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"Paris Fashion Week just wrapped up (although we&amp;#x27;ve still got a few more fun FYIs from the City of Light to share with you!) and as you might have noticed, most of the dispatches that surface online or in the newspaper focus on formal trend analysis, wild rumors and official news alerts. But no one really highlights all the little, itty-bitty mundane details that help make the spectacle of style more glamorous than Gisele Bundchen suntanning on a yacht. I put my Instagram in overdrive this week and documented some of the behind-the-scenes vignettes in order to give you a better picture of what goes down at Paris fashion week. Without further ado, a smattering of some of the off-runway delights: 1. Almost all conversations include a mention of Laduree. With dainty, beautifully design boxes and equally airy, pastel-colored sweets, small boxes from the famous macaroon-maker is a favorite souvenir of the fashion set. I&amp;#x27;ve heard no fewer than 17 people talk about how much they love the pricey cookies and how they plan on stashing a few in their suitcase before jetting home. 2. The Paris fashion week parties are as glamorous and over-the-top as they seem. The fashion crowd is known for being perpetually underwhelmed (ever notice how only celebrities smile in the front row?) so you&amp;#x27;ll rarely read rave reviews of any of the decadent celebrations that dot the calendar, but I&amp;#x27;m here to tell you that Parisians are serious about their f??tes. We&amp;#x27;re talking non-stop bubbly and caviar-topped everything. Many--like the extravagant Lanvin bash, pictured below--make the Kardashian wedding look as casual as a Superbowl Party. 3. All the ushers at the fashion shows are male models. Rumor has it that all of the ushers, bartenders and waiters who make the fashion week festivities run smoothly are actually cast by modeling agencies. Regardless of who hired them or what their day job is (college, most likely) it&amp;#x27;s worth noting that they&amp;#x27;re all very polite, very easy on the eyes and really amp up the glam factor of the shows. (Just check out some of the Lanvin ushers.) 4. Fashion editors, buyers and bloggers all become a unique kind of tourist. The designer showrooms--where the press and buyers are able to see collections up-close--are located all over the city, and each one is special and unique. (That&amp;#x27;s one of Isabel Marant showrooms, below.) You may not get to visit the Louvre or the Eiffel Tower with the chaotic fashion week schedule, but you get to go inside buildings that you&amp;#x27;d never be able to peek inside otherwise. The spy in me loves this. 5. Getting lost in Paris streets is almost a good thing. I got a little turned around on the way to one fashion show and had to go inside a random gallery to ask for directions--and this is what it looked like inside. It was so quietly grand, I was happy to have gotten lost and stumbled upon it. 6. A gorgeous designer gown like this.... ...gets carted around town in a huge box like this! When I was backstage a few hours before the Alexander McQueen show, I spotted this big boxes being rolled in. It took me a second to realize that each one held one of Sarah Burton&amp;#x27;s fantastical creations (and not, say, a refrigerator). Inside, the dresses were packed in with tissue to prevent their fragile layers from getting jostled. No wire hangers for those bad boys! 7. At the Chanel show, every guest is given little bag of Chanel beauty products upon entering. And everyone--even the women covered in CCs and dripping in diamonds--is as eager to snag theirs as a kid grabbing candy on Halloween. 8. Speaking of diamonds, they&amp;#x27;re everywhere. Even in the elevator. A lot of the fancy Paris hotels--where many designers show their collections--have jewelry cases in the elevators. You know, just in case the mood strikes you to load up on some bling, at some point between floors three and five. 9. The designer studios and showrooms are just as inspiring and impressive as their runway shows. Each one looks like a photo from a luxe interiors magazine. (This is a corner of the Celine showroom, below.) Maybe it&amp;#x27;s because I&amp;#x27;m moving soon and so have furniture on the brain, but I&amp;#x27;m now obsessed with Celine bags and the house&amp;#x27;s potted plants. 10. Designers aren&amp;#x27;t the only creative stars of Paris fashion week. Most of the big fashion houses (Louis Vuitton, Lanvin, Chanel, etc) build new, elaborate runway sets each season. The amount of construction, time and impressive vision that goes into the sets is staggering. Case in point: Here&amp;#x27;s the crystal &amp;quot;studded&amp;quot; Chanel show from the front... ...and here it is from the back! The entire thing is built on scaffolding, edged with 50-feet tall fake walls, topped off with hundreds of spotlights, etc, etc. Wild! 11. You see a lot of great shoes. Like more than you can even imagine. Picture the Saks shoe section. Now triple it. Now imagine seeing that many gorgeous heels and boots each and every day, for eight hours straight. Shoe envy doesn&amp;#x27;t begin to describe it. Well, ladies, that&amp;#x27;s my little peek into the nooks and crannies of Paris fashion week! Is there anything else you&amp;#x27;d like to know? Anything here you&amp;#x27;re loving? Isn&amp;#x27;t Instagram just made for Paris (and vice versa!) I&amp;#x27;m going to have to Pinterest these babies when I get back to the U.S.!"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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