Paris

This Month in Paris (August):

Shopping: An impressive selection of vintage Goyard trunks, Louis Vuitton bags, and Hermès scarves can be found at Le Monde du Voyage in the Marché aux Puces de St Ouen. Open to the public Saturday-Monday (Marché Serpette, 110 Rue des Rosiers, tel: 01 4012 6403).

Sightseeing: The annual three-day Rock en Seine Festival takes place in the Parc du Domaine National de Saint-Cloud (end of metro line 9) on 27-29 August. Headliners include Arcade Fire, Massive Attack, Blink 182, Underworld, Paolo Nutini, Queens of the Stone Age, LCD Soundsystem, Roxy Music, and Cypress Hill. As usual, there are also the up-and-coming local bands, camping for those with three-day passes, and a special area for kids (rockenseine.com).

Key areas: The 5th arrondissement along the Seine is perfect for summer strolling. Stop in the scenic Jardin des Plantes with its newly renovated historic greenhouses and Natural History Museum; take the elevator to the 9th floor of the Institut du Monde Arabe for views over Notre Dame from the terrace; and join the locals for open-air dancing under the stars every night on the Tino Rossi Square.

Day trips: Home to the prestigious INSEAD business school and a cosmopolitan population, Fontainebleau is one of the few towns outside Paris that remains lively year-round. The Château Fontainebleau and its gardens offer a cosier alternative to Versailles, and nature-lovers can explore the immense forests surrounding the town.

Paris News & Gossip

Life on Paris' Left Bank

LOCATION (above)
Le Rousseay Brasserie (45 Rue du Cherche-Midi)

HE WEARS
Glasses (£125) from Marc O'Polo; jacket (£700) from Dries Van Noten at brownsfashion.com; shirt (£185) from Fake London; trousers (£90) from Diesel; shoes (model's own) from Santoni

SHE WEARS
Sunglasses (£210) from Chanel; bag (£910) from Chanel; top (£153) from Armand Basi; jeggings (£189) from Fake London; socks (£12.95) from Falke; "Luca" shoes (£589) from Georgina Goodman

LOCATION (above)
Poîlane bakery (8 Rue du Cherche-Midi)

SHE WEARS
"Maurice" cashmere mix slouchy blazer with contrast trim (£181) from Elizabeth Lau; shirt (£140) from 120% Linen; trousers (£70) from Figleaves

LOCATION (above)
Rue de l'Echaudé

SHE WEARS
Hat (£105) from Fake London; sunglasses (£210) from Chanel; mac coat (£65) from Wallis; cashmere jumper (£249) from Paul and Joe; shorts (£25) from Dorothy Perkins; long socks (£21.90) from Fogal; "Marigold" shoes (made to order) from Georgina Goodman

LOCATION (above)
Rue du Cherche-Midi

HE WEARS
Hat (£85) and glasses from Marc O'Polo (£125); blazer from Burton (£69); shirt from Diesel; (£75)

LOCATION (above)
Jardin du Luxembourg

HE WEARS
Glasses (£125) from Marc O'Polo; coat (£730) from Marni at brownsfashion. com; cashmere jumper (£139) from House of Cashmere; trousers (£240) from Fake London

LOCATION (above)
Jardin du Luxembourg

SHE WEARS
Sunglasses (£210) and shoes (£310) from Chanel; "Wallis" cashmere mix tunic jumper dress (£165) from Elizabeth Lau; tights (£21.90) from Fogal; bag (£475) from Fake London

LOCATION (above)
L'arbre (48 Rue du Cherche-Midi)

SHE WEARS
Jacket (£343) and trousers (£208) from DKNY; top (£85) from Fake London; socks (£21.90) from Fogal; shoes from Manolo Blahnik (£575)

LOCATION (above)
Bread & Roses (7 Rue de Fleurus)

HE WEARS
Glasses (£125) and shirt (£75) from Marc O'Polo; blazer (£859) from Fake London

LOCATION (above)
Rue de Furstemberg

SHE WEARS
Cashmere jumper (£495) from Joseph; white blouse (£35) from Miss Selfridge; trousers (£60) from Figleaves; socks (£21.90) from Fogal; tweed shoes (£650) from Chanel

Originally from a small village in rural Ireland, I always dreamed of Paris, ever since my sister went there on a school tour when I was six. Her inspiring photographs and stories ignited my passion and as soon as I could go, I headed off, spending every college and work vacation in Paris, doing an internship, until the inevitable move occurred.

