Paris When It Sizzles

Paris is beautiful any time of the year; when it rains, when it sizzles, when it changes mood from sunny to subdued. I've lingered in Paris so often I've come to think of it as my second home. In saying that, I'm having a torrid affair with New York at the moment so I'm actually cheating on the City of Love, I'm afraid to say. I do hope Paris lets me come back when I've had enough of Manhattan's wicked ways.

Here, in a travel tribute to Valentine's Day, are some of my favourite scenes, images and inspirations from what is still the most beautiful, most romantic, most spectacularly lovely place in the world. (Sorry, Buenos Aires.) {Above image via the official Diana Vreeland website – dianavreeland.com – another woman who was mad for Paris.}

Audrey Hepburn as Gaby in Paris When It Sizzles (1964).

Filming Paris When It Sizzles atop a rooftop terrace with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Look at those gentlemen looking bored. How could you be bored going to work with a view like this everyday? Pick yourselves up people!

Audrey in a promotional still from Funny Face. (This was the hat she went fishing in the Seine with. Isn't it gorgeous? I wish my fishing hat looked as glamorous.)

Pink peonies at the Rue Cler street market.

A deliciously pink patisserie in the 5th arrondissement.

Mrs Haris Goes To Paris. Apparently this book is delightful. As is the movie. I just adore the cover. And the whimsical title. Has anybody read it or see the film? Is it as really good as they say?

Schiaparelli pink walls at the Musee Nissim Camondo, Paris.

A hot pink door in the Left Bank. Who knew hot pink could look so sophisticated in a front door?

Chantal Thomass' French home, dressed in her signature pink. {Via Madame magazine, October 2009}

The gorgeously ornate facade of Chantal Thomass' Paris boutique. I'm not a fan of the lingerie but I'll take the architecture any day...

A scene from Vogue's fabulous shoot on French haute couture, wittily entitled A Handmade's Tale. This was taken in the Givenchy atelier.

Pale pink walls and panelling with two black-and-white striped chaises. Very Parisian! I love this image. It may not be Paris but it's clearly taking a leaf out of the place. From the book A Passion for Collecting.

The perfect handbag to have in Paris. By Kate Spade.

Another scene from Vogue's story on Parisian haute couture.

Sarah Jessica Parker dressed in Dior. Photographed by Mario Testino for American Vogue. Have you ever seen such a sumptuously beautiful gown?

Two of the designs created in a collaboration with Taillardat, a manufacturer specializing in luxurious high-quality reproductions of 18th century furniture including Marie Antoinette, Louis XV, Louis XVI, Empire, and Directoire styles. The company invited five key figures in the design and fashion worlds to create pieces of furniture that embodied the luxury of the 18th century style that they are known for. These two pieces were by Chantal Thomass. The top image is a glamorous pouf made of black varnished beechwood and nickel plated nails, with fabric by Pierre Frey. The image below it is a smoking chair with a cigarette box, made of black varnished beechwood and nickel plated nails, also featuring fabric by Pierre Frey. Too, too beautiful to sit on!

Fauchon department store, one of the most wildly colourful interiors in all of Paris. And the food is fabulous too. (Tip: Head here for a light lunch or a picnic-to-go: their takeaway meals are so exquisite, you'll have a difficult time deciding what to get.) {Via lesbonsbonsdesraisons.wordpress.com}

The Eiffel Suite of the Plaza Athénée, Paris. (The hotel Carried stayed in during the Sex and the City episodes shot in Paris.) Look at that view. {Via Plaza Athénée}