Paris, day 2

Day 2

The second day was probably the most mindblowing day (not necessarily my favorite day, but the craziest).

Pam Wiley is truly the greatest professor there is. She took us (fibers girls) on Thursday morning to Li Edelkoort’s… I don’t know what to call it… main office? We were there for nearly 3 hours.

I didn’t know who she was at first, but I quickly learned that she is pretty much THE trend forecaster. Meaning, if you are seeing the same colors in stores during a certain season and your find yourself wanting a mustard yellow or a navy blue cardigan, that SHE is the woman that has put that desire for that color and style in your head.

And don’t think she just does clothing. She does it all. Working with companies from Coke to Nissan. Yes… the drink AND the car. Also working with designers and perfume companies. She’s all over the map!

Whether you believe it or not, all of the different brands and designers talk to this woman, ask for her help, receive her design advice, etc. and put their own twist on it. But ultimately, she decides what colors will be popular, and when. She forecasts two years in advance, so now I know the super top secret information of what will be worn in summer 2011.

It was while there that I realized that I am truly experiencing things here that I will never ever have the chance to do any other time. I couldn’t believe it was happening. It was bizarre to recognize in that moment that that was TRULY a once in a lifetime opportunity. I will probably never be in a place like that again. It was awesome.

AFter our time at Li Edelkoort, we had to hop back on the Metro to go to Prelle textiles, which are the people that made the wall coverings for Marie-Antoinette. But on our way, we saw a real French strike!!!

We FINALLY made it to Prelle, which was really cool but I can’t post my photos of their fabrics from there because they are copywritten and we were asked not to. If we are friends and you want to see, ask me and I will show you.

But here are some that show no designs:

It was cool also to see the Marie-Antoinette fabrics that Prelle has redone (they made the originals back in the day for her, and what we saw were exact replicas, but they are all Prelle’s designs) and then we saw the originals when we went to Versailles a few days later.

After Prelle we went to a cute fibers store- La Droguerie:

where you couldn’t photograph inside, but I bought my first Liberty of London fabrics there! So did Kara!

Then Kara and I then left the group, went shopping for her birthday dress (which she found 2 at H&M) and we had Starbucks, saw the Notre Dame, Hôtel de Ville, the Shakespeare & Co. (which is awesome), and then went and rested at the hotel for a little bit.

Oh, and I also saw the restaurant that I totally robbed the last time I was in Paris. (2 years ago, and I “dined and ditched” them, 2 euros short! Because I didn’t have it. I promise.)

While at Home Latin, we met up with Caitlin, MEgan, Melissa, and Sarah and the 6 of us headed to the Eiffel Tower together. I think it looks kind of kitschy at night, but we had fun anyway-

We were also getting annoyed by all the people trying to pick pocket us, and sell us the crappy mini, light up Eiffel towers…. it was weird. I was being really funny to all these weird people. I’ve seen it before and decided I liked it much better in the day. At night it just seemed like a gimmick.

Day 2. Complete.