Where to look for a holiday in a holiday city – Style

In December, the entire French capital turned into a large Christmas village, although large department stores started the festive marathon in early November. Printemps Haussmann was the first to unpack its hand-made paper Christmas displays. Catherine Deneuve ceremonially cut the ribbon. In an interview with French publications, the 80-year-old film star recalled how she went with her mother to Printemps, because you could find everything there, and admitted that she began to dress up less, since Saint Laurent is no longer there, and Gaultier has left and big fashion no longer captivates her , complained that modern women don’t wear heels, and when asked about the best New Year’s gift, she answered: “A tree.”

The neighboring Galerie Lafayette invited the young French designer and art director of Rochas Charles de Vilmorant to curate its Christmas decorations. To look at them, you need to be patient: all tourist paths lead to Lafayette, and the pleasures are about the same as on the subway at rush hour.

The Samaritaine department store is literally in chocolate this year. The LVMH store is a partner in the film “Wonka”, so the Christmas tree is made of chocolate, the display windows are edible (their author is the Swiss artist and sculptor Thomas Lieu Le Lann), and everything around is like in the movies.

Festive illumination took over the baton near the shops. From November 19 to January 7, four hundred trees on the Champs Elysees twinkle like the Eiffel Tower, and tens of thousands of people spread these lights around the world through pictures on social networks. Paris is again breaking attendance records, especially during the holidays.

There has been no Christmas market on the main street of Paris for five years now: it has moved to the Tuileries Garden. There is an amusement park with a Ferris wheel, a skating rink, children’s performances, and trade is in full swing until almost midnight. 80% of the goods are French, a special emphasis is placed on this, since the market on the Champs Elysees was burned by the excessive passion for Made in China. This was the official version of its closure. However, the local press gossiped about the conflict: supposedly the king of fair traders, Marcel Campion, did not get along with the Parisian mayor Anne Hidalgo. The Fields are urban territory, and the Tuileries belongs to the Louvre, that is, to the republic. There they gave the green light.

The Paris City Hall also has its own market – environmentally and socially responsible. On the Hotel de Ville square there has grown a forest of living Christmas trees (all of which will end up in the city flower beds in the form of mulch), a wall for little climbers, a huge slide – without snow, but still with sleds – and alpine chalets. Some sell gifts Made in Paris – this is how the Parisian mayor’s office supports local producers, others serve pancakes and pour hot chocolate and wine, and between them, to the delight of the children, the bearded Père Noel – lean, athletic and ready to set records – floats around. The Christmas holiday is the seed of the summer holiday. The façade of City Hall glows with the five Olympic rings (all LED lights and extinguishes daily at 11:45 p.m.) in anticipation of the Olympics, which will take place in Paris from July 26 to August 11, 2024. Parisians are still skeptical about the sports festival, the authorities plainly say that the traffic will be hardcore, prices are galloping like Christmas reindeer, but Père Noel is holding the sports brand on the mayor’s square.

Hotels are traditionally also included in the Christmas marathon. The Ritz built its luxury village on Place Vendôme. From Wednesday to Sunday, the Golden Carousel spins for free for everyone taller than 95 cm; the chalet serves gluten-free sweets from pastry chef François Perret and sells teddy bear footmen. When purchasing, you can get a “golden ticket”: a night at the Ritz is at stake.

Plaza Athenee is another stop on the city’s Christmas route. This year, the hotel not only opened its traditional skating rink, but also built a real Alpine chalet: cheese for fondue is melted in cast-iron pots, and ice-cold champagne sparkles in wine glasses. Savoyard peasants would grin at their shaggy mustaches at such a combination, but Avenue Montaigne obliges – it has its own tastes.

New this year is an ice skating rink in the Palais Royale courtyard from the fashion brand Ami by Alexandre Mattiussi (open from December 16 to 31). It didn’t require any water or ice—everything was state-of-the-art, but you won’t be able to try out the “synthetic tiles with automatic lubrication” that make up the 22 square meters of the skating rink with your own feet. Free tickets on the brand’s website disappeared in a matter of seconds. For those who didn’t have access to the skating rink, the Ami cafe and a pop-up with a Christmas capsule collection await you.

Inspiration and beauty in Paris have an unchanging address – 30 Avenue Montaigne. For the holidays, the Dior boutique has redecorated not only the windows, but also the exhibition in the gallery. “Christian Dior and Women” is a theme that runs like a red thread through the permanent exhibition. The main women in the life of the French couturier were his mother and sister. Mom is a windswept house on a cliff in Granville, the scent of roses, a love of music, art and exquisite taste in everything. The younger sister of Catherine Dior is a partisan, a member of the Resistance movement and the muse of her brother’s first perfume, Miss Dior. The first woman in the history of the fashion house was Maria Grazia Chiuri. She combined Dior’s two passions – women and art – into one and opened the doors of Dior to contemporary women artists from all over the world. Katerina Jebb, Elina Chauvet, Yuriko Takagi, Brigitte Nedermeier and Eva Jospin worked with her on both collections and artistic projects for the new exhibition. However, it was Mark Boan who was the first to start this dialogue with art. The great long-living director of Dior chose as his muse the artist Niki de Sant-Falle – an aristocrat, a feminist, the author of bizarre sculptures of fat women, “free from marriage and masochism,” and a bold beauty.

Old address, but new history at the legendary cabaret Lido on the Champs-Elysees, which in December entertains with the premiere of the comedy musical “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” by American master Stephen Sondheim. A year ago, the closure of the 76-year-old Lido was mourned by the whole world, although recently there has been no trace left of the cabaret’s former enthusiasm and brilliance. It was bought by the French giant hotel chain Accor, who built Lido2Paris – a hall for showing musical performances. Cancans and trained dogs are a thing of the past, and at the helm of the new team is Jean-Luc Choplan, an experienced producer and theater manager who has worked with Roland Petit and Rudolf Nureyev at Disneyland and the Chatelet Theater. Designer Alexis Mabille and architect Philippe Puman were responsible for the interiors. Their concept is a concert hall as a large salon, velor sofas, soft armchairs, dim lighting and a high-quality music show with a glass. “Comedy today, tragedy tomorrow,” a line from the main song of “A Funny Story…” is the best epigraph for both the updated Lido2Paris and the New Year.

The castles closest to Paris, Chateau de Chantilly, Chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte, Chateau de Fontainebleau and Chateau de Versailles, also offer Christmas performances for the whole family. The latter lures you to the evening performance-visit “The Way of the King,” which takes place after the palace closes. Artists and musicians will lead viewers through the palace chambers to meet fairy tales, Christmas miracles and the “king” dressed as Father Frost.

Maria Sidelnikova