Les Soldes à Paris! A Haute-Shopper's Experience.

I was going to blog yesterday and share yet another wonderful Spanish (or French... haven't decided) store with everyone, but I got distracted by one of the biggest shopping events in France: the first day of summer sales. So instead, I have decided to share this sometimes crazy, mostly surprisingly civilized experience with you. You can consider this a virtual sales shopping experience through my eyes, complete with a bizarre anecdote towards the end. I will even show you the stuff I bought... kind of.

In any case, pre-sales have been going on for a while in Paris now, but it's the official sales that deliver the true bargains. Mainly because a lot of the big designers (Balenciaga, Lanvin etc.) won't mark down anything until the first sale date. And others will only pull out all the goods from stock once the real thing is underway. Because I never buy designer full-price, (unless I know it will never ever go on sale) but unfortunately also have shoe and clothing sizes that sell out immediately, I wanted to get there early. It was also pretty convenient I didn't have to work yesterday. The greater part of the retail world opened it's doors at 8AM. I thought 8AM was pushing it, so instead I chose to go at... 8:20AM.

First stop: Department Stores

I started out at Printemps (Haussmann), which is also the first place I visited during the winter sales. I don't really enjoy department stores (artificial light, enclosed space...), but when it comes to sales, they somehow manage to pull out stuff that's sold out elsewhere (the same goes for Galeries Lafayette, but I prefer Printemp's layout). I would also recommend Le Bon Marche, though it's a little further away from the main shopping area.

Where are the people? Alexander McQueen (above) and Balenciaga (below).

Bi-annual sales in bigger cities tend to be crazy. In Harvey Nichols (London), I witnessed a lot of shoving, pushing, screaming and when the doors opened early in the morning, women were actually sprinting towards certain sections of the store. Printemps? Not really. The women's RTW clothing section was scarily empty. Except for one silly person I'll get to later...

50% off Balmain at Printemps, including all variations of the shoulder jackets.

I finally found out where the masses had gathered... in the shoe section of course! This gave me a chance to take some pics of people spending too much money. The logo brands were doing very well with long lines in front of Chanel, Dior and Gucci. The below pictures were taken at 8:45 AM.

I wonder what they're waiting for...

But no one cared about Prada, YSL, Sergio Rossi or Giuseppe Zanotti. Some of these areas were so empty, I actually tried on shoes because I felt sorry for the bored staff. Yes, I'm nice that way.

Where's the love?

Second Stop: One Flagship, Two Boutiques

I was so intrigued by the queues in front of the various Chanel sections within the department stores, I was curious to see how busy the main flagship on rue Cambon was. It was busy, but no queues. And way more shoes. It's 10 mins away... why don't people come here instead?

Chanel rue Cambon: two rooms were dedicated to shoes alone.

I also ended up visiting two multi-brand boutiques. The first, Maria Luisa stocks everything from Margiela to Manolos (one of the few places in Paris that sells the brand). I then took a bit of a detour to Ave. Montaigne to visit Montaigne Market (stocks Balmain, Alaia and Ann Demeulemeester). Both were shockingly empty.

Maria Lusia (left) and Montaigne Market (right). Both very empty.

Montaigne Market: 50% off the YSL cage boot anyone? A young girl was browsing, happily toting her Balmain purchase.

Third Stop: Rue du Faubourg-St. Honoré

By the time I hit the main high-end shopping area near rue Royale, the streets were full of people. It was around 10AM by then. Almost every single person was carrying shopping bags - most of them by luxury designers. I had already purchased Lanvin shoes in Printemps (50% off), but I love the way the boutique displays the shoes during the sale season. The ballerina flats were only marked down 30%. Pretty weak... especially considering Lanvin did a full 50% discount half a year ago.

Lanvin flagship. The shoe section. My vesrion of heaven.

Givenchy: Does no one love you... except me?

Oh no, Givenchy is so empty! I must save them!

Left: Busy YSL - 50% off everything. Right: Louboutin was busy as well - 30-50% off.

On the street

In a sad attempt to show you some pseudo-streetstyle images and to make myself feel better about spending money, I started taking pictures of people with shopping bags. They were everywhere. France isn't officially in a recession, which would explain why even children are hauling TODS bags around...

TODS, YSL, Dior and Chanel were hot favorites.

And speaking of TODS, I must have missed something, because they had the longest line of people ever.

Are there freebies? Right: Buggies can be practical...

More shopaholics...

The guy in the picture above (right) was excitedly telling his female friends that he had purchased some shirts, a wallet and a belt from Lanvin, YSL and Prada. He couldn't have been older than 20. The girl toting the Balmain shopping bag a few pictures up was around 18. And while I was trying to get a pic, two girls approached me, wanting to know where the Balenciaga flagship was (they were both around 18 as well). Don't know about you, but when I was that age, it was all about vintage and H&M. I'm intrigued...

The orange invasion...

I was a little surprised by the amount of people carrying Hermès bags, considering they don't have regular sales (they have bi-annual private sales). But I'm guessing the purchases might have been of the classic will-never-go-on-sale kind.

The crazy shopper

I'm just going to briefly mention one person who towards the beginning of my shopping spree proved that people do go psycho during sale season. During my first stop in Printemps (McQueen section) I was happily browsing and checking a price of a scarf, which was in my hand when I suddenly felt a tug... and nothing. A woman, who I will refer to as crazy shopper (CW), sporting a baggy t-shirt, jeans and a sun visor had actually pulled this item right out of my hand, merrily proclaiming to have seen it first. Her left arm was loaded with at least 5 other scarves and many more items. I started arguing but she looked at me like she didn't understand English (to be fair, she didn't speak it very well). I couldn't be bothered, especially as I had no interest in the product and didn't want to waste my own shopping time so I continued.

Two minutes later, I suddenly feel a tug at my own scarf. CW is standing next to me asking "are you going to get that scarf? I think I also saw it first". I tried explaining to her, that this was actually my own (McQueen) scarf from FW07. Her hands were still on it. I was getting slightly irritated (to put it mildly). When she realized there was no security or price tag, she finally got it, laughed, slapped me on the shoulder like we were BFF's and took off towards the Cavalli section. Wow, I wonder if she was on something. Actually I think she might have been an eBay seller. I was tempted to tell her that all the stuff in her arms was actually from FW09 and not on sale, but I guess she'll realize sooner or later...

CW ended up causing more havoc in other areas of the store, when she made an alarm go off twice after yanking various Balenciaga bags off shelves. Security ended up secretly following her around the store after that.

Have you ever experienced nutcases while shopping? I've been to sample sales, and whatnot, but I rarely encounter individuals who actually take stuff you're holding or trying on. It's like something out of a chick-lit movie. I realize there's something about a 50% off sign that triggers irrational behavior and a rapid decline in a person's IQ level, but some people need to get a grip.

Anyhow, for the sake of my credit card, I decided to end my spree after the above mentioned flagships. I might check out more stores next week, but there's nothing else I had my eye on. For now, I'm happy with these:

The damage done.