Session de rattrapage : Fete des jardins 2013 (on film)

The winter cold has finally hit me this year and I spent the last 2 days in bed drinking hot herbal infusions and OJ... But this gave me time to go through the last batch of very old film rolls I recently scanned and discover these lovely shots. 

Leslie Knope would have loved it in France; I'm not talking about the Camembert and macarons here, but about all the government-sponsored events.

I know everyone loves Fete de la musique and Nuit Blanche, but too me that's just too much noise and drunk people in the street.

What I love is Fete des jardins - a yearly celebration that takes place in all the parks and gardens in Paris and the suburbs.

I might have mentioned it before and it truly is the best thing ever for a nature-hungry urbanite like me.

I discovered it in 2011 strictly by chance when going to the Parc Floral right after coming back from my Romanian summer sojourn.

It takes place around the 20th of September, when the weather is usually nice and warm, with a certain summer vibe lingering.

I haven't been to many other celebratory spots, but after carefully scanning the program this year, Parc Floral still seemed like the best bet. In the end it's a beautiful botanical garden, you get free entrance, maybe some nice music and always free plants.

By now I know the two little games that win you plants, though I must confess it was more fun the previous year.

There's still stuff to discover, like the building your fake garden in sand workshop for kids that I just had to take part in!

My favourite thing this year was actually in the Dahlia expo, which I normally don't pay much attention to, but these darkly leafed hybrids with movie names were an instant crush.

I mean how awesome would it be to receive a bouquet of Star Wars with a dash of Taxi Driver?

If I was ever to create a floral variety, it would be a super scented garden rose in pale pink called The Long Goodbye. Or an almost black freesia called La maman et la putain.

But enough reminiscing for now. I'll be preparing a new batch of vintage items for next week, so keep your eyes peeled!

Les couleurs complémentaires ( outfit )

 

  bodysuit:American Apparel (gift)

silk pants :thrifted

KEDS : gift

market bag: thrifted

necklace :DIY

 

I was pretty shocked this summer when a friend told me he didn't know what complementary colors were ; then I realized that this sort of information belongs to clothes-obsessed girls and kids who were forced to take painting classes. Or maybe just art students.

You all know them - red and green, yellow and violet, orange and blue - those colors that together have the most contrast, bring out the best in each other.

I think this might apply to people also. Or maybe just to classical painting and Christmas trees. Sure, the red/green thing brings to mind Amelie Poulin, but I also remember this year in high school when a classmate challenged me to wear only red/blue outfits for the last week of school before the winter break.

It's too bad I didn't document the experiment, given the fact that I was already familiar with street style blogs at the time. Also, I believe I did a terrific job.

This is of course a long overdue September outfit, but I think it somehow works with the whole Holiday spirit. Chromatically, of course.

I still haven't fully figured out the sizing for this American Apparel bodysuit, although I love the style to pieces; in a size small the upper part fits well, but the torso feels a little too long, creating a weirdly long ass. However, the proportions seem better for the black one in the same size as my other grey and red one. Mystery!

I just love how this double exposures turned out ; they look planned, not as if I shot over an already exposed film by mistake (which was totally the case). Thing is I still don't know who shot that roll I took as empty! Maybe I did it the previous winter after all. So strange (or just clumsy). You can see other shots from the same roll here.

Also, I've added about a dozen new items to the shop, check it out if you haven't already!