Colette Carnaval

This weekend, iconic Paris concept store Colette celebrates its 15th birthday with a 2-day carnival open to all at the Tuileries Gardens.

Just a mere swagger away from the store, a vast marquee will host an array of activities and attractions for kids and adults. Organised in partnership with some of the most hippest names in fashion, music, art and food - APC, Andrea Crews, Thoumieux, Ed Banger, Gontran Cherrier, Maison Michel to name just a few - the event promises to be as dynamic as you would expect from the store responsible for providing the Paris fashion set with the latest and greatest fashion, music, press and knick-knacks in its world-famous lifestyle shop. 

Highlights of the weekend extravaganza include movie screenings courtesy of indy cinema chain MK2, basketball and pingpong games organised by Nike and Fred Perry respectively and dance classes and craft workshops - including a fox mask making workshop with Kitsuné - for the children. French street-artists Fafi and Miss Tic will be at the Clarins stand to customise bottles of the cult fragrance, Eau Dynamisante, and Kevin Lyons will be giving the new Fiat Panda a painterly make-over. There will also be cookery lessons, sack races and all kinds of other fun and frolics to be had. Special commemorative Darcel-emblazoned souvenirs will be on sale for the die-hard Colette aficionados to remember the day by. Joyeux Anniversaire, Colette! 

Colette Carnaval

www.colettecarnaval.com

Sat 10th and Sun 11th March, 2012

Tuileries Gardens, opposite 206 rue de Rivoli

Métro: Concorde

Free entry from midday - 6pm.

For the complete programme, see the Colette Carnaval Rendez-Vous 

Matisse at Centre Pompidou

Le Luxe I (1907. Centre Pompidou) and Le Luxe II

(1907 Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhague)

The Pompidou Centre's new blockbuster exhibition Matisse. Paires et Séries is dedicated to the series of modern art master Henri Matisse. Bringing together 60 paintings and 30 sketches from public and private collections worldwide, the exhibition examines Matisse's use of repetition throughout his career. He obsessively painted the same subject two, three, four or even more times at more or less the same time in his life, retaining the same composition and the same canvas size in order to explore questions of form and style. The artist himself described it as "Like someone who writes a sentence, rewrites it, makes new discoveries." Here the matching paintings are displayed in their pairs or their series spanning the entirety of Matisse's career from his exploration of pointillism in 1899 right up to the collages of the 1950s (with the famous Nu Bleu series of 1952). A room is dedicated to Matisse's series of line drawings and sketches which are drawn with such a spontaneity that they capture movement and the passage of time as if they were film stills. The exhibition is devoid of too much pedagogical direction, with the collection being displayed chronologically and the theme of each series - and the tension and contrast between each set of works - speaking for itself. 

Matisse. Paires et Séries. 

7th March - 18th June 2012

Centre Pompidou

Place Georges Pompidou, 75004

www.centrepompidou.fr

Open Weds-Mon, 11am-9pm

W Paris Hotel

A Marvelous Studio Suite at the W Paris Hotel 

Today, in the midst of Paris Fashion Week, the W Opera Hotel - the brand new branch of the global W hotel brand - opened in Paris. Set in a Haussmannian building overlooking the gilded Palais Garnier opera house, the hotel boasts 191 rooms including 20 suites and two Extreme Wow Suites (that's W language for seriously swanky presidential suites).

The design theme at the W Opera Hotel is "The Spark" 

Many of the rooms at the W Opera Hotel boast views of the Palais Garnier

The design theme of the hotel - The Spark - unites the electric energy of the W brand's birth place, New York, with the sophisticated luminescence of Paris, the City of Light. The walls are dotted with twinkling LED lights and certain items of the decoration seem to have melted or been charred by the heat of the metaphorical igniting spark. Other details which nod to the two cities include a copy of Vahram Muratyan's book Paris vs. New York on each bedside table, toiletries from the hip New York spa, Bliss, and inimitable views of the Paris' iconic opera house from many of the rooms.

Bliss Products at the W Opera Hotel

Visitors are encouraged to "sip, drink and flirt" over canapés and cocktails in the lounge and bar and Michelin-starred chef Sergi Arola heads up the first floor restaurant, Arola, which puts the focus on simple dishes to be shared between friends. Should guests wish to work off any overindulgence, there is also a small fitness room, dubbed "Sweat" in W lingo, on the top floor of the hotel.

The Bar at the W Opera Hotel 

Breakfast at the W Opera Hotel 

As well as providing everything you would expect of a 5 star establishment, there are also several original W touches throughout the hotel. Rather than the traditional breakfast buffet, guests have an individual self-service breakfast bar on their own table. In addition to the standard mini bar, there is also a "Munchie Box" (the W lexicon strikes again) in each room - a tray full of fun goodies for guests to sample or indeed take home as last-minute gifts. The hotel's clued-in concierge (or W Insider), Cécile Rummler, is also on hand to share her insider-knowledge on the capital, and the W's service motto of "Whatever/Wherever" aims to satisfy all desires - with the sole proviso that it's legal, of course.

Munchie Box in a W Opera Hotel room 

W Paris Opera Hotel 

4 rue Meyerbeer, 75009 Paris

whotels.com/parisopera

Prices start at around €350/night 

all photos copyright Kim Laidlaw Adrey 2012

Le Discret at Le Lutetia

The Vik Muniz suite at Le Lutetia

There has been a spate of luxury palace hotel openings in Paris over the last year or so, each one bigger, better, shinier and sparklier than the last. But Paris has been the capital of tourism for a long time, and lest we forget there are some very interesting - and historical - hotels that may not be new, but what they lack in bling they make up for in true Parisian heritage.

