Paris Trends: What's Hot

So I've been living here in Finland for about a year and a half, and thanks to some cheap flights and Airbnb, we have been fortunate enough to do some European travel during that time.

One of our favorite cities is Paris, and we went there last weekend for 3 days to meet up with my sister and brother-in-law from California. We did a lot of window shopping, took a pastry class with the girls and ate. A lot. 

My sister, Helen & Sophie with some freshly baked pain au chocolate!

Luckily we also walked about a million miles so hopefully the exercise helped offset the food intake!

The weather was pretty awful, actually. It was in the 40's and cold, rainy and windy. We were prepared - after all, we're living in Finland... but the Parisians we spoke to were not loving it!

The best part about the weather being so cold, was that the people of Paris were wearing their knitwear in style. This guy had on a funky hat and a GORGEOUS ribbed sweater coat. He looked très hip and I'm so sorry I did not get a better shot!

I've got a number of fun knitwear pictures that I'm saving up for the "Spotted" series, so I can't share them all here. Let's just say that I noticed a few trends...

1. Basics - like the coat pictured above... garter stitch, stockinette stitch, reverse stockinette stitch, easy stitches done in either bulky or very fine yarns
2. Sparkles - from just a touch of sparkle to all over sequins, glitz was IN. And that makes me SO happy since I just ordered a sequin carry-along that is super reasonably priced. Yay!
3. Bold colors - like oranges, blues & yellows. Don't be scared to go with color this year!
4. Ponchos - yes, ponchos. Not scary ones like Ugly Betty ponchos, but really beautiful ones made in simple shapes with elegant fibers.

Since I'm saving up most of my pictures for other posts, I will share one fun shot that my brother-in-law got. He and my sister were walking on rue St. Honoré and came a small crowd of French paparazzi. 

Turns out good ole Rihanna was doing a little "private" lingerie shopping as in "close the store for everybody else, and cause a scene outside". Good times!
 
Personally, I think she would have looked better in a hand knit hat.