I had the great fortune of finding a tiny, little flat, a converted one-horse stable in a 17th-century building in the heart of the Left Bank. With it has come an education, one I didn't expect but one that has been unavoidable: the French art of savoir-vivre.

Of her Francophile sister Nancy Mitford's exaggerations about the perfection of Paris at all costs, Diana Mosley (herself spending 50 years living in France) recalled, "I have heard her describe a very ordinary, if pleasant, Paris flat as though it were both Trianons [at Versailles] and half a dozen English stately homes, complete with their art collections, rolled into one."

The magic and the myth of Paris can sometimes cloud your vision, but you're very much aware that you live insulated in a little bubble of loveliness, that only a few kilometres away people live lives of a far less lyrical nature. And yet the relatively well-off Left Bank, apart from being a great cliché of what the city is to tourists and to long-term expats alike, tends to be a place where the residents are very sensible about what to spend their money on. In a socialist country like France, where obvious wealth and expenditure are considered the height of vulgarity, it's perfectly forgivable - suggested even - to spend money on buying one good thing, the best that you can afford.

On Rue du Cherche-Midi, the Poîlane bakery, famed for its sourdough loaves, is where I pick up fresh pain au chocolat in the morning rush. The women working there are adorable. Poîlane bread appears regularly on the menus of local cafés where, given the option, you can stump up an extra euro or more and have a sandwich on Poîlane. Almost everyone does. This little gesture was an eye-opener. What else might people be willing to spend a little more on?

Even the most humble patisserie has a window filled with sugary artworks and though rarely expensive, people will gladly pay extra for them. It's that whole French mindset of having a single square of chocolate after dinner and putting the bar away for next time. Even the mille-feuille will probably be shared. Whether it's Gérard Mulot on Rue de Seine, Pâtisserie des Rêves on Rue du Bac, Dalloyau on Rue de Grenelle, or Bread & Roses on Rue Madame, the little splurge is to be savoured, not wolfed down. For macarons, skip Ladurée and head to Pierre Hermé on Rue Bonaparte. Enjoy them slowly on a bench on Place Saint-Sulpice, opposite.

Paris is bursting with florists, all of them great, some of them exceptional, most costing a lot less than you'd imagine. On the Left Bank, on Place du Palais Bourbon, Moulié reigns. Walking into that store is an orgy of colour and scent, not the lifeless, out-of- season blooms I grew up knowing. Odorantes on Rue Madame is utterly charming, its window a mis-en-scène of taxidermy birds, the small store specialising in scented flowers, particularly old roses. Scent in Paris florists is the great revelation, as is naturalness, with flowers coming in great healthy bunches at L'arbre on Rue du Cherche-Midi and Pitou on Rue des Saints-Pères, and Sol y Flor on Rue Coëtlogon selling what appears to be the contents of an enchanting country hedge.

The façades of Paris, with portes cochères (the immense wooden doors in the front of old buildings) hiding extensive gardens and grand hôtels particuliers (private mansions), taught me never to judge a book by its cover. For the longest time, I passed by a hair salon on Rue de Tournon called Massato, thinking it was nothing, before eventually realising it was the chicest in all of Paris. The hair colourist Lucia Iraci's salon is hidden away in a courtyard in a former chapel on Rue du Vieux-Colombier. Hidden in another courtyard, on Rue St-Guillaume, is the famous Maison de Verre, Pierre Chareau's landmark example of modernist architecture. It's private property, but you might sneak a peek if the concierge is taking out the bins as you pass by. One of my favourite restaurants, Caffè Toscano on Rue des Saints-Pères, looks like nothing outside, or in, but serves the most wonderful, fresh Italian food.

