Where to shop in Paris?

The French tourist authorities suggest that where you go to shop depends somewhat on the type of fashion victim you are.  If you acknowledge that you’re a fashion victim and need help in determining what type of victim you are:

 –  Answer five questions on their website in regard to your art, desert, music and film preferences and your next interior decor acquisition
–  Depending on your responses, you will be sorted into five categories of shoppers from Classique to Trendy, Creative, Bohemian-chic or Fushionfashionworld.
–  Once your style has been determined, there are five shopping itineraries to suit.

Everything seems to be measured by fives!

–  If your style is Classique, you’re looking for classics. You like French luxury and elegance. For you, quality is more important than quantity and fashion is timeless. Catherine Deneuve, Audrey Hepburn and Coco Chanel fall under this category.
–  For the trendies – you’re at the cutting edge of all the latest trends. You keep up to date by buying all the magazines. Your wardrobe changes every season because, for you, it is important to be fashionable. You’re looking at Carrie Bradshaw (Sex and the City) in this category.
–  Creative types like to hunt out new talent and look for clothes by underground designers.  Your friends look to you for advice on what will be in next year’s collections.
–  The Boho-Chics take care of their appearance and dress well, but are not obsessed about having the latest fashion look. This style is a mix of timeless basics and designer pieces.
–  Finally, the Fushionfashionworld types are globetrotters.  The globetrotter’s style is inspired by their numerous trips abroad. Whether it be Asia, Africa, Scandinavia they love ethnic mixes and fair trade. Stars in this category are indicated to include the Dalai Lama and Karen Blixen, although I can see any influence of the Dalai Lama’s global travels on the traditional buddhist monk’s gear that he wears.

I think that unless you are a ‘Carrie Bradshaw’ type, most of us are a mixture of the different styles, depending on the time of day and occasion. For example, I could be a Boho-Chic on Sunday afternoon, a Trendy on Saturday night and a Classique for that important executive meeting.  This then makes it difficult to decide which of the five itineraries to follow as they do take you to different categories of shops.  Also, one may be disappointed by following the Classique trail if you don’t have the Euros to match as shops suggested for this itinerary include the likes of Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, Givenchy, Bulgari, etc.  It also depends on how much time you have to do the various itineraries.

There are some 17,000 shops that you could possibly browse through so if your time is limited then careful planning is required.  I have my thoughts on how I would cover the maximum grounds possible in a set time, but would love to hear from anyone who’s at the sales or has been to the sales and have taken advice from the Shopping Stations. Did you get a copy of the Shopping Book?  Did you follow one of the recommended itineraries and most importantly, was your shopping trip a success?

Again, the amount of work put together by the French tourism groups is impressive.  More later …

Helen
Soldes by Paris – Paris Sales
Les Grands Magasins – Paris
Paris Shopping Guide