Our Paris Adventure

Bonjour Oafs and oafettes For the past week lazy oaf has been hitting the stands at ‘Who’s next’ in Paris, one of Paris’s biggest tradeshow. We were there last year, for our season debut (ooh la la) , and thought, heck why not, lets do it again. This was my first time to a trade show ever, so I was rather excited, even more so because it was in Paris. Paris is fun, mainly because I can stuff my face full with pain au chocolat, and get to stare at the wealth of tiny poochie dogs that most Parisian ladies seem to own. God I want a dog sooooo badly! I had also never been on an oaf adventure, most my lazy days are spent in the kingly court store fiddling around with the t-shirts or dancing around to cheesy 80’s music. Apologises to any of you that may of witness this! Eek! So I thought I’d give you a little insight into our Paris adventure and guide to the cool shopping hot spots that Paris beholds. Day one We arrived rather wearily into Gare du Nord station but had to quickly hot foot it over to Porte de versailles were who’s next was being held. The exhibition hall to me was massive, I was a little taken back by the hundreds of rows and rails, but it made be more determined to make our stand look as awesome as possible. 4 hours later and half dead we had finished so me and Katie, finally trapsed back to our apartment, for a long deserved lie down and slog out in front of French MTV. Hmm I didn’t really understand any of it, so I read Heat Mag instead! Day 2,3,4 Pretty much revolved around the show and spreading the oaf love of our new autumn winter collection. Katie showed me the ropes, because although I knew all about the kingly court shop, selling at a trade show is a whole different ball game. But Katie’s a master, so I felt I was in safe hands. Some days were busy where we got a couple of lovely new stockist in France, Greece and even Japan! Woo yeah! But some days were quiet, this gave me a chance to get to know the other exhibitors around us, especially Adeline affre and Sweet Dynamite. They were hilarious and made the quite hours way more fun. I was quite impressed by the amount of free booze at the end of each day, Katie had warned me that doing a trade show with a hangover was not fun, however overwhelmed by the amount of free stuff, I didn’t really listen to her and drank about 8 glasses of literally whatever I could lay my hands in about 10 minutes. The next day was not good! Never drink at a trade show it’s such a bad, bad idea! Day 5 and 6 Gemma turned up on the last day. So the first thing I did was take her to see the fashion show, which although had at least 4 of our t-shirts in, it was the most comical thing I’ve seen in a long time. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a fashion show with the compare being an ultra camp drag queen, who was sporting some sort of PVC leopard print cat suit and stiletto heel. At the end they were dragging the audience up on stage to dance, so I managed to drag gem up on stage and we both started dancing like complete idiots. You know, As you do! To celebrate the end of the trade show, the Sweet Dynamite girls took us out for dinner, at their favourite restaurant. Cheers ladies! The last day was our day of rest, pweh! Which wasn’t really so much rest more like shopping! Hooray! Desire and Amelie had given us an extensive list of where to go, so here’s our guide to our top five Paris shops: 1. Lazy Dog A mecca for all things graff and street.It stocks everything from the latest artbooks to lazy oaf t-shirts. Woooo Yeah! This is Gemma's fav shop in Paris, I've been and have to admit it is rather snaz-mataz!! 2 Passage Thiere 75011 Paris http://www.lazydog.fr 2. Royal Cheese This shop is full to the brim with the latest wears and t-shirts from some of the coolest labels around, including Cheap Monday, Insight, April 77, lady luck and of course a brand called lazy oaf, dunno if you've heard of that one?! The acessories range is killer, Ch Ch Check it out! 24 Rue Tiqetonne 75002 Paris France http://www.royalcheese.com 3. Colette Is amazing, it's a white pristine wonderland of cool graphic, music and very very expensive clothes, most of which i would like to own. It even has it's own cafe. If i could live there i think i would, it's well worth a look. 213 Rue Saint Honore 75001 Paris France http://www.colette.fr 4. Artoyz Is the French equivalent of our very own Play Lounge. It does have a variation in the toy collections, and stocks a wide range of independent artist, toys and zines. Which i think is awesome. It has the biggest Qee I've ever seen, he's rather handsome. 45 rue de l'arbre Sec 75001 PARIS http://www.artoyz.com 5. Ugly Me Katie and Gem all started dribbling when we saw this shop. It's essentially an interior design shop, but stocks some amazing designer goodies. Such as antler coat racks and wallpaper by call of the wild. It's all amazing. 108, Rue Saint Honore 75001 Paris http://www.ugly-home.com Sarah xx