Author: Diana

jeanne damas sunglasses

Jeanne Damas Sunglasses: 21 Perfect Pairs

Published by Diana

Jeanne Damas sunglasses! There’s no easier way to French style than finding your own best take on the uber-influencer’s lunettes. If you haven’t bought her book — In Paris: 20 Women on Life in the City of Light — it belongs on the same francophilic bookshelf as How to Be Parisian Wherever You Are. If you are looking for near-daily photos from what seems like an perpetually stylish vacation in the South of France, you will absolutely want to follow her on Instagram. And if you are interested in taking a look at her style — a primer on how to do that Frenchy-styley thing — you are bienvenue. You might want to begin with a wider look at her style — cropped sweaters! wide-legged denim! straw bags! — here. You may be most interested in her shoes (these are my 19 favorites), which seem to alternate between espadrilles (I mentioned the neverending vacations???), designer heels, and one pair of go-to booties. Or! You may be most interested in her wide array of sunglasses, in which …

If You’ve Been Sad About the State of the World/Country/Etc., The DNC Roll Call Is the Medicine You Need

Published by Diana

The DNC roll call is wonderful. We are in for it, these next 76 days: If it’s not the pandemic or the murder hornets or the fire-nadoes or the sharks or the miserable inability of approximately 43% of this country to channel any sort of empathy or the spotted lanternflies or the assault on our arctic refuges or the assault on our post offices or the actual assaults on actual people by other people, sworn to protect them — well, if it’s not any of that, it’ll be something else. Myriad other disasters surely await us, in the double-overtime run-up to what could very well be lights-out, in many ways that matter, for this young nation of ours. It is a bitter pill to swallow, all that, but there is a remedy, and it is the DNC Roll Call. It is wonderfully homemade. It is the hand-sewn quilt that emerges after decades of Pottery Barn chenille throws. It is your grandmother’s favorite soup after years of Olive Garden minestrone. Mics are visible in essentially all of the …

The Best Luxury Paris Apartments

Published by Diana

There are plenty to choose from — but these are in my humble opinion the best luxury Paris apartments. And their chandeliers. And gilded mirrors. And parquet floors. And more. One good thing about Paris is that thanks to stringent rent controls, it’s not impossible to find an apartment there for under $1000 a month. Will it have an elevator? Oh mais non. Will it be bigger than a bed? Only maybe. Will you need to use a communal bathroom in the hallway? Probably not, but I’ve seen it. Of course, on the absolute other side of this equation: No one knows how to do grand apartment interiors quite like them. Here, a selection of the best Paris luxury apartments and their interiors — some, but not all, owned by a billionaire. Of all them, the thing I want most is Morgane Sézalory’s tan leather couch: Mon dieu! Et so on. For more — and more accessible, and no less creative — Paris apartment interiors, see this piece on the 19 Things I Learned About …

How to Move to France

Published by Diana

If you’ve ever dreamed of moving to France, I want you to know: You can do it. It’s the question I get most often (uh, besides whether or not French guys cheat): How did you move to France?  There are a million ways to do it, but I only know mine — and it’s worth talking about, because it’s the easiest (in some ways). When I first went to Paris, I only expected to go for six weeks. Then I fell in love with my Airbnb host. (LOL, but true.) Going back to New York was no longer an option. But as an American, I couldn’t stay in the Schengen Zone for more than 90 days out of any 180. Unless.  In my case, I needed a visa: a long-term visitor’s visa. For this, you need a bunch of stuff — but really only two things: – You need to swear you won’t work in France. What you do outside of France, they don’t care about. My professional life is conducted entirely in the U.S. I have a French bank account, …

does sezane do sales

“Does Sezane Do Sales”, You Were Wondering

Published by Diana

Does Sezane do sales? Short answer: Yes, sort of. They’re called the “Archives.” Here’s the long answer. Most French labels do go on sale — at least twice a year, every January and July, during the national period of les soldes, a fixed period of several weeks set by the government. Sales everywhere — up to 70 percent off. So what’s up at Sézane? Sézane’s approach is much more limited. A few times a year — a quick look through my email from last year shows Archives events in January, July, and Christmas — Sézane offers a very small amount of previous-season stock and late returns for a limited-duration sale, with 10% of the proceeds donated to support philanthropic organizations. My experience is that these “sales” aren’t like traditional sales — these really do seem to be the blooper equivalent of a regular sale, with the odd pieces here and there. If when I say “sale” you think of a constant “9 thongs for $7” situation at Aerie, you’ve got the wrong company in mind. And you …

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Flixbus USA: Guess What, It’s Terrible (But Here’s Why I’ll Keep Using It)

Published by Diana

Here’s my Flixbus USA review: It’s terrible. But: It’s cheap! I love public transportation. Every large community, in every state in the U.S., should have inexpensive, fast, and reliable public transport. I am an adult person, who knows how to drive a car, but who has however never owned a car, because I’ve been lucky enough to live in cities that don’t require them: New York, London, Paris. I want to live in cities where people work together to make something better as a community than they could on their own. The New York City subway, the London Tube, and the Parisian métro are, for all their problems and delays, absolute wonders. But what to do when you’re traveling outside of them? Give me a choice and I’ll always take the train, but in some parts of the world, this just isn’t an option — for example, part of central and eastern Europe, and Los Angeles. Last summer, when I was traveling from Venice to Zagreb, I ended up on a Flixbus between Trieste, Italy, …

Wondering How To Get Sézane Cheap?

Published by Diana

Sézane is my go-to French clothier for going-out clothes. Their denim lacks the requisite amount of American stretch (it’s for the Tostito’s), and their athleisure line reminds me of an American bakery trying to recreate a croissant, but their going-out tops are wonderful, their sweaters are a-ight, and their cropped T-shirts fit me (and other shortish people) better than, say, J. Crew, which refuses to make T-shirts in any length other than “to my knees.” I love me some Sézane, especially when it’s Sezane cheap. About that: Sézane’s not expensive, but it’s not cheap, either. Clothing is generally much more expensive in France than the U.S., which is in line with cultural ideas about how long a new purchase should last, both from a material-durability perspective and trend-wise as well: They, generally speaking, expect clothes to stick around longer than we do. That in part accounts for why everything is so much more expensive; higher operating costs account for much of the rest of it. More to the point: Sézane doesn’t do sales, a fact …

The First Trip: A Four Day Paris Itinerary

Published by Diana

Bienvenue à Paris!(!!!). This is your four-day Paris itinerary, de luxe. Paris is one of the world’s best destinations. It is also one of its busiest, and while definitely not one of its biggest, it can be the most overwhelming. Like, it’s Paris!! How can you possibly decide what to see and what not to see? If you want to just skip to the recs for our four-day Paris itinerary, go here: Day 1: Arrival + Louvre + crepes + more Day 2: Batobus + Eiffel Tower + Le Perchoir + more Day 3: Versailles (or Giverny) + BigLove + more Day 4: Vanves + Montmartre + more And let’s make reservations at: Breizh (not necessarily except for peak times), Septime (100% necessary), BigLove (do it) and Boite aux Lettres (probably not necessary mais pourquoi pas?) The first time I came to Paris, I came for three days, the second time for two days (both because I was living in London, not because I owned a private jet and could travel hither-thither as I liked.) …

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Jeanne Damas: Her 19 Best-Ever Pairs of Shoes

Published by Diana

French model/designer Jeanne Damas wears some pretty terrific shoes. These 19 are our favorites. If you’re not familiar with her, this & Other Stories video should provide a very strange introduction, and excellent practice for wandering through a fancy mall store and saying “J’aime ça” over and over.