Monday 4 February 2013

My Kiosk #MondayMorningMusings


                             



I'm really excited about this new year and find myself often in a 2013-bring-it-on-mood, but apart from the eternal questions, Where-did-January-go? and Is-it-February-already (I have that e-v-e-r-y year by the way) there was one thing that almost ruined my fabulous start of this new year; the news that my favorite press kiosk, just around the corner at the boulevard Saint Michel, where I religiously buy my fashion magazines since for-e-v-er, is going to close down. Close. Down. I mean, where do I go after that happens? What about my daily I run in the Luxembourg gardens - Chat with the newspaper Monsieur - Buy one, some or a pile of magazines - Walk to the next corner - To have my daily dose of caffeine - Flip through the goodies - Cross the street - And open my front door? 

For you who have been in Paris, you know how on nearly every corner of the street there are these cute little newspaper kiosks where you can buy French newspapers and magazines and chewing gum. Well, for international titles you have to be lucky to have one in the hood that sells them. And I was one of the lucky ones. My newspaper Monsieur sells Vogues from all around the world, no wait, he sells all the international Vogues + the whole rest of Condé Nast. But he also sells Dazed & Confused, Another Magazine, V, 10, hell, he even used to sell the magazine I used to be the fashion director for, 34 magazine, when it was still published. He sells my favorite home decoration magazine (Elle Decoration UK), but also iD, Love and Lula. I mean, seriously. Where do I go after he's gone? I just don't want to go to Colette or W.H Smith for my dose of fashion magic on paper. They're both like 20, 30 minutes away from my place, and well, you know how you talk to your hairdresser, or your manicurist about bad break ups, gossip, friends or family members in the hospital, or just about that fabulous new pair of shoes you just bought? Well, that's how I talk to my newspaper Monsieur, and I just don't see me doing that with the too-cool-for-school kids at Colette or the nerdies at W.H. Smith. I could also go to the one in rue des Archives in the Marais, which is probably closer to my place. But once in the Marais, I never get out (friends, fabulous vintage shops, and some of my favorite café's)... So, this is some kind of micro drama in my life, and it really makes me panic-ish.

                                                                                           
Why he's closing down? Well - and we're all guilty of that - sales decreased so badly, that he has no choice. Where he normally sold around 20 to 30 American Vogues a month, he now hardly sells 5. He used to sell around 80 Libération newspapers a day, and now that's just a lousy 15 to 20. Our lab tops, iPads and smart phones are to blame. It's practical, often for free, and with the whole green thing going on, much better for the environment, than all that printed paper. But isn't that moment of seeing a beautiful fashion shoot in a paper magazine while drinking a cup of coffee Just Magical? Do we really want to end up living in a world where everything is much faster and more practical but not magical?  I don't, one of the main reasons why I wanted to live in Paris and work in the high end fashion industry...

I love the magic.

P.S. Which of the above is your favorite cover of the spring 2013 issue of iD magazine?

TATAFORNOW♥  

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