I was delighted to make reservations for Mom, Carole and me to follow Paris Walks guide, Richelle through Palais Royale and some covered passages to see a few of the great houses of fashion. The day started out with Mom and me walking out the front door to find the bus nearly waiting for us, to take us to what seemed to be the awaiting train to Paris. We arrived at Place de Colette in record time (45 minutes) so that we had time to take a second cup of tea for the day at a lovely sidewalk café under the pillars of Comedie Francaise. We met Carole and the rest of the group including our knowledgeable guide Richelle (aka Michelle - when she worked in the fashion houses and headed off through the construction site that was once beautiful gardens and a courtyard for one of France's first shopping mall. The construction site centers around the artistic pillars of Daniel Buren's Les Deux Plateaux are being reconfigured for safety and lighting capacity.
After a fascinating introduction to the history of fashion, we walked past the windows of Didier Ludot, Stella McCartney and the perfume house of Shisiedo, among others in Palais Royale. 
Then we headed for the likes of Kenzo and Jean Paul Gaultier passing by many small shops with great fashion ideas displayed beautifully - and enticingly. While we did not see any lingerie, we did see shoes, and scarves and perfumeries, dresses, pants and a some hats - though the really great hat makers are in the Marais - or so I have been told. The trick of course is to find the fabrics - and of course that's another walk entirely.
We paid homage to the textile workers who labor to bring us every stitch, and to whom many of us owe a lot more than just a nod for great clothing. We saw the French Minister of Culture's elaborately art deco wrapped building - in the name of fashion and style, and some beautiful passages - the beautiful precursor to those ridiculous strip malls.
Our tour guide warned us about "chic, cheque, shock" and the french phrase for window shopping - "leche-vitrine" (which actually retranslates to "window licking") so we were duly forewarned. And while we didn't buy anything, I found some lovely perfume, Carole tried on several pairs of shoes, and Mom made some notes in her clothes-to-be-made-in-the-future list.
We did follow the tour with a great lunch, and then a stroll down Rue du Louvre looking at more beautiful things, but not buying - for the most part...
I highly recommend this tour, if you can get it.
