Burgandy, Lyon and Dijon

My dad was in town recently and I had 5 days off school as we had with Armistice day, a bridging day on the Friday (French often take off a day in between when a public holidays fall mid-week) and also the Monday off.

I took lots of photos and I think I will let them speak for themselves as I am a little brain dead after staying up late every night this week to catch up on Assignments I didn't do because I was away!

Our cute little hotel in Lyon the Le Royal in the main square where we spent our first night

In the old town in Lyon they have this crazy miniatures museum which was suprisingly really good. Check out the baby LV on the left!
We also visited the Cathedral on the hill, the Amphitheater which apparently dates back to B.C and Lyon has their very own Eiffel tower.





We had some amazing food, a one star restaurant in Beaune http://www.levernois.com/ and a 3 star restaurant in Chagny http://www.lameloise.fr/

We visited the old Hospice in burgandy, the Abby at Fontanay, the town where chocolat was filmed, did a wine tour and visited the chateau at Fontainbleu.

Parafection & Ecole Lesage

Lesage - Embroider
The middle picture is of the beads they had in storage there were hundreds

Parafection, loosely translated means "for the love of", and is the name of the company created in 2002 by Chanel to support 7 independant atéliers d'art. These 7 workshops have long been suppliers to Chanel and many other fashion houses, particularly for their couture and sometimes for their ready to wear lines. Chanel made the decision to form this umbrella company to avoid potentially losing these suppliers which they rely on for their expertise in different areas.

Included in these 7 workshops are a bootmaker, a costume jeweler, a feather and flower maker, a fabric pleater, a glove maker, a milliner and hat maker and an embroider.

We visited the Ecole Lesage and had a talk on the history of couture and background on the 7 different workshops. We then did a tour of 3 of the workshops Lesage (Embroider), Michel (Hat maker and Milliner) and Lemarie (feather and flower maker). It was really exciting to get to visit these places and what made it more exciting is that they were madly preparing for Fashion week which was in 2 weeks time.

On the second day we had lesson in embroidery at Ecole Lesage and we sewed a beaded pattern onto a screen which we were able to cut out and take home with us.

At Lemarie the Feather and Flower maker
The created they Chanel dress worn by Nicole Kidman for the Chanel No. 5 ads

At Michel's the Hat maker and Milliner

Discovering Place de la Madeleine with Monika

On one of our last really hot days in Paris, Monika - a fellow ESSEC student and Paris local, showed me around Place de la Madeleine. There were some of the most exquisite stores there and exactly what you think of when you dream of Paris and all the lovely things they have here.

There was:

Mariage Tea Shop
The cutest tea shop with teas from all over the world and all the most beautiful accessories for drinking tea.
www.mariagefreres.com

Fauchon
There are 2 Fauchon stores on the Place de la Madeleine. One selling all their amazing cakes (see pic), breads, cheeses. The other selling their deli type items (foie gras, oils, coffee, chocolate) this one also has a restaurant and bar upstairs
www.fauchon.com

Prunier
Caviar store and restaurant
www.prunier.com

Maison de la Truffe
Truffle restaurant and store
www.maison-de-la-truffe.com

Laduree
Macaroon shop - they have another store in St Germain is one of the most popular Macaroon stores with queues going down the street.
www.laduree.fr

Hediard
A gourmet food supplier with everything from oils, wines, fresh fruit, chocolates, sweets and exotic spices.
www.hediard.fr

Maille
Mustard Shop which also sells mayonnaise and vinegar. I am sure I have had their wholegrain mustard in Australia.
www.maille.us

......and of course we had to stop and have a cocktail after our exhausting walk around the square! @ Forvm: www.bar-le-forum.com

Gemmology Class

Gilbert models brown diamond - Diamond with Grading report - I model 2 carat Diamond

We had five sessions with Martine Naman of Natural Fancy Coloured Diamonds, Antwerp. In these sessions we learnt about Gemstones, Diamonds, Coloured Diamonds, Pearls and for our final class for this subject we visited a diamond cutter in Paris.

