Wardrobe Inspiration & Blog Award

Posted on April 26th, 2010 in Fashion, Gourmandise

Paris really is a very colorful city. Ironically, Parisian’s favorite color seems to be black when it comes to their wardrobes. As a colorful girl from California, I tend to stick out from the rest of the crowd daring to wear not just one color but even two at a time! *Gasp! Quelle horreur* I am so inspired by all the beautiful colors, including that delicious Ladurée green. Just the sight of it makes my mind wander with thoughts of sinking my jaws into some delicate and delicious little pastries. I get a lot of emails and from readers saying how much you love the Ladurée posts, so don’t worry there is plenty to go around. Today Ladurée green is my wardrobe inspiration. What’s better than mixing my two favorite passions? Gourmandises and fashion!

Christie’s Crown Collection hat ~ H&M satin dress ~ Forever 21 faux fur jacket ~ Louis Vuitton bag and slippers

If I look a bit too happy in these pictures it’s because I took them in the morning on my way out the door to work. I was trying extra hard to look awake as I am not a morning person…hehe. Now! To some other very important things. Many thanks to the amazing fashion blog Harlequin’s Party and the incredibly sweet lifestyle blog Diamonds and Tulle for the darling blog awards they bestowed upon me. I am truly honored! Thus I have decided to pass on the torch and introduce my very own Your Blog is as Beautiful as Bardot blog award. It’s so hard to choose as I have so many favorites! Drum roll please! In no particular order this month’s award goes to…

Fashion Clocked ~ Look out world, from DIY Miu Miu platforms to Top Shop genius this fellow blonde blogger amazes!

Pink Bow ~ One of my favorite bloggers who’s photography makes the simple things in life look effortlessly extraordinary.

Frou Frou Fashionista ~ Owner of the world’s most fabulous lingerie boutique, she never fails to fuel my lingerie addiction!

Janetteria ~ From who I won an adorable giveaway! She keeps her finger firmly on the fashion beat for me!

French Kissed ~My mentor extraordinaire who’s style will always be at the top of my list.

Window Shopper

Posted on April 19th, 2010 in Boutique, Fashion, Shopping

My forward to this post is a warning for what you are about to see. My intention is not to torture with eye candy of luxury goods, rather just to give you some insight on the perks of living in Paris. Luckily, I know most of you are too far away from Paris to come here and do some serious shopping damage, and for those of you who would after reading this post then this volcanic cloud wreaking havoc on flight schedules will have to keep you away. One of my favorite things about day to day life here is the copious amounts of ever changing window displays lining the street with vitrines filled to the brim displaying luxury, sparkle, and beauty. Fortunately, my duties between school, work, and blogging keep me and my credit cards locked up safe inside during regular store hours. While occasionally I let these enticements draw me in, I love that I can “shop” my favorite stores from the street without ever stepping foot inside. When French-Kissed is here I know she loves to take night time walks and just enjoy store windows after hours, and I often do the same. Perfectly staged already they make for great photographs. Right now I am loving the array of amazing shoes, bright colors, and glittery costume jewels I pass by and admire. Here are some of my favorite shots I have taken lately of the many goods I would love to get my hands on! Press play for some tunes during your window shopping…

I know I have shared my Miu Miu shoe obsession with you all several times. I can never get enough of these!

Sometimes I wish I could just reach through the glass and pluck out everything I wanted.

I also love all the Miu Miu prints this season. I think they were inspired by vintage 70’s Cacharel.

This was a bank holiday, so the store was closed when I walked by…thank goodness!

How do you feel about the clog trend this season? I love these ones…

With so much competition, Parisian stores are always coming up with exciting and whimsical window displays to stand out.

Louis Vuitton never disappoints. Right now the windows of the Champs Elysees store are filled with Vuitton balloons.

Not sure about these ones for wearing out but they sure are fun to look at. Wonder what inspired Marc Jacobs when he was designing these?

I love love love this Louis duffel bag and the bird cages Vuitton is using in their displays.

Manoush always does a great job as well. Here you can see their Spring Summer safari windows next to last season’s polar themed windows.

I am loving all things Sonia Rykiel this season. The retro color palette and all the jewels are totally chic, as their mannequin in the window announces.

She always makes amazing fashion forward glasses. Unfortunately they cost quite a bit more than the average designer pair as they come bejeweled and pearled.

And her shoes are equally as fabulous…

More vintage jewelry and fauna influences.

I would love to have either one of these platforms! They look cute and comfortable and the lips are so fun!

