The Derek Jarman archive, a new Parisian salon & Paris Makers galore ... A Week in Paris
Celebrating life in Paris, Paris Makers, and the strange, new, true and beautiful – forever !
🎥 The Centre Pompidou x MK2 Bibliothèque dive into the radiant, unruly universe of Derek Jarman with L’impur et la grâce, a rare full retrospective (28 Nov–16 Dec) spanning his remastered features and a trove of Super-8 films shown as he once projected them: like a DJ, hopping between reels, letting mood override chronology. Painter, filmmaker, activist, gardener of the mythic Prospect Cottage – Jarman forged a body of work where beauty rubs against brutality, where queer desire and political defiance form a single, incandescent gesture. Look out for appearances from his long-time collaborator Tilda Swinton, the actress whose career he launched, and the French-language release of Modern Nature (Actes Sud), his cult diary written on the windswept Kent coast while living with AIDS, the illness that would take his life in 1994.
👟Avant-garde footwear brand Phileo has just opened its first boutique at 37 bd Beaumarchais, 75003. Behind the label is the precocious designer Philéo Landowski, who quit school at 16 to educate himself “strictly by experience” and pursue a bold creative path. Fascinated by the technical and functional complexity of sneakers, he moved from collector to creator. Step inside to explore Phileo’s bold, sculptural designs, with a signature chunky sole rooted in the contemporary language of street and sport shoes. The boutique also showcases his standout collaborations with Comme des Garçons, Salomon, Clarks and TBS, alongside a special showcase for the store’s opening with Vitra.
🐯 Tora Tora, the latest project from style cat Masafumi Nomoto of Kunitoraya, is now serving delicious onigiris and bentos from a takeaway counter squeezed between Kunitoraya’s cult udon bistro and its Michelin-starred Charbon on Rue Villedo, in the heart of the Japanese quarter. Originally operating from inside the Maison de la culture du Japon à Paris, the onigiri bar serves 3 different bentos (chicken, eel and tuna), 3 “don” recipes, and 3 simple udon dishes – but the real star is the onigiri. With 17 flavours to choose from, from eel to karaage, tuna mayo to shrimp, all the artistry and flavour of Kunitoraya is now ready to grab and go.
🍸 Cravan has always been a home for the curious and the creative. On Wed, the avant-garde cocktail bar launches Sillages, a new series of salon-style encounters – alongside Nuit Double, In Good Company and Special Editions – exploring the living memory of perfumery. Like a great cocktail, a perfume is an artful assembly: for the inaugural session on Wednesday, Griffé hosts Antoine Poujol, collector and perfume expert, founder of the Perfume Art Museum, tracing the origins of couture fragrance, from the first signature flacons to a fully realized olfactory language (reserve your seat here). Cravan is also open for lunch this festive season, with a menu of luxe hotel fare: club sandwiches, Caesar salads, lobster rolls, while their chic bottled cocktails – perfect for sipping at home while pretending you’re still in St-Germain – are available at Le Bon Marché until Jan.
Magasin Vivant! brings its carefully curated world of slow living – outdoor equipment, garden and kitchen objects – to Oddity from Friday, showcasing its first in-house editions alongside new releases, collabs and the permanent collection. Celebrate useful objects, form and function, and the joy of making and sharing in a fully immersive holiday experience. Visitors can dive into hands-on workshops and screenings that explore techniques, materials and imagination. Try the Le Père Noël drawing workshop (Sun 14 Dec) with Supereditions, weave a small basket from pine needles with Justine Lebas (Sat 20–Sun 21 Dec), or catch Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man (Sun 21), a mesmerizing portrait of Timothy Treadwell’s thirteen summers among Alaskan grizzlies, exploring the delicate line between man and nature.
👔 Also opening Friday, at 17 rue Saint Roch, the annual Christmas pop-up from our friends at En Vrac celebrates creativity, craftsmanship, sustainability and the enduring beauty of well-made garments. Discover the new cashmere collection – vintage Scottish knits renewed with En Vrac’s signature patches and labels – and a fresh edit of the house’s screen-printed vintage shirts, each crafted with meticulous attention to material, technique and design. Also on display: a special Christmas selection of the house’s hand-sculpted and painted everyday objects. See you there!
Thanks for reading :)
Kate x
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 will eventually be paywalled, but Life in Paris will remain free).