Allow me to fulfill my promise...

Allow me to fulfill my promise. The shopping in Montpellier is pretty good but just because it’s in France doesn’t mean it’s anything like Paris. I have done a lot of window-shopping. I’ve cruised the streets looking for nothing and finding everything and while I haven’t purchased much, I’ve seen quite a bit of what the city has to offer. The “Centre-Ville” is where all of the shops are located as it is the commercial center of the city. In one corner there is a small (by US standards) indoor mall with Galeries Lafayette as the anchor department store. The shops in the mall carry everything from shoes to electronics to home furnishings much like every mall in the states. Then there are hundreds of boutiques sprinkled throughout the city streets. Whether you are looking to invest in a timeless piece by a French aetelier or just want an inexpensive, mass-produced accessory the best places to look are in the many boutiques. They are interwoven with the great restaurants, cafes and apartments along the twisted and tangled cobbled streets. Its quite entertaining just to walk the streets and see where you end up. 

For clothing there are many too many options. Galeries Lafayette, a scaled back version of the amazing couture- carrying monolith in Paris, has mens, womens and childrens apparel, shoes and accessories from all of the major French brands. They also carry some of the top ranking Italian and American designers. In the mall there is Zara (a huge international brand) very popular in Montpellier. It is a two- floor store and is very fashionable and fairly inexpensive, it reminds me of H&M. There is also a C&A, Sephora, Gap, Camarieu, Pimkie and more. The boutiques through out town are a total mix of both high and low- end brands though none are the couture houses like Chanel, Gucci etc.

Part of shopping is noticing what people are wearing this season. What they wear to school, to work and around town. I’ve been paying close attention to all of the men’s and women’s fashions as we are so close to both Paris and Milan the fashion capitols of the world. I have found it interesting how closely people follow the trends and how similarly people dress. There are also more clearly drawn lines when it comes to age- appropriate clothing. Right now, the ladies from teens to women in their 30’s are wearing the skinny jeans which are either tucked into their tall, riding boots, worn with a ballet flat or a tall heel.  They all have some sort of take on the tweed/ wool coat with huge buttons, most are black or gray with the occasional bright red one.  Then everyone wears a scarf, especially this time of year. It is getting colder now and their scarves have transformed from delicate silk splashes of color to functional chunky wool knit ones over night.  It seems most women wear neutral tones in an attempt to blend in. Curious, I asked a local about the style he said that the women tend to dress fashionable but in more muted colors so as not to offend people. I didn’t quite understand at first but after observing for the past three weeks it seems true. Most shoes are black or gray if they’re a color it is a muted one. Every woman wears nylons with their shoes that are a similar color. The coats and scarves are all beautiful but few are in bright colors. Traditionally fall fashion colors are more muted so I’ll be interested to see what the spring brings.

For shoes and handbags there are also many, many options. I have found it interesting the differences in price ranges. There are lots of little “import shops” that don’t really have a name for their shop and all the shoes boxes are stacked and you can find a pair of boots for 25 euro. While fashion- forward the quality of product from these stores is poor. Then there are the shops in the mall and some boutiques where prices range from 60-160 euro for a similar looking boot. Finally there are the larger boutiques where one could pay upwards of 500 euro for a gorgeous pair. The handbag availability seems to be the same. There are all price ranges available but the really cool ones are 400 euro. I arrived with a handbag in poor condition so I had been keeping my eyes open for one.  I didn’t like the selections available at 15 euro which were made of “pleather” and where either black or brown. Boring! I ended up finding one at a small shop on one of the streets, tucked away like a little treasure.  I’d been there with friends weeks ago and enjoyed the store so much that I returned just last week. Their shop is full of fun accessories for yourself and your home.  I even managed to tell the shop owner that I loved his store, in French!

One very important thing to note the stores here do not have sales. In the US our shops have sales or promotions every weekend and holiday, apparently it doesn’t happen here. There are sales once in January after the New Year then again in August. I have seen some stores with markdowns on some pieces but not everywhere and certainly not banners indicating HUGE MARKDOWNS like home.

There is some of what you ladies were looking for… I’m sure I’ll have more fashion and shopping gossip as the months pass. Oh and speaking of that gossip I finally saw Sex and the City the movie… I loved it! iTunes has been a very close friend to both Linn and I over the past couple months. Next on the blog pictures and info about our recent day trip out of Montpellier and in the spirit of the Magic School Bus books I’ll leave with a teaser!

Ta ta for now.