Still in Paris

Today was particularly splendid, crisp and clear with powdery snow on the ground.


This morning we visited Legeron the last remaining independent maker of artificial flowers for the Haute Couture trade. I think this will have been the the highlight of the trip, it was worth coming just for this. I do hope my snaps of the machinery and implements of the trade, and the well worn premises, are good enough to see. It was a journey back into history. The last technical innovation the firm adopted was a press to replace the mallet previously used used to hammer the dies used to cut out the silk petals. That was back in the 20s. Of course it only survives now because it can command high prices from the very top end of the fashion industry to cover the cost of the painstaking hand processes used to create these delicate masterpieces. I felt compelled to do my bit to support this last remnant of an almost lost art by buying a couple of examples. I bought a small bunch of violets, in memory of my Dad's habit of buying bunches of violets for Mum in the season, and a strange anemone like creation, because we had seen the Heath Robinson mechanism used to create the elements of the piece.


In the afternoon we visited an exhibition of clothes by Vionnet - beautiful, clever clothes that show that Miyake was not quite as original as he looked at first glance.
An interesting feature of the exhibition was the photographs of the original models. Quite plump by present standards, they lived in an era when models were chosen to resemble the women rich enough to buy the clothes. I wonder if that will come back?