Week 2: Cimitière du Montparnasse

Coat - Zara

Well, here we are. Beginning of a New Year and it has suddenly become winter. Normally there are two ways in which a person might react to the first snowfall: either they will suddenly acquire an excitable small-child mentality which prompts them to run about in sub-zero temperatures and throw frozen water at those around them, or they will develop distinctly feline characteristics and curl up into a ball under a blanket to watch the snow falling at a safe distance while eating warming food and making contented noises.  I did neither of these things. I got dressed up to the nines and hauled myself and delightful boyfriend down to Montparnasse.

NOT MY PHOTO - djibnet.com

Gloves - Accessorize (as before)

Montparnasse is down near the bottom of Paris in the 14^th arrondissement. Originally a rural area, it was absorbed into the main city in 1669 and used as a sort of rubbish dump, where all manner of rubble and stones from the quarries would be distributed. Students used to go there to drink and would jokingly refer to it as "Mont Parnasse" (Mount Parnassus – home of the muses: music, poetry and learning. Don't get too impressed, I definitely had to look that up!) A rather fitting title really since, at the beginning of the 20^th century, it  was one of the artistic and intellectual hubs of the city. You could barely move in Montparnasse without tripping over an artist/poet/actor/writer/singer. And they were all stony broke. Because of this cafes would take paintings as insurance if you couldn’t pay and boarding houses didn’t chuck you out if you didn’t have the rent. Can't say that's still the case, more's the pity!

NOT MY PHOTO - wikipedia.com

After WW1 this all disappeared, but you can still find many of the world's creative elite buried in the Cemetery there (Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Baudelaire, Soutine, Man Ray, Maupassant – the list continues!) and that was where we did this week's shoot. While doing some research on the cemetery itself I discovered that it is normally described as being surprisingly green (there are over 1200 trees there you know!)  and a “haven of peace”. Unfortunately, even if there were a million trees the whole place would have been white and, on this particular Sunday, the cemetery was so peaceful...it was closed.  That’s right, whoever is in charge was obviously off making snow angels with a four year old or purring by a fire because there was a large sign on the gates stating that for my “safety” the cemetery was closed until further notice. Super. Anyway, we decided to make the most of the gorgeous snowy landscape and when the cemetery is open again (and I have time) I promise to go back and take my own pictures of it.

NOT MY PHOTO - L'express.fr

Belt - New Look

Holy Moley was it COLD. If I thought last week was bad I had another thing coming- this week’s me laughed bitterly in the face of last-week-me’s whining. Not a single person who passed me could manage to suppress a giggle when they caught sight of my thoroughly impractical hat, heeled boots, and forlorn visage. And when delightful boyfriend suggested I take off the coat so the shirt could be seen better? I nearly spat at him. Still, he was a highly competent photographer (if not quite as scary as joy of a roommate) and managed to get some decent photos despite my hopping from foot to foot like a demented sparrow.

Boots - New Look
(Would not treat real Acne Pistol boots like this!)

Skirt - Modatoi
Leather is one of my favourite fabrics and still a big thing – Just look at the Spring/Summer ’13 collections for Derek Lam, Balmain, Gareth Pugh, Carven – the list goes on. 

For this week’s outfit, I went back to black. I know, I know, not massively  original- wearing black in a cemetery – but it was in nice contrast to the colourful outfit last week and looked amazingly dramatic with the red touches against the snow. ALSO, it is very important that I make this clear; Paris may be one of the world’s fashion capitals but there is still a uniform, and that uniform is BLACK. In the words of  Marpessa Hennink, (80s supermodel,  friend of Carla Bruni and long-time muse to Dolce and Gabbana) “À Paris, tout le monde s’habille en noir.” (“in Paris, everyone wears black”).  You walk along the Champs Elysees and you cannot move for thin, beautiful women wearing black. Or grey. Occasionally navy blue, but nine times out of ten it will be black.

All jewellery is my own 

However, being  the incorrigible  Brit that I am, I couldn’t bear to leave it looking so chic and...French, so I went a bit crazy with the jewellery in an attempt to get a sort of “eccentric 50s widow” look. As for the hat... well, I could argue that by the 1950s Montparnasse’s heyday was over and thus I (in my 50s hat) am mourning the loss of all the colour and sparkle that the district had in the 20s buuuutttt.... I am not that much of a ponce and it’s really more that the vintage pillbox is a reasonably new purchase and I love it.

Hat - Vintage 1950s, ASOS Marketplace

At the point of publishing this, I'm sorry to say that the snow has more or less all gone. Sorry Parisiens, that was your lot: two days of real winter. Still, for those two days the city was a place of total joy, sparkle and artistic genius (you should have seen some of the snowmen) akin to the brief beauty of Montparnasse in the 20s… is that too much? Yeh, too much – see you for a less poncey shoot next week!