Friday, June 5, 2015

Insider's Paris Fashion Guide: What to Wear Essentials

She thought it was amusing at first. No matter where she went they spoke to her in English.

A Parisian waiter can feel a tourist before he sees one.

But at the supermarket, the Brasserie, the Tabac it was always the same.

They said 'Bonjour' to everyone and without even hearing her speak she always got the 'Hello'.

How did they know? It soon became an obsession.

She tried a new hair style, less make up, more make up, different shoes.

She even tried to walk slower while pretending not to care.

'Bonjour....bonjour...bonjour...oh, hello, what would you like?'

It was maddening.

Then after some time and strategic clothing changes she decided to test her 'ensemble nouveau' on the French-ist of French, hole-in-the-wall Bistrot she had coveted to go to for years.

The place was packed.

In slow motion she adjusts her scarf with one hand, takes her sunglasses off with the other while approaching the open door. The waiter passes and says,

"Attendez, j'arrive.."

He comes back and faces right up, 'Bonjour Madame'

'Bonjour Monsieur.'

Hearing her accent, '"Would you like a menu or are you here for drinks."

'For drinks, thank you and for this' she says and then leans in close and kisses him French style on both cheeks.




Thursday, June 4, 2015

The Bond Apocalypse And Why The French Only Pretend To Care

A Bond Collapse? What's that?

You mean 007 dies in his next film?

No, what they are talking about is the financial meltdowns of all financial meltdowns. In this scenario Greece is Lehman Brothers, China is AIG, and Europe and America is Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae with no where else to kick the can.

All that is left is for governments to seize trillions of dollars of pensions funds as bank runs flourish, ATM machines run dry and supermarket shelves go bare.

Marshal Law will be imposed as the public goes mental with the realization that starvation is just around the corner.

What follows is a great gnashing of teeth, locusts fall from the sky, dogs begin to like cats and Western Civilization is marred for eternity.

And in this article  Investors Start To Panic As A Global Bond Market Crash Begins they say the party in hell has already begun and is about to pick up steam. It quotes:

"Greece will not make a June 5 repayment to the International Monetary Fund (uh... that's like tomorrow) if there is no prospect of an aid-for-reforms deal with its international creditors soon, the spokesman for the ruling Syriza party’s lawmakers said on Wednesday."

Are you afraid?

I can tell you the French aren't in the least.

They pretend to be in the media. But as one who was here in 2008 when the Global Real Estate derivative bubble burst, the property market in France did what the French do exceedingly well. It took an extended lunch and then France went back to work in a big way.

It's as if after the 'crisis' the financial world flocked to Paris as a safe haven. In the graph below you can see the 'lunch break' of 2008-2009 and then after the capital migration to the Paris property market begins.

I witnessed it with my own eyes.


Why Paris? I am no Financial Analyst but I do know the French. 

From the core of their DNA the French feel whether it's ECB, The Federal Reserve, The Royal Family or the Emperors of Rome, you can call 'em what you want. 

No fancy pants bunch of money printers are gonna scare this culture into submission. 

The French have been there, done that, seen it all and got the t-shirt before fabric was invented. 

They have Paris property records that go back since the building of Notre Dame; around 800 years.

That's almost a millennia of Real Estate data! What other premier city in the world can boast that? The French are like, 'Your due diligence? Madam, Monsieur, mais oui, c'est par la!' 

And the French know their leaders see Place de la Concorde everyday as they go to work. The French Congress called the National Assembly is just a five minute stroll away. Place de la Concorde is where tens of thousands lost their heads during the Reign of Terror. 

Every public French official from the President on down knows that it is entirely possible for the people to freak out, grease up the guillotine and hold public Net Worth presentations: 'How To Subtract A Liability From An Asset'.

So, like I said. I am no analyst, this is just my take as an American in Paris.

To read about the  'Bond Apocalypse' click here.

All I'm saying is I am not scared. 

I say party's in Paris.

Just one question? You coming with... :D

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Mes Amis! Delete Everything Google Knows About You... Yep, Everything

http://yournewswire.com/how-to-delete-everything-that-google-knows-about-you/
English: Google Logo officially released on May 2010 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
If you are like me you've used a rotary phone, got up from the couch to change the TV channel, and may even have a collection of these black disks we used to play with called phonograph records.

So coming from that background the power of Google, Social Media, Content Marketing, Youtube, Skype etc.. is still for me everyday just completely mind blowing.

But what is even more mind blowing is that when it comes to Facebook, Twitter and the Internet in general the French just...just.. well, how can I put this?...

When it comes to connecting through Social Media or doing any type of Internet Marketing the French friends I have really just do not give a crêpe! lol...

I was at a cafe a few months ago with an architect friend of mind. He had just come back from a 5 million dollar project; a school building he designed that was almost completed.

He was talking passionately about all the problems he had to solve for the Grand Opening in a few days with all the press there and so forth. The discussion went something like this:

Me: Sounds awesome my man, but relax. Have a drink. I'll check out your photos on Facebook. 'Before and Afters' get a lotta 'likes'!

French Friend: A lotta Quoi? 

M: 'Likes'...

FF: Waht iz ze 'Likes'?

M: You don't have a Facebook page? No worries. I can check you out on your blog or website. Whatever.

FF: No, no, no,... I dun't need ze Facebouk, ze Blag, ze Twiteur, le site web...(holding up and pointing to his cell  phone) Everyzing I need iz par la!

Wow! Now that really floored me.

But then I thought about it and the French and Parisians especially are very privacy conscious.

The French find loud talkers on trains, restaurants and anywhere else for that matter, rude and disrespectful.

There are strict rules on noise. Clubs that play loud music have to have by law a volume limiter which keeps the sound under a specific decibel level.

They have laws about publishing photos and videos taken in public of people's faces.

And culturally the French have a distinction between a friend (ami) and an acquaintance (connaissance). So to have 500 friends on Facebook to the French just sounds like the most bizarre thing in the world.

So as a sign of respect for my Anti-SocialMedia, Web-Rebel, mes amis français and anyone else who may want to pack your profile and disappear one day this article in the link below is for you. :D

Delete Everything Google Knows About You? Yep...Everything

Sunday, May 24, 2015

The New Sneaker Space at Galeries Lafayette Haussmann



Geeper peepers have you seen those sneakers? A few thoughts...

  • Wow! What a refreshing down to earth departure for the upscale Galeries Lafayette to launch their new 'Sneaker Section' in such a lighthearted and informal way. Bravo! GLH 
  •  I don't know about 'all around the world' but Paris is certainly going through a loud color, neon, sneaker craze. I thought neon died with the early 80's but hey, what do I know :D
  • The plus size woman in the video is very interesting. 
  • There has been alot of uproar lately in the fashion world about anorexia, the pressure models are put under to look skinny and the possible causative relationship with the Paris runways and fashion culture in general. Is the plus size model purely a marketing move or is this a way to tell critics, 'Hey look. We're different!', or both? Hmnn...

Thursday, May 21, 2015

When Sport and Fashion Collide


Long before Andre Agassi caused a stir with his stone-washed denim shorts the clay courts at the French Open, was a sporting catwalk for fashion experimentation.

Is it a coincidence that the tennis stadium located in the chic western district of the French capital has always been a fashion hotspot? Good question.

You can be explore the link between fashion and tennis in an exhibit, called "Game, Set and Fashion" at the French Tennis Federation museum in Paris.

It has more than 60 pieces of clothing on display, some making their debut at the exhibit, along with photos, posters and a special focus on the fashion designers who made tennis a hotspot for style and fashion.