dans les Tuileries
(photo courtesy of Thais)

Eating raclette
(photo courtesy of Thais)

Unless living in one of those wonderfully warm climates, every winter eventually brings negative temperatures in which people cast off the fashion canon and disappear beneath deforming layers. That day has come…I thought. Strangely, as I hurried down Boulevard Saint-Germain in a borrowed, oversized ski jacket, I regarded with disbelief the heels and hosiery of persisting Parisians (who in turn, wondered what kind of scarf enveloped head would think to go out in such an array of bad taste, never mind the weather). Time to buy a new coat.

The next morning, pressed by stares and cold, I nearly ran to the store where I had discovered a fabulous juxtaposition between warmth and fashion. Now is the best time to shop in Paris because the mandatory month long sales have lowered clothing and accessory prices from absurd, to just plain expensive.