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A light hearted reflection of our day as high society ladies.
Last Saturday was all about the catchphrases for my friend Joanne and I. Catchphrase number 1 ‘dress to impress’, catchphrase number 2 ‘it’s all about the confiance’.
Following our two mantras we dressed ourselves up in our Sunday finest - for myself, a little black dress, leopard print Louboutin’s and matching scarf and a Whistles hat - and off we went to enjoy our journée parfaite à Paris!
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| Outside La Duree |
We started our ‘journée de rêve’ in La Durée with a café crème and a croissant for me, a hot chocolate and some macaroons for my friend. We left in high spirits, but somewhat disappointed, the waitress was not up to the standards we’d have expected for such a high end establishment and we decided that this famous Parisian eaterie has become a victim of its own success as hordes of Japanese tourists flooded the tiny inside space, taking photos of anything and everything they could.
With our stomachs lined we started the walk along the shops in the area of Rue Saint Honoré, our first stop naturally being a French stalwart fashion brand, Christian Dior. As we kept saying to ourselves ‘it’s all about the confidence’ à la Samantha Brick (the running joke of the day), we strutted inside and were immediately pounced upon by a demure shop assistant encouraging us to try on the spoils. Never one to pass up on an opportunity, we were shown to the most luxurious fitting room we had ever seen - in fact it was not one room but two complete with numerous mirrors, flattering lighting and an expensive looking couch (which we had much fun messing about on with our camera when the shop assistant’s back was turned). We’d told her I was looking for an outfit for a wedding and she came back with some gorgeous heels and a silk dress which I tried on and fell in love with. At an eye watering 4000 euros for the two items we told her that we wanted to explore more of the Parisian shops before making a decision and hastily and carefully put the clothes back before we had a chance to spoil them.
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| The stunning silk Dior dress and tan Dior platforms |
Moving on, we headed to Longchamp to purchase a handbag and had a little mooch in Miu Miu, Chanel and Maje before heading to our number one, highly anticipated destination…Christian Louboutin. Unlike my previous visit where I pretty much waltzed in, had the shop to myself and tried on half the shoes before purchasing, this time we had to queue for an annoyingly long twenty minutes before we were allowed to enter. Nervous with excitement my friend (with a little persuasion from myself) decided it was time to ‘pop her cherry’ and chose the most stunning pair of Nude Pigalle’s as her first ever Louboutin purchase. Off we trotted, her elated with her purchase, me a little jealous that I wasn’t able to buy a pair for myself (but it always gives me a good excuse for a return visit).
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| The tastiest Champagne and apple cocktail at the Ritz |
Having spent a good few hours walking in heels by this time (and having ruined a pair of Louboutin’s by scraping all the red off the sole walking around Paris) we sneakily stopped in a shop doorway and changed into flats to start our descent to Place Vendome with one thing on our mind…champagne to celebrate the Louboutin purchase. Just before we stepped into the famous square we quickly changed back into our heels and strutted across to the Ritz, with such pizazz that even Victoria Beckham would have been envious of us, and were welcomed into the Ritz accordingly.
We enjoyed the jealous looks of our waitress as my friend examined her Louboutin shoes just as much as we enjoyed our Champagne cocktail and nibbles and spent the next hour pondering how we might afford to live such a lifestyle day in day out. Unfortunately neither my friend nor I were blessed with the goddess like looks of Samantha Brick and despite secretly hoping we’d receive a bottle of Dom Perignon sent to the table by some handsome George Clooney lookalike we had to accept that our time living the high life was drawing to an end. We settled the bill ourselves and left, looking back longingly over our shoulders at the day we had left behind.
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| My talented friend Jo, translator and writer. |
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| Enjoying my time as a high society lady! |
Back to reality and we hopped on the metro over to the Rush bar where we met the Liverpool French Branch supporters club, ordered a Corona and a JD and coke and cheered on our team in the good old northern way we are accustomed to. Just as much fun, apart from another draw from the mediocre Liverpool side that seems to be ruining many an afternoon for Liverpool fans worldwide at the moment.
We finished the day with a pizza and, feeling exhausted, headed back to my friend’s apartment to watch a film. Unfortunately, upon arrival I realised that I had left my iPhone in the Pizza restaurant but the nice and honest French waiter had put it behind the bar for me so we trekked back across the city to pick it up. It may have been 11.00 at night but we finally decided we had had our Samantha Brick moment (obviously we were so good looking the waiter decided he could not possibly steal the phone from us)….well maybe not!
The day may be over but the memories will live with us until the next time we decide to live the high life! Vive la vie!