In the gallery quarter, 7L, Karl Lagerfeld's bookshop on Rue de Lille was a great discovery. Pressing the button in the wall, the sliding door reveals a treasure trove of every art book the Chanel designer is leafing through right now. La Hune, next to the incomparable Café de Flore, and La Chambre Claire, on Rue Saint-Sulpice, are world-class bookstores, the latter specialising in photography.

It's a constant wonder how so many small shops stay open: little antique stores that I've never once seen anyone in; old bookshops with leather-bound volumes caked in the dust of stasis; places operating outside of anything to do with retail economics. They exist because they are expected to exist. The Left Bank locals have never forgiven Giorgio Armani for replacing Le Drugstore, the area's once beating heart, with an Emporio outpost in the 1990s, though they have been a lot kinder to Ralph Lauren, who painstakingly restored an overlooked 18th-century mansion on Boulevard Saint-Germain, turning it into an awe-inspiring flagship. Its idyllic courtyard restaurant, Ralph's, is almost impossible to secure a table at, though that doesn't mean you shouldn't try.

The arrival of international fashion changed the area dramatically. Where Sonia Rykiel and YSL had once been quirky, they were suddenly joined by mega-brands and shiny stores. On calm Rue Jacob is Hervé L Leroux, the little store and studio of the man who was once Hervé Léger until he lost the rights to his name. His international distribution is limited, and with everything draped by him and hand-sewn in the atelier beneath the shop, he's really the luxury definition of the couturier du coin (local dressmaker), a rather pedestrian term for a man whose genius makes him a true heir to the great tradition of Paris couture.

On Rue de Sèvres, near the wonderful Le Bon Marché department store and its exquisite food hall La Grande Épicerie, is Arny's, a traditional men's outfitters. Ateliers upstairs make lots of suits bespoke, but there's also ready-to-wear, socks, scarves, sweaters and the famous Forestière jacket that so many neighbourhood men wear. Passing the windows, it's the care paid to little details like the handmade buttonholes in contrasting shades that makes all the difference in the world.

In Paris, it's definitely not about the money, but an attitude. Back in Ireland, I might spend €30 on too many Guinnesses, but here I indulge the same amount on lavender-scented honey, the sweetest smelling peonies, a glass of Château Margaux and a slice of Pont l'Évêque cheese (on Poîlane sourdough, of course). Well it's the small things in life after all, and when in Paris…

PHOTOGRAPHY
Elise Dumontet
STYLING
Nino Bauti
HAIR & MAKE-UP
Cyril Nesmon
www.cestchic.be
ART DIRECTION
Neil Smith
MODELS
Nicolas Berthery
www.nathalie-models.com
Abby Clee
www.models1.co.uk

STOCKISTS
www.120percentlino.com
www.armandbasi.com
www.burton.co.uk
www.brownsfashion.com
www.chanel.com
www.store.diesel.com
www.dkny.com
www.dorothyperkins.com
www.chilternstudios.com
www.fakelondon.com
www.falke-shop.com
www.figleaves.com
www.fogal.com
www.joseph.co.uk
www.marc-o-polo.com
www.missselfridge.com
www.manoloblahnik.com
www.paulandjoe.com
www.santonishoes.com
www.wallis.co.uk

Paris Trivia

• August: During King Louis XIV's reign as the Sun King in Versailles, dinners were a formal affair. Only the king and his immediate family could sit, while the rest of the court stood silently throughout the meal to watch (princesses were allowed stools).

• July: The area known today as the Carrousel du Louvre was, in the 19th century, a slum called the Quartier Doyenné. Frequented by counter-culture artists, it was the first to be demolished under the Second Empire's "urban reconfiguration".

• June: The first official maps of France were created during the 18th century by four generations of the Cassini family. It took so long because fearful villagers, suspicious of the cartographers' scientific triangulation tools, often chased them out of town, attacked them, or hung them as sorcerers.

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