Space Opera

 Not long ago, in a city far far away, I wore my new galaxy inspired tulle skirt to frolic around the most beautiful Palais Garnier opera house. Probably one of my favorite buildings in the world, the angsty Phantom of the Opera obsessed young teen version of me would have died to have stood outside. This was my third or fourth visit to the facade, and what a grand facade it is too!

You can go inside too of course, which I did on my last visit to Paris in the summer of 2012. I would have liked to have toured the glorious staircases and hall of mirrors like grand foyer again, but it wasn't to be in our packed schedule this trip. We arrived in Paris at around 4pm last Sunday (the 23rd), and after settling into our airbnb we headed over to see the opera house and visit the Galleries Lafayette flagship store on Rue Haussmann. As usual, I was a bit out of place in my huge ballerina worthy skirt, especially since extra tourists were crowded around a small marching band that had installed itself on the front steps. The marching band was rather loud and distracting actually, but one cant plan these things you know.

Still, even with hundreds of people milling around we still managed to get some great photos of the finished galaxy tulle skirt! I wore it over my black Malco Modes petticoat and black cotton sateen circle skirt for maximum volume. I wasn't quite sure what to pair with the skirt so I ended up wearing a lace top over my black Rago longline bra. A pair of dangling earrings in faux red jasper and brushed gold and my trusty black Marilyn's from Royal Vintage Shoes finished the look.

After prancing around the opera house we headed inside the beautiful 1912 Art Nouveau Galleries Lafayette department store with it's glorious stained glass dome and pretty floral balconies. I had wanted to get to the top terrace and take in the view of Paris from the roof, but unfortunately it was already closed for the evening so we ended up doing a bit of souvenir shopping in the kitschy touristy department instead. I had a pretty strict budget on this trip (have I mentioned I quit my job in Feburary?...well yeah, I did) but I did want to take the opportunity to pick up some new berets in Paris. I love beret hats and I always have a hard time finding certain colors here in the states, but I knew that since they are such common tourist souvenirs in Paris I would have no trouble finding any color I should like! They are super inexpensive at all of the cheapy souvenir stands all around town, but at the luxurious Galleries Lafayette they have nice 100% wool versions and fine linen blend options! So I picked up both an ivory wool and a flecked sage linen beret for the combined price of 12 touristy souvenir berets. I was definitely helped along to buy the light green linen one because I knew it would go so well with my new Lillian two tone shoes from Royal Vintage Shoes when they arrive in June ;) They will be my nicer berets, but I did end up with...umm...five more berets of the 3 for 10 euro touristy variety. The berets were my planned purchases though, it was the unplanned ones that put me way over budget, but more on those later!

I still want to write one last post about finishing up the galaxy skirt and lessons learned making it. It sure is fun to wear, and I felt a bit Carrie Bradshaw wearing it (in the best way). I'm sure you will see it again in the future! If only I had more occasions to wear such a thing! Perhaps I should make a silk  corset/ballet inspired bodice to wear with it in the future?

Skirt: Made by me
Top & Earrings: Old Navy
Longline Bra: Rago
Fishnets: Amazon
Shoes: Royal Vintage Shoes
Petticoat: Malco Modes