L'autre Défilé

Last weekend was the annual 'Journées du Patrimoine' festival of French heritage, in which museums and workshops hold special events all on the same weekend. What this means is that, if you choose this weekend to go to a museum, c'est dommage because it will be even more crowded than usual. I did brave the crowds at the Parc de la Villette, however, to see a fashion show (défilé) that showcased costumes from the National Opera and the National Theater. It was pretty cool, although it was very quirky, somewhat characteristic of the director, Philippe Decoufle, who also produced the opening ceremonies of the winter Olympics in Albertville. Of course, the costumes were amazing, ranging from huge getups with sailing-ship headpieces, to barely there fairy costumes and a naked fat-man costume. It was hard to take pictures of the runway show itself, but the make-up room was open for the public to watch during preparations, so I managed to get a few close up views too. The picture below which shows the runway is from the finale when they brought all of the costumes out at once. There are more photos at my Flickr site.