January can be beyond dreary in New York City with relentless days of grey.  We went to Paris to renew, recycle and find some hot trends.

BIGGEST TREND?  CYCLE AND RECYCLE!

Parisians do eco-friendly, in total style of course, from original recycled clothing couched in a tribal art movement to making a simple bike into a very cool accessory.

The most inspiring new RECYCLED style was found in the Pigalle red light district one night at a party where we met provocateur artist Andrea Crews.

Outside her shop, where the party was held, colorful kids were on the street spray painting and cutting up old clothes to re-fashion them into new.  I spoke with Andrea and she sold me a red velour Sonia Rykiel sweatshirt from the 80′s re-fashioned into a chic voluminous and assymetrical top.  Her mix of piles of recycled clothes, playful kidz, film and color feels very fresh.

Everyone’s favorite Parisian shop Colette put Andrea front and center in the windows. Take a side trip here HERE with a silly, provocative little video to see the fun of Andrea Crews.

from recycling to cycling…

VIOLA PEOPLE! THE BICYCLE TREND!

From vintage couture to…

the hot swagger of men on bikes to…

the effortless chic of a moment…

In Europe Bikes are hotter than ever. See all the cycling blogs from all over the world, especially Chic cyclers in the city and Copenhagen Cycle Chic’s Manifesto.

I loved my bike ride throughout Paris, rivaling my previous high of the speeding Euro car thrill in the tunnels.  New York has been said to be contemplating bike rentals…and I cannot wait to join famed bikers such as photographer Bill Cunningham and writer Michael Musto peddling and plotting in NYC.

I do also love this little blog, Bike in the City blog by Leah.

And while I am at it, props to the non-biking “eyes of Paris” as well, such as Kamel Lahmadi of styleandthecity.com, one of my favorite street style photographers whom I have had the pleasure of meeting and being photographed by.  A very sweet, honest blogger whose mission is to celebrate the loveliness in everyone. (Why is “nice” really nice now?…it’s a trend;-)

TREND: MOVIE SET RESTOS!

Restaurants we visited were doubly appealing because they have been featured in hot, classic movies. The rooms feel like a movie set, perhaps because also because they are full of a mix of charactors, hot celebutantes, gruff musicians and tasteful, simple neighborhoodies.

L’Hotel du Nord was seen in the Marcel Carne movie, “L’Hôtel du Nord”. We dined one evening with our client, event designer Matthew David and Lori Stolowitz,  in Paris for the Maison et Objet show and my host and best friend, photographer, Patricia Nagy, who is also with Elle International.

We hung out in our Bastille neighborhood at Le Pure Café, a “zinc-café” featured in the Richard Linklater movie “Before Sunset” with Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke.

Philosophe, before meeting up with Stephane and Livio from Public Image PR, was a movie set where just watching all the lovers made me hungry for more than bistro fare.

Also included in this trend…Movies and Habitation at Hotel Costes, of course.

IN THE MIX

On another night, we hit literally 10 watering holes in one night with the Lenny Kravitz design crew and friends, Cara Scouten and Trish Nagy. Doug Booher, a kooky southern gentleman guy in a fringy fur vest, in Paris making the floors for Lenny Kravitz Design, told me of his exploits as the former DJ for the Pontani Sisters.

We traveled to see my friend and client, Sound Producer and DJ, Claude Serieux, here with Kanye. Claude is also one of the conceptualists of the web TV site for contemporary art, Artivi,

Not only is Claude one of the most sweet, decent and talented people I know, he is also the personal DJ for Lou Doillon, the Music Supervisor and Development Manager with The Gotan Project’s‘s Oz Productions and is represented in the United States by our agency, Plant.  You can read more about this globe-trotting Sound Producer, here.

We spent the evening with Malissa Stawicki, the former publisher of Spoon magazine. Here is Trish with our other French famille member, stylist and publicist, Simon Heeger. (doing the look and the lip thing;-) He snarls like that because he is a smart handbag designer and the writer in this blog of a post about Berlin Fashion Week, click here to see that.

SIMPLE ECO SEXY LUXE

The evening ride from Pigalle to the Left Bank on the Vespa of Philippe Mikhailovich, luxury brand expert, was exhilarating and a fine example of simple eco sexy luxe. Phillippe is a brand consultant for luxury brands and Vespas always all over Paris.

I’ve been in love with the simplicity of Petit Bateau since I was 8 and my father sold the brand in his clothing store. I was thrilled then to take a meeting with Helen MacIssac, the VP International at the classic and elegant French brand, Petit Bateau and fall in LOVE again with the endlessly simple chic of PB. Did you know they opened a new home concept store on Madison Avenue?

Celebrities such as Suri Cruise and Katie Holmes are all fans of Petit Bateau’s effortless French chic. Thankfully the retail shops are expanding all over the world.

After this, it was great to see my good friend Samy Chalon, cousin of my best friend Monique Baron, in his Marais shop.  He and his mother have been creating beautiful knits for many years, they are very special people, in a most talented and precious family of passionate Egyptian/Parisian Jewish descent. They all care about living and loving well, life and simple, elegant details of all aspects of their lives and this is reflected in their clothes. You can find Samy Chalon at 24 rue Charlot.

Find beautiful hand-knits there, such as this skirt:

After some heart-to-heart with Samy, for simple, yet pungent pleasure, I picked up some Liveros, my favorite fromage before heading back to Trish in the Bastille.

Sunday brunch was at Jill’s, Trish’s friend from UNESCO.  A really friendly and accomplished group of people were there ranging from Xavier Cliquot de Mentque, who is crafting a new champagne (not even in the United States yet) to Emmanuel Rengade, who ditched the financial world to create, Picin Guaba, a stunning, low-tech ECO SEXY LUXE Brazilian retreat…now that is a real recycle and renewal.  Next year….

PS… Given that 1 hour of sleep is the norm when in Paris, a “recycle Paris” fix with a trip to Brazil immediately afterwards is JUST SMART STUFF.

written by Jade Dressler