By Marissa Saylor
While spring break for most college students means booking a flight to a city with tropical weather. For myself and other students from the Fashion Design and Fashion merchandising program decided to head to Paris, France. The Freshman Paris Short Course study away program was able to happen for the first time in years. We were emerged into Parisian culture and were given the opportunity to have first hand experience studying the fashion industry in the fashion capital of the world. In ten full jam packed days, us students learned a vast amount on this extremely memorable trip.
Lots of our time in Paris was spent touring museums to find design inspiration . My personal favorite was the YSL museum. It was everything I imagined and more. Seeing Yves Saint Laurent's sketches in person was a dream. Seeing his process of designing was just fascinating and incredibly inspiring. Going through this museum made me overwhelmed with happiness and
excited to be in this program.
I also splurged on a fifty dollar,very heavy pink YSL book that I am obsessed with. As a group we also had the chance to tour the Louvre museum and see the one and only Mona Lisa. At Versailles we saw the grand architecture and art. We then went to the King's palace and while touring the Musee d’Orsay we saw the extraordinary "The Starry Night" along with thousands of other paintings.
The Louvre blew us all away ; Carissa Librizzi, a freshman fashion designer major, said it was her favorite museum, “ The Louvre was so overwhelming, definitely a moment that I'll remember forever. There were so many different aspects of the museum that inspired me in different ways- from the gold trim to the crowns and royal jewelry on display. There was an aesthetic of creams and browns that will inspire future designs as well." The Louvre has a wide variety of art and even includes lots of furniture showcasing the different prints and fabrics used in France during the different time periods.
With 35,000 works of art on display every one of us had our sketchbooks out with our minds racing with ideas for future work. In the Musee d’Orsay we had the chance to see the very famous Starry night by Vincent Van Gogh. This museum is full of impressionist paintings and hundreds of sculptures. Similar too many other museums in Paris there was a YSL exhibition , this exhibition showcases the iconic Le smoking tuxedo. “Seeing the YSL smoking suits was very inspiring because it was cool to see a piece of iconic fashion in real life. It helped me appreciate the longevity of YSL’s legacy,'' says Lily Crafton, a freshman fashion merchandising major. There is just something about seeing the textile in front of you that makes everything click.Seeing the seams, the ruffles, the collars, the hems all work perfectly together and that's not something you can't truly grasp through photos.
I was drawn to the use of the two colors, black and white, that Yves Saint Laurent used to portray such a powerful look. The use of only those two colors is what gave this collection the classy and powerful yet feminine look. On our last day we jumped on the train to head to Versailles, I genuinely can't put into words how beautiful this palace was. I've never been so overwhelmed with inspiration in my life: the pillows, the curtains, the plates and dishes, the gold architecture was all unbelievable. The museum allowed all of our creative minds to grow.
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