Cherry Blossom Chic

Few weeks ago, I enjoyed some quality time at Champs de Mars with my photographer friends, Erika and Yacin. As we did not manage to find courage to face the queues and get to the top of the Eiffel Tower, we did get a wonderful experience by sitting in the garden in front of the tower and enjoying it day time, under the best (and most flattering) afternoon light. I only wish we had a bottle of wine, and some snacks with us that would have made us stay there for the evening too!

I have always been fascinated by the beauty of cherry blossoms, which takes me back into the fairytale world of childhood. Grab the beauty around you before it fades away! In springtime, European cities are blooming with wonderful colors like the rosy ones of cherry trees. If you cannot afford travelling to Japan (the very land of cherry blossoms!) at the moment, you could surround yourself with cherry trees in Paris in areas such as Champs de Mars, Cathédrale Notre Dame or else, Jardins Albert Khan. Paris is beautiful all year round. I love it in spring because watching the cherry blossoms with the background of the Eiffel Tower is breathtakingly romantic. Champs de Mars is a colourful and crowded park of cherry trees leading to the rose garden of the Eiffel Tower in the 7th arrondissement. It is very common for people to enjoy a picnic in this place. It stretches all the way from the Seine River to École Militaire, still in use today as a military academy. The central feature of this open park is the Eiffel Tower, Paris’s iconic landmark.

I have learnt that Hanami is the Japanese celebration of the blossoming of flowers in spring. The term, however, refer to the cherry blossoms (Sakura), symbol of the Japanese culture. The meaning is all the more significant as it does not incite you to observe flowers blooming passively, but rather, it is a powerful urge to contemplate the sensorial journey of the blooms coming into life by the spring breeze. In a sense, cherry blossoms are a powerful symbol of rebirth and wealth.

For the occasion, I wanted to wear something really summery and chic, something you would wear to a nice garden party, and this rosy dress – which is matching the cherry blossoms in a perfect way (all the more as it was not planned!)- is from my first luxury collection SKS Paris. The structured silhouette with the knee-high cut is a powerful expression of the fashion of the 50’s, in its most simple elegance. When I was a child, my mom would always make me watch black and white movies starring Greta Garbo, Marilyn Monroe or Grace Kelly who, through their gestures, expressions and awareness of their physical appeal, made me feel solid admiration over the years as I watched them in action. And as I grew up more mature, I still retained a lively feeling of interest in the fashion of the 50’s. Basically, my admiration for the feminine silhouette asserted itself rather in a creative than a dramatic sense: the grace of simple elegance in which you can feel confortable at any time of the day is what I am looking for when I make a dress, and these old movies have left a strong impact on the making of my collection.

Shop the dress soon on my website, and check out my instagram account for more information!

www.instagram.com/sksparis

Photo credit: Yacin and Erika