Paris, Part 2: Meet the Bloggers

You bring a bunch of bloggers together and excessive photographing inevitably ensues


The object of their interest: chanel's historic hq at 31 rue cambon…


…where karl was allegedly hard at work in the top floor atelier.

When I got the invite to Paris, I admit – as a fashion industry follower – to being completely intrigued by the concept. Blog-focused marketing campaigns had worked well in other industries, like gadgets and books, but this was the first time anyone had made such a massive attempt to reach out to the motley group of fashion, beauty and trend bloggers from around the world. Leading up to the trip, I was curious to see who else would be chosen.

It was a truly fun group. The first to show up were the international bloggers, and they threw us all together at dinner and gave us a go at getting along. There was Seth and Ami from Coolhunting, who let me play with their iPods and animatedly discussed the finer points of bbq pork buns and which actresses were "smokin'." The lovely Annie from Blogdorf Goodman dispensed helpful beauty tips (regarding the navy blue nail polish craze, she recommends skipping OPI's Russian Navy and instead opting for Zoya Indigo. She also turned me on to the Sephora blog.) Professional blogger Jane from the Notcot juggernaut impressively oversees four sites now, including the supercool Notcouture (an instant new bookmark for me) and the delicious Tastespotting. Adorable Austin from Fashion Verbatim was perfectly, impeccably dressed for every event – we nicknamed him our own little Yves Saint Laurent (the resemblance is pretty remarkable). Liya from F.A.D. was just as sassy and frank and fun as you'd expect anyone with that URL to be. The Chanel team rounded us up for dinner overlooking the Louvre, where I accosted a darling young marketing employee: "So, how often do you see Karl, really?" She admitted that she'd only seen him in passing and not actually met him yet, somewhat unfortunately.

We swapped blogger stories and Chanel tidbits, mostly about Karl Lagerfeld – apparently, he owns one hundred iPods – before returning to the hotel and our enormous, exceedingly fluffy beds. The European contingent of bloggers would be arriving in the morning, and then the fun would really start.

Part 2 of Part 2: More bloggers!

Friday morning we were joined by the European bloggers, including London-based Jamie from BellaSugar (who let me read a rather ridiculous e-mail interview with Paris Hilton on her Blackberry. Apparently, Paris' new fragrance is called 'Can-Can by Paris Hilton,' which amused me greatly.) There was Susie Bubble, who is definitely the Internet Rockstar of the fashion blogosphere and who thrilled everyone by breaking out some crazy Balenciaga that we took turns touching, which she allowed us to do rather gamely. The fab Mary from Stil in Berlin took everyone's pictures (including a slightly goofy one of me on Coco Chanel's famous mirrored staircase). Julia made up the Spanish contingent, and the French crowd—Geraldine, Brian and Deedee—were as charming as could be and gave me pages of fantastic recommendations on everything from where to shop to where to eat steak frites. [More on that soon.]

We met, we shook hands, we complimented some very cute outfits, and then we were ushered into a fleet of Mercedes sedans--our own little Chanel motorcade that took off up the Champs-Elysees. It was not unamazing.

More to come… so much more…