fashion | Pause Explore

I know I’m supposed to like it – possibly love it – everyone does, everyone expects you to, they are waiting for that rave moment about the charm and romance, about what it showed you, opened your eyes to, taught you, the je n’ai sais quois so many people reach for…but I just didn’t. I didn’t see it, I didn’t feel it, I barely wanted to stay the planned two and a half days…to me Paris was just average.

What did you think I was talking about?

But really, I love to travel. To me there is nothing more thrilling than that moment a plane or train takes off, that moment of taxi or your gps says go – not only for the destination, the sites, the culture, the art and the food but for me it’s the people. I want to talk to people, to have a double espresso at their favorite cafe, street art on their favorite side street and shop in their favorite stores; but to do that the locals need to actually want to share these things with you.

I did have one can’t miss destination. The Louvre. No matter what I felt, thought or how much longer I wanted to stay my deep appreciation for history and art and the origin of a people and a place made me know I couldn’t miss this treasure chest of images, color and inspiration.

So I found myself at The Louvre standing in a beautiful lush blooming courtyard and a line that rivaled Manhattan’s most popular lounges in the early 2000s and I waited and looked and listened to the languages being spoken around me, the things people were excited about and other thoughts that I couldn’t seem to pry out of locals. The Louvre is an impressive structure, it is art itself, besides the iconic pyramid and the beautiful gardens that surround it and pop up on every tourists pictures from our grandparents days of slides to facebook to insta #ofcourseIcametoParisandtookthisunoriginalphoto but people forget once they get inside. Everyone wonders what piece resonates with an individual. Everyone asked me – a street, photography and modern art lover – if anything grabbed me. The truth is a few things things really truly resonated with me but not what most people expect.

1. I was told by an american tourist in an old school espresso bar that there is enough individual pieces of art in the Louvre that if one spent a minute on each it would take over 3 months to see it all. With all that art it felt like there was a constant set or breadcrumbs from the entrance to the Mona Lisa. This iconic piece that has become such a part of pop culture and common lexicon to the point where I’ve heard my male friends have described women they meet as a “Mona Lisa: beautiful from afar but not so special up close,” has books and movies with it in the name and is featured in so many other ways. The truth is everyone seemed excited to find her, to meet her, but I didn’t see one person stop and really look at her, be moved by her, understand the enormity of what she’s done and how she effected each and every one of their cultures. It reminds me of a line from The Devil Wears Prada:

This… ‘stuff’? Oh… ok. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select out, oh I don’t know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you’re trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don’t know is that that sweater is not just blue, it’s not turquoise, it’s not lapis, it’s actually cerulean. You’re also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn’t it, who showed cerulean military jackets? I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of 8 different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and so it’s sort of comical how you think that you’ve made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you’re wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff.

2. I loved observing the people and the way different individuals react to art. The school groups; the tours; people who actually look or even just take pictures and look later; the people who you see have to restrain themselves from touching the sculptures and statues; and those who want to “get it”; and, my favorite, those who are so moved their reaction allows you to see a piece you may have missed.

3. The Louvre itself. The structure, I found myself in awe of the way it was built, its grandeur without being imposing or intimidating as I slid my hands over marble banisters. I looked up at the ceilings, the walls that were perfect and those that had to be restored from years of others doing the same. The magnitude of the space was in itself an incredible story and piece of art. I was overwhelmed. Then I was underwhelmed by the way the actual pieces of art were presented. It was like a quilt, semi connected, connects and totally unrelated pieces virtually touching each other, no uniformity of framing or even medium in most cases. It made it difficult for me to connect or be moved by a specific piece because my eyes couldn’t hold focus with just one.

This struct me as a metaphor for life. You meet people, friends, business partner, love interests and depending on the circumstance the same meeting, catalyst and personalities circumstances change. They progress differently? Something unique amid a and assault of other eye catching items is not the same, just as the thought consuming experiences vs the same infinitely special piece for example in a white walled gallery put where you can see it feel it observe and experience it uninterrupted, privately and without other influences is a different experience and once the outside noise is taken away the same special qualities but seen in a time and evolution differently. I think this is important to consider in relationships and life – to avoid the noise, friends, smartphones, social media, family. How we should pause, and explore whatever we are entering into on our own. No noise, no oust side influence. Not following pop culture’s breadcrumbs to what we should be looking for or reaching for.

So tell me. How do you all stop and make sure you are listening to only yourself, only your own instincts and making the decisions that are right for you – even for me down to not responding with the expected of course I loved Paris because that’s what others want to hear but with holding true and being honest in even the small details.