Daily Front Row

2010 March 8

Your Second Helping of Parisian Macaroons!

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John Galliano, Lindsay Lohan
SWAN View Gallery

(PARIS) All the delicious scoop straight from Paris and from the people who matter the most.
BY VALENTINE UHOVSKI

The Other First Lady Hits Paris
Mickey Boardman had a pretty wonderful Saturday. First, he led a standing ovation at the Viktor & Rolf show and then he met California’s First Lady, Maria Shriver, while eating his vegan salad on the corner of the rue Saint-Honoré. “I worship you and follow you on Twitter,” he exclaimed. Mrs. Schwarzenegger was smitten. “Thank you. I love your necklace!” she told the Paper veteran.

Living la Vida Lohan
Some of you are wondering how it's possible that Lindsay Lohan attended the Dior show and wasn't snapped by any photogs front of the house? That’s because she was only sort of there. While having too much fun shopping at Colette, the pseudo movie star assumed that Dior would start at 3 p.m. a few blocks away...not 2:30. Add another twenty minutes of Lohan tardiness, and you’ve got a VIP backstage appearance that occured about 19 minutes after the show was over. Voila!

Best PR Money Can’t Buy
Who was that beautiful blonde woman leading the loud cheers at Jasmine Al Fayed's Jasmine di Milo’s presentation at The Ritz?  That would be her Finish-born mother, Heini, who ecstatically encouraged her daughter to grace the stage after the conclusion of the last presentation of the day. “Who can give you better PR than your mother?” wondered Al Fayed aloud in front of her publicist. “Sorry, but I love my publicist, too, and it’s actually her birthday today!” The happy team soon all blessed Bar Hemingway for a nightcap and birthday drinks.

Parlez-vous Allemand?
By now, Beth Ditto is a fashion veteran, and so she has other cultural feats to conquer. “I finally had some time off after doing sh*t loads of touring,” the singer told us front row at Viktor & Rolf. “So I’ve been trying to learn French and German fluently. I’m a big, fat nerd and I’m obsessed with origins of words, dialects, and languages. I’m literally a geek.”

Models Who Are Fronting It
Irina Lazareanu is taking it easy with runways this season, and she couldn’t be more elated. “It’s much easier on this side of the fence,” the veteran super-walker told us front row at Sonia Rykiel. “I’m not really a fan of these three hour hair and make-up rituals. My own hair and make-up takes nearly five minutes, and I’m kind of terrible at it.”

CSI: Paris
If you’re wondering why Gary Dourdan, who stars in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, hit front row at Costume National and Viktor & Rolf, we went straight to the source. “Well, um, I like designers,” the actor tried to explain to us at Ennio Capasa’s show. “The inspirational process is very interesting for me. And um...I think it's interesting to look at inspirational fashion.” Ok, Gary…why are you REALLY in France? “My band was actually supposed to play a gig here, but they couldn’t make it because of the snow storm,” the actor continued. “So I played solo the other night, and now I have some time.”

Kass Optical
We’ve noticed that the ultimate super, Carmen Kass, was wearing a pretty set of eyeglasses backstage at Isabel Marant, and we’re concerned for her vision. “My eyesight started worsening awhile ago, so now I really try to wear these,” she explained. “I think all those flashes have finally gotten to me.”

No-Go for Gaultier
OK, if you didn’t remember the Gaultier collection for its clothes few nights ago, you surely remember those screaming animal rights protestors lined up outside rue Saint Martin. Patti Wilson turned her fur jacket inside out before running inside, and a few high-up Russian editors decided to skip the show altogether in favor of a more comfortable meal. “If they really wanted something to protest, they should have been at Igor Chapurin’s show,” one said. “Those gorgeous furs are actually going into production!”

Fantastic Mr. Nils
Daily fave Lars Nilsson is currently in Paris, and unlike most U.S.-based designers, he keeps a nice little apartment here in France. After the very successful debut of his menswear collection, Mr. Nils, at Pitti in Milan, the accomplished Swede has been doing splendidly with sales. He's working closely with the MD70 creative agency in New York. At the moment, he’s pondering where to show his Spring collection—Milan or Paris? The Europeans, Americans, and the Japanese are itching to get their full collection fix of Mr. Nils. But what is the most important Parisian lesson that we’ve learned from Lars? “Le Bon Marché might have the best grocery delivery anywhere in the world,” he smiled. “I live close by, but you can just drop off your shopping cart and they take care of the rest in the most organized manner.”