Getting My Inspiration On at Paris Fashion Week
“Paris is always a good idea.” – Audrey Hepburn
SEEING so much of New York fashion week in the news recently got me reminiscing about my time in Paris last year….
PARIS HAS ALWAYS been the city where artists of all types nurture their creativity: Picasso, Chanel, Dali, Dior, Renoit, Louboutin. As the creative director and owner of Windowwall Salon in Portland, and a lover of all things art, fashion, and style, a dream of mine has always been to go to Paris during fashion week. Last year I finally got that chance. No…I didn’t get to attend the runway events, hob-nob with designers and celebrities, or sip champagne and eat caviar at a glamorous backstage party. Instead, the Paris I met illuminated my creativity and shaped my craft as a stylist and artist in a different way, a way I was not expecting.
As the epicenter for art, fashion, gastronomy, and culture, my expectation was that fashion week would be a bit like Paris on steroids – hectic, crowded, bloated. But as I quickly learned, at its heart, Paris is a city devoted to beauty and order, constantly inviting you to slow down and take it all in. Parisian’s understand this better than we do: That the simplicity of life is to be savored. a glass of wine, a simple meal, the beauty that surrounds us.
As I wandered the Parisian streets, every turn offered surprise and possible delight to be relished. Hidden pockets of quiet green places invited me in to rest and reflect. Gorgeous attention to design in its every detail summoned me to linger. A culture so STEEPED in history, IT beckoned me to stop and reflect on both its tradition and possibility. Free beauty was everywhere I looked - shop windows indulged my inner fashionista, architecture inspired new shapes I had never noticed before, and the city’s pink-tinged daylight juxtaposed by its dazzling nightlife unearthed unknown color hues in my brain. When it cAME to stimulating my creative juices, Paris delivered!
But as this creative soul walked the streets of Paris during fashion week amid the sensory overload purposefully constructed by some of the world’s most inspiring artists and designers, I met a different Paris. An unexpected Paris. A Paris that taught me to slow down, observe, reflect, and be inspired by the creative power of simplicity all around us, each day.
That’s what I brought home with me from Paris to share with you. I’m so excited to keep creating for you and keep curating style with you. I was inspired to create this little video that morphs a bit of Parisian joie de vivre with our glamorous Windowwall Salon style.
XO, Kim