Plus belle la vie!

It's a Poodle's life for me! Lingerie lusting, sniffing out the best beauty buys a Poodle could want and winding down in the evenings on the balcony of my 5th floor appartment with a glass of red and some french filles friends. La vie est belle.

In my latest adventures I have been visiting the iconic ever so Art Deco Bon Marche -with its 1920's decor it is the queen of all department stores full to the brim with Dior, Versace, Jean Paul Gaultier and good old Vivienne Westwood (whose lurid fluro plastic stilettos are simply kitsch incarnate).

Oh la la Aubade has made the ultimate thong for irresistable bottom cleavage!

Whilst doing window licking (as the french call it) at Bon Marche, I fell in love numerous times in the lingerie hall. Aubade's delicate lace culottes and thongs were somewhat pricey, but if this Paris pup forgoes food in order to wear them, my derriere can only look better- doubly worth it n'est pas? Unfortunately I can't give up food for underwear... the tartes fraises here are TOO delicious, and luckily a corset designer friend of mine can do me a deal on some vintage inspired lingerie-its wonderful how corsets have that instant slimline effect! I had a coup de foudre (love at first sight) with this pokka dot ensemble designed by Black Kitten:

A hint of vintage, a touch of fetish, Black Kitten underwear is the lucky charm for seduction, and whilst outwear bras are a la mode, nows definately the time to splash out on something more special in than the Marks & Sparks T shirt bras - they just won't cut it on the other side of your T shirt!

Be gorgeous! Check out Black Kitten here http://www.myspace.com/me_blackitten and Aubade here http://aubade.com/Recherche and a new favourite discovery of mine, Princesse Tam Tam - the ultimate girly lingerie www.princessetamtam.com/PrincesseTamTam.Site/en/home.aspx:

What are your favourite most indulgent lingerie labels?

Title image courtesy of http://vanillablonde.com/store/images/large/Paris-lady-&-poodle-ring-holder0358_LGE.jpg

Forward thinking fashion...

Think fierce, flirty, feminine for Spring 2010.

So.... it's a new year - that means a new wardrobe! Get ahead and scan the Jan' sale rails and charity/vintage shops for pieces that echo the 2010 Spring trends that will see you through the seasons. The Poodle and her style spies recommend the following...

Look out for corseted, boned tops and dresses - although they suggest boudoir, the fashion authorities have spoken - underwear is set to be the new outer-wear for Spring - that means dainty lace, transparent fabric, sculpting whale bone corsets and bustier tops. Think Madonna's Blonde Ambition tour, but dumb the look down so you can pull it off on the street, without being mistaken for a streetwalker.

Other than sumptuous silks, lady like lace lace and lolita lingerie inspired dresses, Spring 2010 is calling for other wardrobe staples...for example, the baby doll dress like this one from Luella:

As for colours, if you come across ivory, black, nude and beige, then you should be bang on trend for Spring - the barely there palette of pastels is back with the odd exclaimation of black punctuation! Take Lagerfelds word for it at Chanel:

Cutesy, short, flirty and fun - that is what Spring dressing should all be about - and although it may be dark and cold outside, there's no time like the present to prepare for future fashions whilst foraging through the sales this month!

The Secret Math of the Famous French Figure

It’s a Paris Poodle duty to discover the well kept secrets and rituals that only French women know to render them so irresistibly effortlessly sexy – another of my duties is to find a concrete, semi scientific reason why French women can stay so rakish whilst simultaneously having Europe’s highest baguette count?...

Here are my findings so far...

(0 Gym + 0 work out video) – exertion of any kind = Tiny, toned, slim French Mademoiselles

All across the nation, from Nice to Nantes, French women don’t exercise, they aren’t seen in high numbers jogging in local parks, the Ministry of Sound work out DVDs are frowned upon (perhaps rightly so!), and they certainly don’t go to the gym! Gyms hardly even exist over here and when they do they are painfully expensive and are seen as sweaty work houses – the type of place a jeune fille française or ‘Madame de’ doesn’t belong...

After only a few weeks, already I have been to half the underwear shops in Rue de Rennes, Place d’Italie and Les Gobelins with my effortlessly sex kittenish French flat mates who see underwear window shopping, as normal a past time as running, aerobics or painting ones nails....
This strictly French phenomena of lusting after costly lingerie as a means of relaxation is certainly seductive. Just picturing the female form in various combinations of silk, satin and lace not only makes you feel super feminine and whole heartedly glad that as a member of the female race you can wear such flirtatious clothing, but it also has the added advantage of suppressing the appetite. It has become clear to this Paris Poodle that Lingerie Lust is a national female sport -welcome to the French workout - the typically français way to be fabulously slim!

As I wondered the shelves and rails of Soleil et Sucre, Aubade and Etam, meandering the Parisian streets with my always too heavy, always trop des choses handbag to ‘se detendre’ (unwind) amongst the French knickers and lace bras of the top underwear designers I began to believe that it is the perfect way to stay toned and commit to a low calorie diet so that one can wear such tiny frivolous creations. This regime is best practiced twice a week (with a heavy handbag/small child or some other weight) with a daily half hour round trip to the bakery and back to pick up 2 baguettes – one for ce soir and one for the morning of course!

The Paris Poodle has come to believe that French baguettes have slimming powers – even the tiniest scraps of French ladies insist upon thrice daily portions of bread baguettes with heart stopping quantities of butter! It truly is a marvel. Perhaps I will simply surround myself with lithe French girls until some of their weight gaining defences become mine by the power of osmosis.

So, from these results the Paris Poodle can conclude that; Baguettes + Butter x Lingerie Shopping= Size 0

Although not strictly exercise related, even my little French bathroom has not escaped the French love of les fasses (buttocks). It has been decorated in a haphazard style with various lingerie adverts. As I sit on the loo to ‘faire pipi’ I am affronted by two perfectly peachy arse cheeks and just to my left generous cleavage greets me wearing a lacy creation. Perhaps it’s just my flat mates but I like to think that it’s the French nation that is unashamedly fascinated by the female form, its curves and shapes.

As long as women are women they will competitively try to out slim and out sexify each other. Since arriving here I have had to find new alternative ways to feel my normal taille - in this city my slim size 10 is practically monstrous amongst the size zerolites that inhabit Paris en masse. As a Paris Poodle I have resolved to up my handbag weight by 2 kilos, my baguette intake to 3 a day, my lingerie lusting to 4 times a week and a monthly tour of the Champs Elysees to exercise my credit cards! You should try it too! It’s so much more elegant than the perspiration humiliation of the gym- je t’assure. Vive la France!