It's fashion week here in Paris and everywhere I go I see fashionistas in their black on black outfits running between designer studios and shows here in the Marais.  American and Japanese buyers have taken over Cafe Charlot.  This is a very creative neighborhood of art galleries and designer ateliers.  In our building Jack Henry, a young american designer, has a studio and buyers and photographers have been making the trek back to his space.  A friend of a friend went to Stella McCartney's show the other night, which was held a couple of blocks away.

It's weird that the recession (the French call it, mildly, la crise -- they make it sound as if the global economy is just having a bad hair day) doesn't seem as intense in Paris as it seems in the States.  Restaurants and stores and the streets; people are out spending money.  The only sign I have seen that acknowledges the problem is a piece of poster/graffiti art that has popped up on walls around the Rue Vielle Temple -- "Protest Rescession, please dress up."