Paris Trend: Pantalons des Celebrations

Pantalons des Celebrations
(these words on a sign in a Paris shop made me smile)
 & literally means:  
PARTY PANTS

Pants in the windows at Colette, the cutting edge Paris shop on rue St. Honore
showing the trend to floral pants and pattern mixing and proving....
 'Nothing succeeds like excess!"

Colored and patterned pants are a trend I saw in Paris both in shops/windows and on people in the street...women, men and children.  

Solids in easter egg colors.

Prints of all kinds.

While I love my basic black and neutral pants, one way to add a touch of spring to your wardrobe is with a colored or printed pant.

Can be quiet or wild, elegant or outrageous.

YOU choose.

Spring/Summer Pant Sew Along

Win $100 in fabric from marcytilton.com
Check out the ideas on this blog, then make yourself a pair of 'pantalons des celebrations'....'party pants'.

Simple rules: 

• No plain solid color pants 
• Use a color, a print or embellishment.
• Any Pattern
• Any Fabric or combination of fabrics
• If the winner uses any Tilton sisters pattern or any fabric from marcytilton.com, the prize goes up to  $150.

Send photo/s and info to:  marcytilton@me.com
I'll post the winning photo here on this blog and on my FaceBook page.
Deadline:  Midnight May 31
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Paris Pants

Pants photos from my recent Paris trip that caught the camera's eye,

mostly jean-type skinny pants but also in softer styles.

At all prices, including some rather nice 20-29 euro stretch jeans in stalls in front of the big BHV department store.  

Katherine scored 2 pairs and discreetly tried them on in an empty stall right on the street!

Kids too.
Red is the most popular color I saw on people in the street.
All ages, sizes and shapes.

Kind of, but not really a jean, this version is a bright cobalt blue.
200 euros.
Love the knee detail 

I want to try this knee detail using Vogue 8859...see line drawing below, should be a simple enough pattern tweak to add the pieced detailing at the knee.  

Stay tuned, have not figured it out yet. 

The French use a lot of the 'tricolor' which they refer to as bleu, blanc, rouge:
blue, white, red, the color of the French flag (ours too, bien sur).

Ethnic prints are another trend.  

Animal prints are always chic.

BIG stripes, these not for the faint of heart!

Double print with lace motif...lace is another trend.

Cutwork and lace.
Expensive.
Black belt again.

Bespoke custom pants with impeccable piping detail.

This smaller overall print in navy/white is very wearable.

4 different fabrics, shown here for boys, but a bonne idee (good idea) for women too.

Fabric suggestions from our collection:

Cafe au Lait stretch cotton sateen is the right weight for a narrow pant....I took some of this for myself.

Spring Dance Stretch Cotton would work for a narrow pant.

Fit to Print French Linen is a good choice for a soft pant.

Gaslight French Viscose would make a flattering soft pant to wear with black tops and jackets.

Grape Stretch Cotton would work for a soft or a fitted/skinny pant.

Gray Line Italian Cotton would make a great basic soft summer pant, and I'd cut the stripes going vertically....I took some of this for my own wardrobe.

Gray Spirals French Linen would make a chic little soft pant.

Marguerite Cotton would be light and cool in a soft little summer pant.

Street of Dreams French Cotton for a soft pant.

Stripes and Dots Stretch Cotton for a skinny or soft pant.

Waterfront French Viscose for a soft pant to wear with black and blue tops and jackets.

Tribeca French Linen for a sophisticated soft pant.

Soft Pant Pattern Suggestions:
The following 3 are new Vogue patterns I like and that are designed for wovens, so would work for cottons, linens and linen blends.

Vogue 8883

Vogue 8909

Vogue 8913

Skinny Pant Pattern Suggestions:
My 2 favorite go-to easy to sew/fit and super flattering narrow pant patterns.  Use these 2 patterns with stretch wovens and stable knits.
I make these again and again, could live in them!
I crop the length for warmer weather.

Vogue 8859

Vogue 8837

Coming Soon:  New Craftsy Class
with Katherine and Marcy Tilton
Official Launch date:
Wednesday, May 22

Houte Couture Monday in Paris

We had an inspiring couture day on Monday, starting with a private visit to the Yves St. Laurent Studio shown in the photo below, where we were shown sketches, finished garments and 'toiles'...muslin mock-ups of garments sewn to test the design which would be disassembled, used for a pattern and then re-sewn to keep for the archives.

The Yves St. Laurent Van Gogh Iris sequined jacket.

Entirely hand embellished with sequins & beads on silk organza (to keep it light) by the house of Lesage.  Breathtaking to see this in person.  

I recommend the movie Sequins, a charming French film that shows the techniques used to embroider beads and sequins on fabric.

This jacket sold for $100,000.

We saw another version later in the day at the Haute Couture Paris exhibition.

Next we visited Legeron, in existence since 1740, a house that makes silk flowers and other embellishments for the couture houses and private customers.  

In one workroom, they were applying black ostrich feathers to jackets for Yves St. Laurent.

There was a very happy atmosphere in the room.

Feathers are hand stripped to the right size and meticulously glued in place one at a time with white glue which has been dyed black with india ink.  

The feathers all finished.  The jackets are partially assembled with white stitching indicating edges and hems, and will now be returned to the YSL workrooms to be finished.  59 jackets in the order.

For a final treat at the end of the day, we went to this exposition, held in a grand hall at the Hotel de Ville....the City Hall of Paris.  

If you are in Paris between now and July 6, this is an exhibition NOT to be missed!

100 garments spanning 100 years.

Breathtaking.  

The display allows you to walk around the pieces to get a close look.

Seeing these garments in person evoked gasps from all in our group.

Azzedine Alaia's famous 'bandage' dress.

Balenciaga.
Now I understand how the feathers are applied

Photo of Chanel's hands.

Side by side Chanel suits.  On the left from the Coco Chanel era, on the right from Karl Lagerfeld.  Subtle yet obvious details reflect the time they were made. 

Far left, from the '20's hand embroidered silk chiffon, center is a wool felt from the '50's, far right is Vionnet, hand dyed silk chiffon overlapping panels dyed in pale shades and embroidered (this one made me gasp).

Magnificent gown by La Croix.
The top is beaded, and a tongue in chic play on the French mariner T-shirt. 

The Catalog for this show is excellent.  

Click on the image to order from Amazon.

(I did!)