Paradise Found

As many of you may know, the bulk of my career has been in the fashion industry – many  years’ worth.  I was so fortunate to work with true merchants, incredibly creative people, and at great brands.  I also had the opportunity to recruit the best talent because of the brands that I worked for.  Every once in a while, the people you recruit are people you get to know very well, and some become friends.  One of those people is Judy Daniel.

I have known Judy for just about thirty years.  We first met when I worked  at Bloomingdale’s.  Our By Mail division was looking for a top merchant and I was lucky enough to interview her for the job.  I was incredibly impressed during our meeting which was a dinner meeting at Mr. Chow.  Please know I was very fortunate to work for companies that always wanted to make the best, first impressions so all of my candidates were always interviewed for breakfast, a drink or dinner at the best haunts in New York.  This is one of the perks of working in a luxury company.

Judy was living in Chicago at the time and had made a real mark with Speigel by bringing brand names to them, such as Ralph Lauren, when this was simply unheard of. Any case, we arranged for her to meet Glen Senk, the head of the By Mail business and of course, Marvin Traub our CEO.  Judy was hired and spent many years in the By Mail business, ending up as it’s President.

Great talent is always romanced by many companies, but Judy was very loyal to Bloomingdale’s; however the Company changed a great deal after the Marvin Traub regime (one that grew the best and most creative executives in the business and she decided to leave to go to a Women Within.   She ran that catalog business  until she married after which she continued as a consultant for several years.

The two of us were single women who lived near to each other on the upper east side of New York for many years.  She at Park and 60th and me at 85th off Fifth.  We met many nights for dinner – usually at Amaranth, still a favorite.

We spent so many wonderful times together and both loved our work. Good times and bad times.  We lived through 9/11 together and made a trip to the site about 2 weeks after the incident.  We quickly ended up in the Mercer Hotel drinking martinis to take away the sting.   Then, In the early  2000’s Judy married Jim Kearns at a wonderful wedding held in Great Britain.  Several years later, I married Doug.

Any case, we kept in touch and through all of these years we have gone through some sad times too – Judy’s parents both passed in the last years, and we have both had some annoying challenges with health.  But still we were always fashion girls together with a very similar style – clean, black/white, seasonless; attention to good shoes and handbags; simple jewelry.

Last year, Judy sent me a birthday card and wrote in it that my present was a business-class, round trip flight to Paris!  I was stunned, but she explained that she and Jim had so many miles because of their travel to Jim’s businesses in Europe, that she wanted to use them for a fashion girls trip to Paris.  Doug thought the trip was a wonderful idea because he thought I needed a break from everything and was happy for me to go.  He loves Judy and knew the two of us would have a great trip together.

So on March 22 we met halfway between Sarasota and Scottsdale (in Dallas) and flew to Paris together!

We made all of our dinner reservations well in advance with the help of our hotel Conciergerie’s , Eric and Sven.   We stayed at the Hotel Lancaster in the 8th a wonderful top-of-the-line hotel recommended to me years prior by Glen Senk.  I have stayed there just about every time I have been in Paris.   Our flight landed late because we were turned back at the beginning of the flight from Dallas to Paris because of some type of malfunction, but we landed in Paris about 1:30 p.m. and arrived at the hotel about 2:30 p.m.  Our room wasn’t ready, so we had tea in the lovely hotel bar and were in our room by 4:00 p.m.  We shared a beautiful courtyard room with a fireplace!  As we refreshed and rested, we watched CNN news and before we knew it we were off to Benoit for dinner.  Benoit is a very well-known, small bistro that serves a traditional and delicious fare.  Uber was our method of transportation and we used it the entire time we were in Paris, unless the Hotel car was free.  Back to the hotel for a wonderful night’s sleep – and a late wake up!

All of our days started at about 10:30 a.m. We checked CNN as soon as we woke up and then prepared to dress for the day, and talk about what our agenda would be.  Our first day out was a walk down the Champs Elysée and a stop for espresso and a croissant with a  primary focus on Avenue Montaigne – one of the most fashionable venues in Paris.  We walked through 2 Chanel Stores, 2 Dolce & Gabbana Stores, and window shopped at Valentino, Armani, Dior and others.  Montaigne is also a beautiful and non-touristy residential neighborhood.  We were thrilled that we were always addressed in French and never in English.  Ah, Paris!  Everyone, men and women, young and old, look so put together.  And the personal fragrances are lovely – not heavy and overbearing.  (More on fragrance to come.)  Another very noticeable thing:  the streets are quiet.  The French don’t speak loudly and their children behave incredibly well.  Even in business shopping areas voices are hushed.

