Cafe de Flore is a must stop on all trips to Paris, no matter if it’s for breakfast, lunch, dinner, cocktails, coffee with amazing French magazines from the near by newsstand. It’s been a favorite of the creative influencers for generations and is something everyone should experience more than once.

CAFE DE FLORE

The first photo below was snapped on a recent trip which felt very much like a modern day Herbie the Love Bug, and was shot on actual film with my Contax T3.  I had no idea if it had turned out for months and months, the camera ended up on an extended stay in Paris and it was such a wonderful surprise when the camera arrived and the images were useable.

These are images old and new that tell the story of the cafe.

As we headed toward sending our recent Holiday 2010 collection to market I was compelled to add in an additional layer of craft to one of the GF pieces. I had squirreled away a pillow purchased in Palm Beach, Australia December 2008 for inspirational use someday in the future, and the future was suddenly here. The Geren Ford Los Angeles studio became Tie Dye camp for a few days as we researched the techniques and processes. Jennifer who works with us here in LA really is the master and creator of this project. It was a really fun process to watch come to life. The photos below are of her handiwork and the finished product at the look book shoot! We got our information from Google and You Tube and our supplies from Pearl Paint (minus the gloves – Jennifer had those on her own).

I don’t have many of what a good friend of mine would call Isms (aka addictions)  but I do have a love hate relationship with my DVR. Some of these you would expect and some maybe not as much. Nobody puts baby in the corner!

My 10 Proud Picks

CBS Sunday Morning

60 Minutes

Breaking Bad

Nurse Jackie

The Good Wife

United States of Tara

Weeds

Iconoclasts

Californication

Law and Order (I’m going to lump them all together or they would be the whole list)

My 10 Secret Picks

So You Think You Can Dance

America’s Got Talent

The Amazing Race

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

America’s Next Top Model

Cougartown

Secret Diary of a Call Girl

Kell on Earth

The Rachel Zoe Show

Grey’s Anatomy

This is a Japanese ink drawing that my father John Ford did of our family pup when I was a little kid, it now serves as not only a momento and an ode to my dad, but it’s all over our products, on tissue paper in our shoe boxes, on scarves, invitations, stamped inside our denim and on and on…look out for it on t-shirts and totes coming up for next spring…

Below is a link to an exhibit that I had the pleasure of seeing when I was in Hong Kong last year, this is Chinese ink drawing but it’s remarkably similar and very inspiring.

Hong Kong Modern Art Museum

Links to other ink art exhibits in the US and further afield.

LACMA – Japanese Pavillion

Museam of Fine Art Boston

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

I live in Los Angeles, and spend about 3-4 months a year in New York CIty.

I love being an American.

I love my very lucky bi-costal existence.

But, I confess Paris is my very favorite city. As time goes on my extreme love affair with it will unfold.

I am lucky enough to be able to go back at least once a year.

Ah the life of a Francophile!

This photograph was snapped without pause on a recent trip, just a simple snap, and the story is so much bigger than the moment really was. I LOVE PARIS!