Dior, Paris, champagne & macarons – need I say more?

Attending a show at Paris Fashion Week is every fashion lover’s dream, so I was beside myself with excitement a couple of weeks ago when I received an email out of the blue inviting me to the SS15 Dior show. It wasdoubly exciting because we would already be in Europe for Expopharm and the Berlin marathon (clearly not with me and my crutches as a participant) so I could attend quite easily. It was triply exciting because the show was on my birthday! Stuart didn’t feel that ducking to Paris for a whirlwind trip 48-hours pre-marathon was ideal preparation for him, so my lovely friend Paul (who just designed the new Epic pharmacy uniforms) got the call to join me. From the moment I arrived at the hotel in Paris — the amazing freshly refurbished Plaza Athenee — the whole experience was completely surreal. The door of my room opened to reveal the scent of a stunning bouquet of white flowers from Dior, an incredible view of the Eiffel Tower, with champagne and Ladurée macarons on the table. After I pinched myself to check it was actually real, I Facetimed Stuart and the kids to share the experience with them. I’m sure they were thrilled to be able to watch me sip champagne while eating macarons!

I woke the next morning to an absolutely stunning day, blue sky and not a cloud to be seen. The shops called, so my crutches and I stomped up and down Rue Montaigne enjoying the array of mad outfits that Fashion Week brings out,  dodging street style bloggers and their entourages before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the show. I was more determined ever since I got the invitation that, while I was resigned to having to wear flats, there was no way I was going to Dior on crutches, and happily, my ankle cooperated  (we won’t be talking about how it felt the next day though).

Paul and I were beside ourselves with excitement as we arrived at the Louvre, where we discovered that the show was actually taking place in a marquee erected specifically for the purpose, with the entire front façade constructed in mirror tiles to give the impression that it was an additional wing of the Louvre building. There was a huge crush of photographers taking pics of Olivia Palermo as she arrived, and we had a huge amount of fun spotting the various fashion identities. I’m very happy to report that we got snapped by street style photographers ourselves, but despite my best efforts I haven’t been able to locate the pics anywhere online. My darling children suggested I try Vogue Senior. Once we got inside, the transition from old to new was extreme. We had left the cobblestones and golden stone of the exterior to enter a fiercely modern black and white interior, with four circular sets for the models to walk though. As we had been told to expect, the show started late (45 minutess after the specified time) but people and outfit watching filled that beautifully. All of our what to wear nerves went out the window once we spied the first person in ripped denim and dirty Vans (and sadly, I say first because there were plenty of them) but I’m happy to report there were plenty of amazing, ultra-stylish outfits and no shortage of fashion page spottings. We saw Anna del Russo, Anna Wintour (without her trademark sunglasses even), familiar faces from both The Vogue Fund and Scatter My Ashes (Linda Fargo looking as stylish as ever) plus a host of people we were sure we recognised but couldn’t put a name too (Google Glass facial recognition would have been perfect if  only it hadn’t been banned and I had Glass with me). The lights went up (to blinding white, which had all the fashion editors scurrying to get their sunglasses out of their bags) and the spectacle started. There wasn’t the electric colour that had been a key feature of the last few Raf collections, but there was plenty to love, with lots of stunning embroidery and fresh white pieces.

Some of my favorites here:

All too soon it was over, and while we took our time exiting (unlike Anna Wintour who literally sprinted for the door before it was even open) it was time to exit back into the real world. But no sooner were we back in the courtyard casting one last admiring glance at the incredible mirrored structure (and maybe snapping a few selfies) when the lovely Dior team from New York approached and whisked us off to their after party in another area of the Louvre, where we sipped champagne and ate raspberries and macarons. Definitely a birthday to remember!