Soldes Monstres

Every year in Paris January 7th marks the first day of a city wide holiday that lasts until February, this holiday is called Soldes and it is something that everybody in the world should experience just once.   Every clothing store in the city participates with 70-50% off everything and it is when every Parisian buys all of the clothes they have had their eyes on all season.   We didn't realize what was happening when we left our house and there were hordes of people in all the stores which are always empty, until our friend told us about the magic of soldes.  Of course this kind of mob mentality is very contagious and we definitely didn't want to be left out.  But where to start?  Grant still needed boots from when we first got here and we thought that would be a good guiding point.   Judy had a couple items on her wish list too so we decided to stop in Tsumori Chisato first.  She picked up these amazing wool leggings that are super warm.  Next we went to the ultra chic (and trés,trés,trés cher) boutique L'eclaireur, where she got these super cute little water proof  Melissa shoes .  After going into about a hundred mens stores with no sign of boots for Grant the situation was starting to look grim.  We decided to peek into Margiela and see what kind of deals they were offering.  Just as Judy warned he fell in love with the boots there and wouldn't leave without them.  I just hope they last through the next decade to justify the price (but they were 50% off.....right?).  It was pretty cool to get such a unique look at the true Parisien culture that is Soldes even if it did mean getting pushed over for a A.P.C cardigan and fighting your way thru every tiny rue in a mad shopping fury.