Paris Mon Amour
Thursday, October 5, 2006 at 4:17PM 
It could be all the talk about Rive Gauche, or the anticipation of the new "Marie Antoinette" film, or how closely I identified with the story from La Coquette about being shunned at the bar of Hotel Costes. (Honey, it happens to everyone!) For some reason I'm homesick for Paris. Again, it happens to everyone, and I cannot explain my own yearnings at this moment.
I did come across this famous image by Frank Horvat recently and it has added fuel to my fire. "Le chien qui fume" Les Halles, for Jardin des Modes, 1957. The fact that the image was taken in Paris is just gravy - the whole moment captures the essence of everything wonderful about being dressed up for a night on the town: the afterward of the late-night. Of course, onion soup is usually replaced by a cheesburger in my world, but it's basically the same: a fabulous dress, a handsome date, and a dive. You roll into a casual spot like starlets entering El Morocco, with all eyes on you. Your collective beauty adds "class to th'jernt" and your host is honored you're there. Then you pull up a stool and order a budweiser. Thankfully, the hot spots (Hotel Costes) don't give this kind of reception because if they did the night wouldn't be this magical. The juxtaposition is perfectly romantic, and if you'll forgive me, poetically chic.
For the best compilation of Paris photographs by Doisneau, Blumenfeld, Brassai, Atget, Klein and others, I humbly suggest Paris Mon Amour, compiled by Jean-Claude Gautrand. Now only available in paperback, but equally transporting.
Image by Frank Horvat on Art.com
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Lilou