printemps de mode

I have been looking for an intellectual excuse to go back to Paris for a while. It seems as if strolling down Champs Élysées and stopping for cafés before an hour visit to Colette are not enough for most people. Well, now I have that excuse. A very good one. This Spring the city of lights hosts, among others, three exhibitions about some of my favourite people in fashion —Steven Klein, Yves Saint-Laurent and Dries Van Noten.

In the first, an unpublished video of the enfant terrible of photography portrays a decadent and deteriorated America. The Saint-Laurent retrospective looks back at the designer's work through 307 haute couture and prêt-à-porter pieces that go from his debut in 1958 at Dior to his late work in 2002. At the Van Noten exhibition, images of the Noailles family are projected onto the walls in contrast to those of the world of the Belgian designer —a walk through Dries' inspiration and savoir-fair. I am getting my Eurostar tickets as soon as this bloody volcanic cloud fades and prices come down.

I'm off.