Day 1

We just arrived in Paris on the fashion flight from Milan. You've never seen more luggage unloaded from a plane until you've been on the 9:35 a.m. Air France flight from Milan to Paris. Teensy-weensy editors roll out of Charles de Gaulle airport with enough bags to hold the entire contents of a three-bedroom apartment. It always seems like the ticket clerks in Milan take special glee in charging people overweight baggage fees. The airline has to take in a few thousand dollars in fees for that one flight alone.

Andre Leon Talley (Peter Kramer/Getty Images)

It has been snowing in Paris, which we suppose is better than the week's worth of rain we had in Milan. The first show of note in Paris is by Rick Owens, who is an American working here. Before the show begins, we all stand around looking at the empty seats that we're not allowed to sit in until some silent alarm goes off and suddenly the publicist starts ushering people to seats. We sit just behind Vogue editor Andre Leon Talley, who appears to be wearing a black broadtail blanket. It is a breathtaking, sweeping floor-length coat for which surely dozens of baby lambs have been sacrificed.

After the Rick Owens show we drive for about five minutes to the Yohji Yamamoto show in the Tuileries. The models walk excrutiatingly slowly, and the show seems to go on forever. But then that may have been our imagination since we were itching to get to our favorite Chinese restaurant, Lao Tseu, where they serve a spectacular shrimp in black bean sauce on a sizzling plate. This meal fits nicely into the $35 maximum that we are allotted for dinner. So if anyone thinks we are in Paris shoveling down the escargot, note that we are the ones on the Left Bank hunting around for a cheap crust of bread and a bit of cheese. Oh, woe is us. Pass the Sancerre.

We are sticking to fish, pork and the occasional piece of beef because we're paranoid about avian flu after the Japanese banned the import of French foie gras. We considered not eating the beef, but as one colleague pointed out, "Mad Cow was so two years ago."

The shows begin in earnest tomorrow.

By Robin Givhan |  February 26, 2006; 5:40 PM ET Paris
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