Shopping around Paris - Part 2.

On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to head up to Printemps, another huge Parisian department store.  ("Hey kids, let's take the Metro from the Louvre to Printemps!  What's Printemps?  You'll see!")

Image from printemps.com.

I was going to check out their shoe department and their accessories.  With the fam in tow, I had to be selective.

Discovered, upon arrival, that there was an entire floor devoted to women's shoes.  Mon Dieu!  After parking the fam with iPhones in one section, I took off across the floor to see what there was.  Repetto had a huge section, with every ballet flat in every color you could imagine and then some.

Image from Jennifer Houston.

The tribal theme played prominently with some of the more 'trendier' shoe lines, like these from Minelli.

Image from Jennifer Houston.

I stopped at the Colisee de Sacha section of shoes; they had the flat booties I had seen earlier and wanted to try them on.  

Image from Jennifer Houston.

Alas, they were a little lighter in color than I wanted and I wasn't going to lug a pair of booties home that I'm not going to wear.

In fact, this brings me to a point of introspection. Lisa and I have been emailing while I've been here, and she's really concerned that I haven't purchased that much.  I guess I'm being really particular this trip.  It's not like I'm here with Lisa or another girlfriend, shopping every second of the day, only stopping for cheese, wine and dinner.  With only an hour or so to poke around every other day, I really want to bring something home that's unique but that I will also wear in Boston.  It's that "vacation-purchase" problem - you purchase something while you are away because you think it's perfect, yet can't think how on earth to wear it when you are home, living your normal, everyday life.   When I'm here to shop, I make a list of what my priorities are and go all in; this trip, I'm just hunting and pecking away whenever I have a minute.

Back to Printemps.  Realizing that my time was limited and there were too many shoes to effectively examine, the fam and I went down to the accessories floor.  After a quick review, I found what I was looking for!  A place for the fam to sit down and have a snack, giving me a little more time before anyone melted down!  Cojean cafe, on the accessories level.

Image from printemps.com.

Off I went, starting first in scarves.  Again, a ton to choose from at all different price points.

Image from Jennifer Houston.

Purchased one scarf as a gift and moved onto jewelry.  One of the things I love about jewelry sections of department stores in Paris is that they tend to be vast, well staffed, and there are a lot of different designers represented.  As I wandered in and around the displays, I found the jewelry to be colorful, big, and in many cases, leaning towards 'tribal'.  These were from a line called Scooter, and turquoise played predominately in that line as well as others.

Image from Jennifer Houston.

These were shown by GAS Bijoux.  Lots of feathers.

Image from Jennifer Houston.

And then I turned the corner and had a moment.  Finally.  Showing at Printemps from April 2nd to June 2nd, Cuisine Francaise Bijoux had a few things that stopped me in my tracks.

Image from Jennifer Houston.

Metals mixed with leather.  Multi-strand bracelets and necklaces.  T.A.S.S.E.L.S.  I had to stop, look, and purchase.  Modeled by my youngest, this is what is coming home.

Image from Jennifer Houston.

And, in case you want to see more details, from their website, in blue:

Image from cuisine-francaise-bijoux.com.

Since I'm not good at stacking bracelets at all (unlike Lisa, who is a pro at stacking), I need a little help.  The leather, 2 chains of gold metal, and tassels make this a great option for me this summer.  J'adore!

Printemps was definitely a hit in my book.  If you are traveling to Paris, make sure you stop to admire; I'll be adding it to my when-in-Paris-must-do list.  Maybe next time without the fam.  ~ JH