Holly Gone Lightly

The Eurozone is in crisis? Ok, I’m convinced. Not by the relentless media coverage but the lack of Christmas coverage…so few twinkly lights looped across streets, such a restrained use of tinsel, trees and holly in Paris. Sigh. Glitz and sparkle always lift my sagging spirit. Thankfully, the Champs Élysées hasn’t given up, with colour-changing hula-hoops skirting trees, silver discs swinging in the leaves and some discreetly placed big shimmery balls ringing the fountains. Yay! Just a little excess amid the distress. At least these twinklies are eco-friendly – using 65% less electricity than previous years. Another yay. Skip the faux Christmas market though with its stalls of dried sausages, sickly hot wine and ill-advised hats. Galeries Lafayette has strapped its usual 150,000 lights to its façade. Phew!  It’s another musical theme this year, with ‘Rock n Mode’ following on from 2010’s ‘Mama Mia’. New York designer Andrew Yang apparently teamed up with Voguey Anna Wintour to create the punk rock poppets inhabiting this year’s windows (think starved Bratz doll lookalikes in sequins and tights with tortured hair; there’s even a Wintour bob featured – very fashion. Not quite sure about Christmas). Printemps has come over all Chanel, stuffing their windows with everything CC – perfume, bags, jewellery, crystal and tableware – including an entire window of PanAm-like Chanel hosties ablaze in orange and another filled with mini Karl Largerfelds, each sporting black suit, white shirt, back shades, white mane and de rigeur pendant. If Christmas is all about consumption with a capital “C” then Printemps has nailed it. My favourite effort, though, is that of the Pré aux Clercs bistro. This St-Germain institution in rue Jacob has decked not just its terrace with faux snow trees and mini polar bears but inside as well, along with giant white boughs and huge red balls. Old St Nick would be proud.There’s little to crow about in my neighbourhood, except for the Poilâne bakery which has biscuit bows, trees, hearts and stars cascading from the ceiling through the tulip lights. See what a little imagination can do.