Ciao Bella

Hello, hello! Recently the dreary weather in Paris has led me to do some more "therapy shopping". It also doesn't help... my bank account, that there are AMAZING sales all over Paris either, for it is soldes season.  (For those of you who don't know what soldes is, French shops tend not to have a "sale section". Instead, to clear out Winter inventory before Spring/Summer, and to clear out Summer inventory before Fall/Winter, the stores have huge sales - 75% off - mid-January to mid-February and mid-July to mid-August.)

Since soldes is coming to a close, stores are starting to do their final markdowns, which are just too irresistible. So far my purchases, in addition to all of the vintage, have been: a red-orange cable knit tube scarf from Kookaï (a shop, full of beautiful clothing, which seems to exist everywhere but the Americas. Oh poo.), black shorts with detachable suspenders from Zara (this purchase was quite exciting for me because my last pair of suspenders broke awhile ago, and I've been having trouble finding a replacement!), a fun neon pink and orange necklace from H&M (definitely a statement piece), and a dusty rose dress that I've been eyeing at Zara all semester that finally went on sale!

To see how I wore the purchases, follow Quinntessential Style.

In other news...

I wanted to say Arrevederci to you all for I leave for Italia on Saturday. I may have time between cleaning my room and packing my suitcase to squeeze one last post in before I leave, but if not, ciao bellas! I will hopefully come back with some wonderful posts from my whirlwind tour.

xx, Q.

[credit: asos]

Free 'P' ☆

Yesterday was one of those therapeutic shopping days...What was the prescription? VINTAGE.
Charlotte and I spent the better half of the afternoon perusing the vintage shops in the Marais, my favorite area of Paris. We came across a few shops with some absolutely fabulous designer pieces, but they were more like collectables, so their prices were wayyy up there. The garments were quite fun to look at though. A girl can dream, right?

We eventually came across Free "P" Star, a tiny shop JAMMED with clothes. The 3€ bins immediately caught our attention (something more along the lines of our student budgets!) Digging through the abyss like bins, this season's nautical stripes started floating to the top. Charlotte bought a loose-fitting striped shirt, and I bought a stripy tank, soon to be cropped. Next was the 1€ bin, mostly packed with different types of scarves that would have taken days to sort through. So my shopping tactic was to reach way down and pull the fabric up, and by doing so, I happened upon a grey-blue and black cheetah print scarf. Just something fun, and only ONE euro! My last purchase was a red, burnt orange floral print dress that I intend on altering a bit. I plan to hem it and shorten the sleeves, possibly adding a gather? Let me know what you think. I'll post pictures of the process once I figure out how I will do these alterations sans sewing machine!

scarf 1€, tank 3€: Free 'P' Star

dress 10€: Free 'P' Star

snap closure shirt 9€: FripeStar

After yesterday's vintage adventure, I've gotten into quite the fripe-y mood. So, on my way to lunch on the bank of Canal St. Martin (soon to have it's own post here), I came across another shop on rue de Lancry. Same name, FripeStar, but different owners. Loving the baggy flannel shirts of the moment, I decided to invest in my own. Out of their vast selection, I chose a red, white, and blue flannel pattern with pearly snaps (pictured above). I also tried on some lace up heeled booties, that were adorable, but unfortunately they were a bit big... Alas, my search goes on for vintage lace up boots. Another excuse for more vintage shopping? Ok!

Well until next time...
xx, Q.

[credit: shopbop]