Le Palais Royal
Designer vintage boutique
Paco Rabanne dress
As i said in an earlier post, this morning, i went to the Palais Royal in Paris to see an exhibition by ES Mode.
However while the exhibition was interesting, I was more intrigued to finally be in a building that featured quite well in French history. The Palais Royal is probably one of the oldest shopping malls in European history. One could say that the French revolution began here, with the busteling square acting as the ideal place to gather the latest gossip about the Royal family. Newspapers and pamphlets were handed out here, women met in tea salons to get the latest updates and gossip from the streets. The gossip in this place directly influenced the fate of Marie Antoinette herself. It was in this arcade where rhumours of her over spending and bed hopping began - not that there was much truth to be found in these stories with hindsight, but the Palias royal news carriers were once highly influential.
Today the Arcade, restaurants & boutiques still exist but of-course carrying different names, such as Stella McCartney. There are an abundance of antique and vintage shops stocking labels from Chanel to Paco Rabanne in there windows to draw in a higher class of clientele than that of the 18th century version.
As I am so very obsessed with 18th century france, and Marie Antoinette i particular, I found it both sad and strange to be in such a place, to walk in the very street were Madame Tussaud gatherd information, where the Marquis de Sade walked among his peirs and where Marie Antoinette was so unjustly spoken of.
But alas it is all in the history books, and i must look to the future, perhaps one day I can have a store here and create my own legacy that will continue through the ages. perhaps one day some youngh fantasist will walk the leingth of the building and think of there favorite designer…. who knows.
xoxo LLM