les puces de saint-ouen

back in paris, where early sunday morning found frida & i rummaging through stalls at the largest fleamarket in europe. it's known formally as le marché aux puces de saint-ouen, or more fondly as les puces (the fleas).

the markets are right up on the northern fringe of paris (just beyond the périphérique, the border of paris) at mº porte de clignancourt. this area has had some form of market life since the middle ages, and is most famous for its hundreds of antique shops. les puces are made up of about a dozen fleamarkets, and each part of the market district sells different things. the antiques market district still thrives today, in the many winding, narrow lanes that featured in woody allen's latest film 'midnight in paris'...

altogether there's something like 2,500 stalls that spider-web their way across the district, literally selling everything under the sun.

a really gorgeous part of the market is called marché dauphine. it's an art nouveau tiered-warehouse building in brick & green iron. this was a welcome place to have a roof over our heads as we were hit with a sudden downpour of huge, wet raindrops. in the marché dauphine we found a whole level of vintage clothing that was a real mix of original haute couture (on the more expensive side of life - we saw a vintage chanel blazer for 300€) and your everyday second-hand friperie fun. we got lost in & amongst the hundred's of fur coats - got me so excited for european winter!

everywhere we looked we saw shops selling old vinyls, yellowing photographs, prints, books, magazines & collectibles (sooo many editions of tintin - they love him over here!).

i was so happy to lay my eyes on a vintage soft leather bag in olive green. the best thing about it is that i managed to barter the price down from 60€ to 30€. yes! frida found funky vintage sunglasses, and after falling in love with several old photographs of paris - she also bought chunky silver bracelets from one of the many silver dealers.

so easy to lose track of time here, not to mention literally losing yourself in & amongst the seemingly endless number of stalls. before you know it you've whiled away five hours here...

and so ends yet another sunday aux puces. wasn't the first time ...& definitely won't be the last.

xo,

S.

vintage chanel shop