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Parisian VIP Shopping Experience at Galeries Lafayette

Parisian VIP Shopping Experience at Galeries Lafayette

Parisian VIP Shopping Experience at Galeries Lafayette Haussmann

Paris is the home of style and fashion and the grand and glamorous department store Galeries Lafayette, is home to some of the most stylish and modern fashion in Paris. Not only does the store offer the latest in apparel, footwear, accessories, beauty and perfume, it is all artfully displayed in the breathtakingly beautiful Georges Chedanne and Ferdinand Chanut designed store. The glass and steel dome and Art Nouveau staircases were finished in 1912. 

This flagship store on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris always impresses me with its new merchandise displays, lovely cafes and stunning Christmas displays. I've shopped in Galeries Lafayette stores in a few countries including Dubai, Beijing and Paris, and I must say that Galeries Lafayette Haussmann remains my favourite store. 

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Essential Elements of French Country Cottage Style Decorating

French country cottage decorating style

Decorating your home in a French country cottage style is very popular and while there are essential elements to achieving this style there is also plenty of scope to customise and personalise your home in the look of a French country cottage style.

French Country Cottage Style Decorating is Easy

Before we look at the essential elements of this style, let’s consider what the mountain chalets of Alsace, country homes of Normandy, coastal apartments of Cote d’Azur and family chateaux throughout France all have in common?

Well, they’re all someone’s home where they live, love, entertain and maybe work from, just the same as your home and mine.  We fill our homes with the necessary, the precious and the sentimental to create our very own living space. Creating a home, even if following a particular style, should always be about what feels you with joy and works for your family’s needs. (Read more about my home in France)

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Paris Packing Guide – Essential Tips For The Perfect Wardrobe

Paris Packing Guide

Paris Packing Guide - Our Essential Tips

This essential guide to packing for a trip to Paris, or anywhere in France, comes from my experience of over 19 trips to France and even more trips to numerous international countries either alone, with my husband or with our three children in tow.

In addition to our international travel, our family has explored my home country of Australia, from the hot northern tip of Darwin, the cold southern oceans when yacht racing in Tasmania, trekking in the red centre and much city and coast adventuring along the continent's vast east and west coasts. 

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History of the French Striped Top – La Marinière

French striped top la mariniere

History Of The French Striped Top – La Marinière

The French striped top, la marinière, also referred to as tricot rayé (striped sweater), seems to be as French as France itself with photos and illustrations depicting it as part of everyday French life.  Is the French striped top, la marinière, really something the French wear though?

With a rich history beginning in Brittany, the French striped top has made its way through the leading fashion houses of Paris, and to wardrobes all around the world. Let's look at some details of its rise to classic French status. 

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12 Interesting Facts about Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel

12 Interesting Facts about Gabrielle Coco Chanel

Do You Know These 12 Interesting Facts about Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel?

“Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury” – Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel (1883 – 1971)

  • Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel was the daughter of an unwed mother named Eugènie Jeanne Devolle.
  • When Gabrielle was only 11 years old her mother died of bronchitis leaving 5 children.
  • After her mother’s death, Chanel’s father put her and her sisters in an orphanage.
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Bringing French Style Into Everyday Life

French woman at seafood stall

Bringing French Style Into Everyday Life

A wonderful guest post by creator, writer and certified Style Coach, Janelle Gould from the popular blog Distant Francophile.  Janelle personifies elegance and style and shares her tips with us today…

Hello busy francophiles!  My name is Janelle. I believe that women everywhere can bring French style and inspiration into their life, no matter where they happen to live in the world. And I’m very pleased to meet you all.

The francophile bit was a given. Readers of A French Collection are clearly discerning lovers of all things related to France.

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Finding French Antiques and Vintage Items in France

Finding French Antiques

Decorating your home with French antiques and vintage items

Decorating your house, manor or chateau in France can be fun if you know the basics of where to find antiques and vintage items.  Finding vintage and antique items is a lot easier and more satisfying in France than in Australia I have found.

As we have homes in both Australia and France and live between the two we have done a bit of antique and secondhand furniture and decor shopping and share our experience and tips with you now on how to best find antique and vintage items in France.

There are so many more antique and brocante stores in France and as there is always a market happening somewhere you’re likely to find just the right piece you’re looking for.

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Winter and Summer Sales in Paris and France

Paris Winter Sales

Paris Winter Sales and Summer Sales in France 

The Paris Winter sales and French winter and summer sales, les soldes, offer huge bargains for the clever shopper twice a year. The sales are held each January and July when stores discount their prices in an attempt to reduce the amount of their merchandise so that they have floor space for the new season's fashion and goods. The sales continue for a few weeks so there is ample time to snap up a bargain. 

Les soldes

Paris can get a little crazy outside of its large departmental stores and famous luxury brand flagship stores with long queues of excited shoppers hoping to snap up a bargain. Prices are often discounted between 30% to 70% off the normal retail price, so there is good incentive to shop during the sale period. 

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PRESS & MEDIA

A French Collection is featured in international magazines, ABC National Radio interviews, France Media Group webinars & blog articles and interviews.

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