This was a very popular class - particularly amongst the girls - as we got to see first hand many precious diamonds, gemstones and pearls. Often the jewels were in settings so we could try them on. Everyone would gush as the different stones were handed around the class.

Martine shared with us many interesting stories about the industry. How when she started out it was difficult to sell coloured diamonds as the trend was still for colourless diamonds. I was suprised at how much I loved the Brown diamond, it doesn't sound glamorous but it was.

Other interesting stories she shared was of a colleague who had their yellow diamond stolen by a person known to them. A few years have passed since this happened and just recently a similar stone has been put up for auction in China so her colleague is going to travel to the auction to see if it is his. No two diamonds are exactly the same and her colleague is an expert so if it is his he will recognise it however there is a rule in the industry that if the diamond has been exchanged more than 7 times it is not possible to claim your stone back.

Other things I learnt were that it is illegal to fish for natural pearls and that W.A is the best place to find pink diamonds - I might have to go visit when I get back!

I model a Tahitian Pearl ring - Asami models a pearl ring.- Gilbert models a yellow Diamond

15th Anniversary of MBA Luxe & 2010 Graduation Ceremony

Friday 10th September ESSEC threw a party in the Baccarat Crystal Ballroom to celebrate the 15 year anniversary of the Luxury Brand Management MBA. It was a fun to get dressed up and go out in the city with our classmates but it also gave us an opportunity to meet many of the Alumni from our course. There were some really interesting people there along with the majority of the 2010 graduating class who reassured us that, even though throughout the year we would feel like the teaching staff were trying to kill us, they are living proof that you can get through it all and that it will be an amazing year.

Maison Baccarat, 11, place des Etats-Unis, 75116 Paris
http://www.baccarat.com/en/the-world-of-baccarat/maisons-baccarat/maison-baccarat-paris.htm




Monday 15th September we had the Graduation Ceremony for the class of 2010. It was held at another grand ballroom - at the Westin on Rue De Castiglione. We gained further insight into what was in store for us this year through speeches from the graduating class. We also heard from representatives from Gucci Group, YSL Beaute, L'oreal and Firmenich. It was another really fun night but we also had, for the first time that night, a taste of what things to come as I was up till 2am with my accounting group finishing off our assignment due the next day.

Vogue's Fashion night out

Wednesday night last week a group of us attended Vogue's Fashion night out. To mark the start of Fashion week the stores on Avenue Montaigne stay open late for fashion lovers to come into their stores and party. All the stores were heaving and it was difficult to get into many of the stores but the group I was with managed to go to Marni, Jimmy Choo, Loewe, Emilio Pucci and Dior.

It was pretty hectic and not sure if it's something I would go to every year but it was awesome to be in Paris and to be enjoying a champagne or two in all the top stores. Highlights were the buzz around Chanel when Karl Lagerfeld arrived, getting a snap with Karl's car and the crazy party in the Dior couture room. The Dior room was packed, two DJ's entertained a crowd of probably over 80 people whist we danced amongst Dior's most expensive couture gowns. Definitely not something that would happen in Sydney!

Oenology Class

Week 2 started with an overview of the luxury industry followed by our first Oenology class! Our professor said that Oenology is probably the wrong name for this class as the definition of Oenology is the scientific study of wine and we are really just studying the different wines of the world whilst getting to sample a few along the way.

In our first Oenology class we were supposed to have a guest speaker from the Reidel wine glass company but due to the train strikes he wasn't able to get to the school. I was pretty disappointed he couldn't make it but we got to drink out of four different Riedel wine glasses for our tasting so that made up for it a little. In our first class we sampled a Sancerre, a Meursault, a Bordeaux and a Burgundy.

Our Second Oenology class we had a guest speaker from Bouchard Pere & Fils winery in Burgandy. We got to sample 5 different wines, some Grand Cru and the others premier cru all from the Bouchard Pere & Fils vineyard. The wines we sampled were a Chabils, a Meursault, a Corton, a Chambertain Clos de Beze and a Beaune Grave. The Chambertain was the stand out and at around 300 euros per bottle most people chose to not spit that one out.