Dinner  at Voltaire on Quai de Voltiare on the left bank is another historic and traditional restaurant with the very best of preparation.  The maitre d’hotel recognized Judy from her many previous visits and we both received the traditional air-hand kiss!  Lovely.  The meal was incredibly good.  We planned to walk across the Pont Royal to the Ritz Hotel for a martini; something we had done together on another trip – and we were disappointed!  The Ritz was refurbished a few years ago and they moved their beautiful bar (with a glass roof) that had a great pianist to the very back of the hotel and replaced the space with a restaurant.  So we followed a long, narrow hallway to the back of the hotel and there, across from the Hemingway Bar was the Ritz Bar – with blasting disco music and a strange crowd.  No piano, no glass roof!   We had our martinis and left very disappointed; we have four martinis and our bill was 120 euro! We did take 12 Hotel Ritz linen serviette with us in exchange.

Our trip was five more days of incredible delight.  Each area that we visited is a bit different, Rive Gauche, Montaigne, George V, Champs, Honore.  It would be hard to pick one over the other.  We also walked through the little shops of Grenelle, and through Ralph Lauren’s unbelievable location in St. Germain du Pres; so tastefully done.

I am always  amazed at the incredible service received while in Paris.  At Hermès I purchased a scarf for my mini-collection (I think I am up to seven now) In wooden and glass cases, the scarves are folded in a very specific way and are arranged by color.  One has to wait to be waited on because anytime a customer would like to see a scarf, it is taken out of the case then opened completely on the case top.  The salesperson offers history of the scarf as well.  Each salesperson is dressed immaculately in a uniform and is wearing a scarf (or tie for men) tied in their own way.  Impeccable service.  Of course, the scarf you see is not the one you buy.  You are always given a fresh scarf in the famous orange box.  Your salesperson stays with you through the payment, holds the shopping bag for you while you pay and bids you goodbye.  I have shopped at the Hermes store in New York, and even though the merchandise is the same, the service doesn’t come close to that of the Parisian store, nor the ambience.

Tea at Le Bristol was exquisite.  Beautiful china, a beautiful room and lovely patrons.  The hotel is just wonderful with a magnificent floral arrangement in the lobby.

I’m not going describe every place we ate or every place we visited, but I will say that I am in awe of how good the French are at embracing luxury.  They do not treat luxury as a brash sign like we do here in the U.S.  Luxury in Paris understated and a way of life.   You don’t see Parisian teenagers flaunting luxury; their parents would not allow it.  And the scarf, no matter how inexpensive or expensive, is always tied perfectly by the man or woman who is wearing it.  Men in particular use more fragrance – more subtle fragrance – then an American man.  It is very nice to walk on the small sidewalks of Honore and have a man slide past you, followed by the most incredible, clean, crisp and unfamiliar masculine fragrance.

Speaking of fragrance,  the best place to really immerse into the fragrance is in Galeries Lafayette.  This Grand Magasin (along with Bon Marche) is a trip in itself.  The first floor has the largest fragrance (and cosmetics) floor space I have ever seen.  But on this visit, Judy and I noticed something entirely different.  The way in which the store merchandises fragrance.  Many brands mix a personalized fragrance for the customer.  I never saw so many scents on display!  Incredible merchandising insight.

Each night in lieu of the planned Ritz/Martini visits, we returned to the Lancaster and had our martini in the lovely and cozy bar.  We agreed that these were perfect and on a few nights we had two.  Martinis at the Lancaster are served in glasses with a fifties tilt, that is a martini glass with a small bowl.  We chatted several times about how much easier they were to handle and to finish for a woman, instead of some of the oversized monstrosities that we see in the U.S.  For sure, size means nothing!

So what is it about Paris?  Paris is the lovely sing-song-ie “Bonjour” we heard from the  Uber driver to the doormen to the salesperson.  Paris is a hotel where you aren’t given a plastic card for entry to your room; rather a real key that you leave at the desk.   It is  Judy being called  “Joo-dee” puting such a lovely sound to her name.  It is a Mass at Notre Dame on Palm Sunday.   It is Les Deux Magot, Maison Blanche, Voltaire, Benoit, Market, Tablettes, Epi D’Upin, Costes, Angelina…..  It is beautiful, and fragrant floral arrangements.  It is a world of scarves worn every way imaginable. It is good wine.  It is incredible cheeses.  It is red lipstick.  It is grace.  It is civility.

I am so fortunate  to have visited Paris many times, mostly for business, but this time to have such a terrific trip with a good friend and, possibly for the last time.  I can’t think of anything better, except of course for the husbands that were happy that we went together and that we were on our way home!!  Bon Soir!