Hi, and welcome to Paris, Puces. 🇫🇷
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🖤 To mark 30 years at its plush Marais hôtel particulier, the MEP is celebrating one of the photographers who helped shape its collection with Penn & Fashion, opening Wed during Fashion Week. It follows Penn’s extraordinary fashion work from the Paris couture of the 1950s and his long-standing collaboration with Vogue through to his radical, sculptural work with Issey Miyake and later collaborations with Galliano, Lacroix and Chanel in the early aughts.
🔮 The wonderful Messy Nessy – who sprinkles fairy dust over life in Paris with her imagination and wit – is expanding her Parisian cabinet of curiosities. The cult storyteller’s Wunderkammer is tripling in size, bringing Paris alive through more vintage finds, more ingenious inventions – Eau de Seine, anyone? – new and vintage books and more creative Paris merch, including pieces from our friend En Vrac. Part shop, part secret hideaway, part Narnia’s wardrobe, discover the new space from Wed. 19 rue de Bièvre, 75005
🚨 Paris gets a hot new late-night dining and dancing destination with Le Poisson Volant, opening in the former L’Internationale in the 11th. Bertrand Chauveau of Le Cornichon joins forces with chef Yanxin Yin for Chinese and Franco-Asian cooking – think bao, grilled dumplings and wontons with pig’s trotter and langoustine tartare – before the restaurant morphs into a club from 11pm.
Opens Fri! 5/7 Rue Marguerite Moret, 75011
🐟 And from the team behind Canal Saint-Martin hotspot L’Oursin comes L’Atlantic, a new seafood bar located on that funny elevated strip running between Strasbourg–Saint-Denis and Répu. Think ultra-fresh fish and shellfish over open flames, great tarama, natural wine and cocktails in a long, old-school Parisian bar – Chez Jeannette for Gen Z, but with considerably more ambition on the plate.
🛍️ Also on our radar this week, fashion and accessory trade fair Première Classe returns to the Tuileries for Fashion Week with creative direction from our friends at such&such, including such a boutique! – a curated cabinet of curiosities open to the public and spanning fashion, beauty and design, with brands chosen for their strong sense of purpose. Also new this year is JILL, a new event running alongside Première Classe billed as the first Paris rendez-vous “dedicated to collaborations, one-offs and limited editions”, conceived by smart former Hyères director Jean-Pierre Blanc.
🇨🇭 And finally, my friends at Maison Shift – the home of Switzerland’s slow-fashion community – are back in Paris for Fashion Week, showcasing eight emerging Swiss designers committed to sustainable fashion. I’m happy to be partnering with them again at the newly renovated Centre culturel suisse – come by and say hi! Full programme + details here. Opens tomorow!
See you there!
Kate
Welcome to Paris, Puces. on Substack. Expect the best of : LIFE IN PARIS 🇫🇷 each week, plus expert intel and tips from the world’s most epic FLEA MARKET✨ Art, Fashion, Design !
On Mondays: Life in Paris postcards - a curated mix of sights, bites and delights, celebrating Paris Makers, and the strange, new, true, and beautiful, forever!
On Fridays: Flea market intel - in-depth guides, behind-the-scenes stories and practical tips (this content is now paywalled, but Life in Paris remains free).
👉🏽 After years exploring the Puces de Saint-Ouen and researching for my book ‘The Paris Flea Market’, I now share that insider knowledge through bespoke buying and research tours – for collectors, decorators, architects, or anyone who wants to explore the markets with a deeper eye. Hit me up!