The Jardin Albert Kahn is probably one of those infamous Parisian hidden spots you keep hearing about; sure, we all love Bois de Vincennes, Buttes Chaumont and Jardin des Plantes, but this little garden is really something special. Or maybe less so as more and more French bloggers started using it as a backdrop for outfit photos.
It's a story of a romantic banker who wanted to travel the world but instead he sponsored other people to do it , strongly believing that knowing other cultures would lead to peace and understanding among people.
The garden comprises six carefully planned regional environments, from a Vosgian forest (the guy actually had boulders and rocks transported from the actual mountain for authenticity!), a Japanese garden buiolt under the supervision of a real stone mason from Japan, complete with koi pond and an English rose garden.
It is pretty much pure Victorian eccentricity, only a few decades later.
It is a very quiet and nice spot, not to mention complete with an entire museum celebrating his life and work that displays an impressive number of autochromes.
Autochromes are like a gateway drug - they're super pretty and show Edwardian fashions in color and David Hamilton hues, so they appeal to the fashion geeks but the process is also super freaky and fascinating ( colored potato peel dust anyone??) so the tech/photography geeks are all over it.
For some reason the contemporary art world remains skeptical; maybe it's because ''beauty'' has been a pretty unpopular concept for the last two centuries.
This late '20s-early 30s eyelet dress complete with my 30s boater hat seems like the perfect outfit for my first garden visit; it was just one of those places I've been planning to go to for over 2 years now but alas it only happened this year. I like to believe I've been waiting for the right outfit.
And seeing the photos on this film roll, I like to believe I did.
The dress is very old but in perfect condition and it will be in the shop next week; I think it would make a wonderful bridal dress!
Also for some reason they let me in for free with my student card, so I should be all the more motivated to return!
You can read more about the fascinating story of Albert Kath here.
The English version is pretty poor unfortunately, but I will try to write more about it, especially since I have another batch of photos to post.
Enjoy!
Oh, you turned my evening into magic by this photoshoot. Can you take me there and may we stay there forever in those dresses, picking up the flowers?
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