The Left Bank stalwart Le Lutetia is one such example. Founded in 1910, the hotel has a history of welcoming artists and writers such as Matisse, Picasso and Françoise Sagan into its original Art Deco surroundings. Whilst the new luxury hotels could be personified as label-loving, big-diamond-and-watch-wearing extroverts, the Lutetia is more of a stealth-wealth, heritage connoisseur - someone with inherent taste and discretion. 

Hence the hotel's new initiative, Le Discret, an erudite left bank character who shares his discoveries -  be they shops, restaurants, exhibitions - with the initiated public via a blog which launches today: Hotel Lutetia Le Discret. His curiosity leads him to wonder the streets of the Left Bank, finding hidden and unusual gems and sharing interesting tips with his readers. For example, Pain Poilâne is often cited as one of the best bakeries in the capital, but did you know that it's the apple tart, not the bread, that is really their pièce de résistance? Le Discret's judicious selection isn't necessarily about the newest or flashiest places, but rather about the best and most interesting finds in his area of expertise, Paris' Rive Gauche. He's a character after our own heart and we look forward to reading about his new finds every Friday on the blog. 

Le Discret has sniffed out the best perfumes on the Left Bank from boutique Sur Mesure

Le Discret recommends Poilane for the best apple tart in Paris

P.S. Apologies for the shoddy iPhone photos, but - somewhat in keeping with the theme - we only managed to snap a couple of surreptitious shots whilst Le Discret had his back turned. 

Sadaharu Aoki Patisserie

Tokyo-born patisserie maestro Sadaharu Aoki combines traditional French technical savoir-faire with  Japanese ingredients in his four Parisian boutiques for an innovative twist on classic gallic cakes. Perfectly executed eclairs are laced with black sesame or green tea, and eastern flavours such adzuki beans and yuzu feature alongside French staples such as creme patissière and puff pastry in his delicious creations. There is a strong sense of a modern Japanese esthetic, with cakes designed with pared down minimal forms, bold colours and playful decorative touches, all set against the neutral backdrop of a sleek and shiny monochrome boutique. The stores are take-away only, but the rue Vaugirard branch is just a two minute walk away from the Jardin de Luxembourg - a great setting for an impromptu sugar-loaded picnic, weather permitting of course.  

Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki, 35 rue de Vaugirard, 75006 Paris

Open: Tues-Sat, 11am-7pm. Sun, 10am-6pm

For more on extraordinary patisseries in Paris, see The Innovative Patisseries of Paris. 

All photos copyright Kim Laidlaw Adrey 2012

Brunch Bazar

This weekend sees the return of the Parisian weekend hipster fun-fest Brunch Bazar. Founded by Nadège Winter - eco-friendly PR guru and Pedro "Busy P" Winter's other half -  in partnership with La Clique, Brunch Bazar is back again to bring good food, music and fun for all the family, this time to the Garage in the Marais. From noon to 9pm on Saturday and Sunday you can hang out in the 1500m2 space where there will be an organic brunch from Nanashi, workshops for kids at Doolittle house, workshops for adults at Wool and the Gang, a nail bar, clothes stands from designers such as Thomsen, Little Vintage and Veja, DJing lessons from Little Mike of Birdy Nam Nam and all kinds of other activities. Music will come courtesy of DJs from Le Baron and the event will be scented by Maison Francis Kurkdjian. It's pitched as an extraordinary weekend in Paris, and if the success and good vibe of the last event are anything to go by, it certainly will be extraordinaire! 

Brunch Bazar

www.brunchbazar.com

Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th Feb, noon-9pm

Garage, 66 rue de Turenne, 75003 Paris

Métro: St-Sébastien-Froissard

Entrance fee: €6 (of which €1 goes to WWF), €3 for under 12s

Workshops are free and no reservation required

Class Actress Shoot Their New Video in Paris

American synth-pop duo Class Actress have just released their latest video, for the track "Bienvenue", set in none other than the city that we heart so much, Paris. Directed by Gregory Faure and Clement Gino, the video was shot at various Paris landmarks, including the Canal St Martin and Gare du Nord, and a roof terrace with a panoramic view taking in the Eiffel Tower and the Sacre Coeur. 

The video tells the of a love story between the band's glamourous front lady, Elizabeth Harper, who is on a photo-shoot in Paris, and the handsome photographer's assistant, played by Sina Araghi. We were lucky enough to go along to the filming of the video where we asked New Yorker Elizabeth why she chose to shoot in Paris for the film. "Paris is the magnetic pole to NY," she explains. "It is a city for the senses. So for a song called 'Bienvenue', there was only one choice." Paris is personified and becomes almost the third character in the story, as Elizabeth tells us, "Paris is the star of the video really--the main character--we just hopefully accessorize her well." And with Elizabeth's film-noir looks and Sini's  gallic sexiness, they certainly do. The story is underpinned with a romanticism that only Paris can bring, "Paris also brings everything you dont see but can feel in this video," says Elizabeth. "It's a place where anyone can be swept off their feet--there is so much beauty." So do we detect that Elizabeth may be slightly enamoured with the City of Light? "For me it is just such a comfortable, easy city to be in. The rhythm of life there suits me." And indeed, Class Actress will be back in Paris in March when they play at the Les Femmes S'en Mêlent Festival (30th March at La Machine du Moulin Rouge). We look forward to being swept off our feet again by their dreamy sounds then!

Avril Gau

Paris is often lauded as a great place for shopping - it's one of the fashion capitals of the world, after all. Indeed, it's the birth place of many of the most illustrious fashion houses of history, and alongside their flagships, many of the world's most respected brands have outposts here, too. But rather than shopping in an identikit boutique that has the same stock in Paris, London, New York and Tokyo, why not seek out the under the radar labels in their home town? Isn't it isn't it much more fun - and exclusive - to discover a label that you can't get everywhere else?