My Moment in High Fashion

This afternoon, I head out to visit the Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF) François Mitterand, the national library in Paris, a building along the Seine in the 13th arrondissement notorious for being ugly. It turns out, however, that the building I have always thought was the BnF is actually the Insitute Français de la Mode (IFM, French Institute of Fashion), which is a building along the Seine in the 13th arrondissement notorious for being ugly. Understandable error, perhaps. But they are ugly in drastically different ways:

UGLY BY DESIGN: Institute Français de la Mode

I admit: That last photo (taken from http://projets-architecte-urbanisme.fr/docks-en-seine-cite-mode-design-paris-rive-gauche/) looks almost attractive. Almost.

UGLY BY THE BOOK: Bilbliotheque nationale de France

(Photo of the Bibliotheque nationale de France François Mitterand taken from www.france-for-visitors.com ). Are they meant to respresent two half-open books? Book-ends? Just some tall modern-looking buildings?

At the IFM but still unaware I am at the wrong building, I follow people upstairs and see a sign for an exhibition. Artist? Illustrator? Something special put on by the library? And then I walk in to a room that is a) clearly not a library entrance and b) filled with racks of clothing, shelves of shoes, tables with laptops, and chic, high-heeled people, many of them Asian, milling about and looking like they belong. There is even a bar serving coffee and pastries. What isn't there is a price on anything or any obvious salespeople, so it becomes clear to me pretty quickly that I am an interloper.

I have inadvertantly wandered into a show for Lanvin, a fashion designer. I end up taking prohibited photos of Lanvin's first-ever winter line for children. Below, front left, is an approximately 1,000€ rain coat that you may be seeing next year in magazines and high-end children's clothing stores but not, actually, on my children. Like triple-cream brie on the dinner plate of a recent heart-attack victim, it's just too rich for my blood. 

The mini-dress dress on one of the several impossibly tall, thin, pale models wandering around, is about 3,800€. Though it isn't an evening gown, it does have some intricate detail; but still, your guess about price of the evening gowns below is as good as mine. Or, if you have any fashion sense and/or buy your clothes at expensive boutiques, your guess is much better than mine. If you know me, you know that I am not only a Gap-Banana Republic-J Crew kind of gal, I am a Gap-Banana Republic-J Crew-bought-secondhand-at-my-favorite-Goodwill kind of gal.

After I have surreptitiously taken as many photos as I feel like, I ask for help, sure that this will expose me. Sure enough, the woman is stunned that I am just a regular person who has wandered in off the street. This is a strictly invite-only event for premier wholesale buyers. She asks slightly incredulously, "You just came in off the street?"

"Why, yes. I thought this was the library."

"You saw the Lanvin sign?"


"Well, I was just following other people in."

"But you know of Lanvin?"

I lied, of course. Wouldn't you? "Yes, of course. I love Lanvin. Very beautiful." I could have been talking about plumbing flanges for all I know.

Since I am mostly honest about how I got there, and laugh about it, and tell her I am a writer, she is rather gentle as she hustles me out the door. She does at least tell me the prices I ask for and get me the business card of a PR person. What she can't tell me, however, is to where to find the library.