Do you want an experience? I mean a really delicious experience that makes you feel like a glamor queen or a fashion dream??? Les Parisiennes, get away from those department stores ladies! I stumbled happily upon an address for you that you must discover urgently! BDA FASHION CONCEPT STORE – 46 RUE LA CONDAMINE 75017 PARIS. http://www.bastiendealmeida.com/

I was strolling down the street and almost walked past their door. Not a very especially noticeable door. The words “fashion”, and “concept” caught my eye, and I peered into the window… the fact that I had an appointment suddenly escaped my mind. I was struck! I opened the door and felt like I was entering a secret garden… a garden of fashion. The concept store of Bastien De Almeida, decorated by Baptiste (who greeted my warmly), is decorated with glowing neon lights, mirror balls, in a marriage of texture and color that few stores could ever dream of mastering. The place is a work of art, a venu for vintage fashionistas with all the clothing arranged by colors, and then backed by walls in painted in a soft black that makes the colors pop. It is so esthetically pleasing to the eye as a whole, and so interesting in detail that you don’t know where to look first as you wander farther inside to get a closer look. A table with a sewing machine greets you to the left where the couture lessons take place (yes you too can learn!), a central table to your right is filled with every kind of coffee table fashion book you can image, a fishbowl glows on one wall, retro movies on another, an ostrich winks at you from yet another. Feathers tickle the corners of the room and soften the darkness of the walls. Neon lights provide a back-lighting like no other store you’ve seen. And the lace ruffles and taffeta pleats dripping languorously on their hangers call out to you to touch, try on, take home and prance around Paris in them. Oh clothing never had such an irresistible appeal!