman/House" that featured feminist artists from all over the world whose work concentrates on ideas about the home and domesticity. 

The museum was and remains the "money" museum, in an 18th century edifice, one of those many elegant buildings that grace France's capital. I took this shot in one of the many mirrored doors, capturing once again the travel coat, the Barbour I found in a vintage store in Northampton, MA, and that has been doing its best to keep me warm and dry. 

Paris still has its famous Saint-Ouen flea market where I went with a friend in search of a night stand. We didn't find one, but we did enjoy a meal at the Bistrot Voltaire where the waitresses are friendly, and the prix fixe lunch a deal. 

Paris means so many things, the metro that takes you from everywhere to everywhere, the buses that zigzag through its streets offering the best value tour of the city for a mere 1€90, the Paris Opera with its reliably graceful dancers sporting the latest couture...

  

Paris, sadly, also means beggars, homeless people, oblivious bourgeoisie still living in a bubble, fathers taking their tired children shopping on Saturday afternoons, overcrowded apartments, streets, buses, metros, breakdowns on the airport express train. But Paris endures. 

Another "PA" city where I was before Paris, Palermo. Totally random closing photo taken of a Vespa wheel cover turned into a lampshade in a bar in the Kalsi district. Another city well worth the visit, and for the same reasons, sharing the messiness and the beauty.