Paris East Preview: La Hype

Pick up your skinny jeans and brush up your French because Paris is back. The city is loud as ever, and you love it or hate it but after a painful introspection, it seems to have renewed with its creative spirit: chefs dare to innovate (la food attitude), electro labels bring a new French Touch and a new arts scene is slowly emancipating itself from the diktats of May 68.

Most travel guides see no life beyond districts (arrondissements) 1-8 but Northeast Paris is the cradle of the city’s current revival. This spring, many fashion shows took place at the emblematic Maison des Métallos (a workmen’s club in the 11th) and many collectives and studios are settled in the area. We even keep overhearing that everything that matters takes place in the banlieues, Paris’ infamous suburbs. It is a slight exaggeration but two of them, Montreuil and Saint-Ouen, are as fashionable as the organic rutabagas they sell in their farmers’ markets.

This is a totally different side of Paris – experimental, unfussy and mixed - light years away from the tipsy dances around street lamps in The Devil Wears Prada. Art collectives, political activists and residents engage with social issues. The bridges over the Canal Saint-Martin quickly become as romantic as the Pont-Neuf. 2008 sees the area coming out of its shell, with architectural projects and new art spaces; the beach returns to la Villette this summer. 40 years after the riots of May 68, which started south of the river, the wind is blowing from the East!

(eds: for Paris Chic read our Paris 1-2-3-4 guide)

La Hype

Parisians are willing victims of la hype; most trends last only a season and many find a base around the Canal Saint-Martin, a leftfield gentrified neighbourhood. Trends come in waves and are quickly discussed by the usual panel of TV philosophers, sociologists and other trend authorities before running their course. Très tendance in Paris this summer are block parties, snacking, illegal restaurants, all-night demonstrations, finding secret smoking bars, art in banlieues, board game dating, lounge everything, poetry slam competitions and minimal music. Affordable art fairs are all the rage.

In a city prone to frequent strikes demonstrating at least once is a Parisian rite of passage. You are likely to encounter a strike or even riots, particularly this year. To maximise your chances stick to the Bastille-République axis of rebellion. République always has a demonstration of sorts going on. The Canal and the derelict squats and churches around Belleville and the Goutte d’Or are where radical-chic Parisians stay out all night in protest, joining forces with the homeless and the illegal. Street art often mingles with guerrilla politics. Some of Nicolas Sarkozy’s most elegant quotes (casse toi pauvre con – or “beat it, asshole!”) are written on street walls, Carla gets the moustache treatment and anti-globalisation activists use Métro adverts as foundations. Many strikes now resemble a Comedia dell’arte, with staged décors, costume dramas and convoluted happenings. For all these associations, the establishment has remained hermetic to street art, viewing it as mere graffiti and troublemaking. In a complete U-turn street art features prominently in all art fairs this summer. Many French artists are better known in Amsterdam and in Berlin, and big names like Blek Le Rat are only starting to gain mainstream recognition in Paris. The Lolita-like fafinettes of French female artist Fafi are reaching cult status: this spring they appear in a make-up range by M.A.C Cosmetics.