Watering at the mouth? Reaching for your credit card? Crying out in desire? Well if you have the urge to shop now would be a good time to tell you that the Bardot Boutique is finally launched! There is a good inventory to get started in there and new items will be arriving every week. In my Etsy at the moment there is hand crafted jewelry and carefully selected vintage items (home items arriving soon!) all coming from Paris and ready to travel to a new home anywhere in the world at the click of the buy it button! Be sure to stop by and check it out!

Shop the Bardot Boutique

Le Déjeuner des Canotiers

Posted on April 14th, 2010 in Fashion, Paris

It seems like trends always come back around, it’s just a matter of time. The straw boater hat as it is called in English is one of my favorite trends from the past right now. This shallow style straw hat was first in fashion in the late 19th century for young ladies making a subtle statement of independence through incorporating more masculine elements into their outfits. Last summer Marc Jacobs revived the boater hat in his collection and since then I have been spotting this typically french hat on the most stylish of ladies. Click play to enjoy some “Moi Je Joue” by none other than B.B.!

Auguste Renoir often depicted this classic hat on ladies and gentlemen alike in his lively scenes of French cafe culture. In French the straw boater is called a canotier.

Here is one of Renoir’s most famous paintings Le Déjeuner des Canotiers, or the lunch of canotiers. I knew this painting well but in fact never knew the title until my french beau enlightened me last weekend.

I bought my canotier at Les Canotiers Du Marais on my street in the Marais. I wore it out for the first time this weekend to lunch with at Le Café Marly at the Louvre.

On our way there we walked through the Tuileries to enjoy the sun.

Le Café Marly is located in the arcades of the Louvre overlooking the entrance to the museum at the glass pyramid.

From your table you can watch the many tourists and admire the ornate facades of the former palace.

Here I am relaxing and enjoying my déjeuner des canotiers.

The grass in the Tuileries is green, the flowers are planted and blooming, and all the trees have their leaves again. When paris parks come back alive after the winter it completely changes the energy of the city.

People compete to grab the famous green lawn chairs supplied by the city to sit around the lakes and enjoy some people watching.  When I came to France I was completely amazed by the quality of the parks. Here the park is a pristine space always cleaned and well tended to where people off all types mingle, where everyone respects the shared beauty.

The dusty ground of the Tuileries has become infamous to me from street fashion photography like The Sartorialist, Garance Doré, and many others that frequently snap fashion’s elite crossing the park here after fashion week shows.

Hat – Les Canotiers du Marais / Sunglasses – Chloé / Jacket – vintage Pendleton / Dress – Louis Vuitton / Tights – American Apparel /Booties – Chie Mahara / Purse – Miu Miu

I created a new section of the blog I wanted to lastly share with you in this post here! There are so many books, films, and more that inspire me but I don’t always have space to talk about them in my posts. So I created Bardot’s Library where you can all browse and shop my suggestions! As always there are new images in the Inspiration Gallery. Be sure to stop by and have a browse in both of them.

P.S. Make sure to follow Bardot in Blue on BlogLovin’!

Les Oiseaux et Louis Vuitton

Posted on March 31st, 2010 in Decor, Fashion

I know birds are a big trend right now in both fashion and decor, but when I passed the window displays at various Louis Vuitton throughout France recently, I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe my new lamp inspired them. Click play to enjoy the famous Bird’s Lament by Moondog…

I considered purchasing this lamp for quite some time before I gave in. I thought to myself…how often do I come across a lamp of all things that I really adore? Not to mention I saw it every time I left my place as it hung in the window of the store on the ground floor of my building.

The colors of the bags and the sunglasses they feature amongst the birds and cages have the same bright colors of tropical birds. I just adore the duffle on the left.

This hook on my ceiling had been naked since I moved in…it was just begging for something cute to go there. And yes…there is a big blurry spot in the middle of this picture because I photoshopped out the ugly plug I haven’t yet figured out how to take care of!

Good thing these adorable sandals are locked up in a cage or I would have snatched them.

Throughout the lamp, mixed with the bigger birds there are cute little tiny ones perched in clusters that look as if they are chatting to one another.

Perfect design for illuminating such fabulous goods.

I only hope my next apartment will have such beautiful ceilings to go with my lamp.

This picture was at the little petit Louis Vuitton in Saint Tropez.

I noticed some other bloggers mention this lamp so I wanted to share my take on it as well as all the bird inspired displays at Louis Vuitton. I have been so busy these past two weeks it has been hard to get all the photos for the blog here that I would like but I am still trying to keep up with my reader’s appetites! I want to give a special thank you to Charmaine at Beautiful Things to Share for featuring some of my photos with a kind shout out to me! I was so honored and flattered to be mentioned by her stunningly beautiful blog. As usual thank you to all those who stop by and especially those that comment! I live for your comments, they are food to my soul and to hear everyone’s kind words is so encouraging…especially for a young blog like my Bardot in Blue here! A bientot!