Yesterday, I took a trip to Galeries Lafayette to snap some fashion photos. Les Galeries Lafayette is perhaps the most famous of Paris' "Grands Magasins," or department stores.  Ten stories high and filling numerous adjacent buildings, the store is located at 40 Boulevard Haussmann, just behind the Opera Garnier.  Designed in 1912, the gorgeous art nouveau glass and steel dome houses nearly a city's worth of clothing, shoes, accessories, housewares -- there's even a high-end grocery store and wine merchant in the basement! 

But I wasn't there for the food this time -- I was there for the fashion.  As usual, I gravitated first toward the shoes, and as usual, there were some truly breath-taking specimen.  Of course, there are always plenty of simple, elegant, and extremely well-made shoes for the sensibly inclined.  As for me, however, I prefer the wild, dazzling, and weird: bejeweled slippers with impossibly high heels, fetish-y boots mounted on dangerous-looking spikes, sheets of fluffy lace that tickle your toes as you walk...  For a shoe enthusiast, it is very close to heaven. 

Afterwards, I wandered around the women's clothing section.  Unfortunately, I left my notebook at home, and thus failed to keep track of the designers’ names. I know there's some Lacoste and Chloe in there...  See if you can tell which pieces I adored, and which I abhored.

Also not to be missed is the free weekly fashion show, which takes place every Friday at 3pm on the 7th floor of the main Haussmann store (reservations required).