If you love fashion, do try to visit Paris during Fashion Week.
I've always been drawn to the world of fashion - and of course, the French luxury label Hermès, one of the most successful design companies in the world. While in Paris last week, I attended the Hermès Spring Show 2024, which was held at La Garde Republicaine, the training center for the horses of the French Republican Guard. For this runway show, Hermès womenswear creative director, Nadège Vanhée, was inspired by springtime, wildflowers, and grassy meadows. The Collection highlighted a luxurious palette of reds, browns, and blacks on natural fabrics of leather, cashmere, silk, and cotton to showcase easy early summertime staples such as skirts, coats, trousers, and dresses. It was a presentation of elegant simplicity - just leave it to Hermès. During this trip, I also ate at a handful of delicious restaurants including L'Avenue, Mieux, and Cloche. It was a full itinerary, but also full of fun and good company.
Enjoy these photos.
Hard to pass by all the beautiful and historic buildings in Paris without taking photos. This is The Palais de l’Institut de France, formerly the College of the Four Nations. This majestic building is on the left bank of the Seine directly across from the south wing of the Louvre’s Cour Carée. Cardinal Mazarin, Louis XIV’s Prime minister, is buried under the Institute’s grand dome.
And here is the Notre-Dame de Paris, referred to simply as Notre-Dame, the medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité, in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. If you recall, it caught fire five years ago. Sad to see it under all the scaffolding, but the giant restoration project is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2024.
Joining me on my short trip to Paris are my longtime publicist, Susan Magrino, and my makeup artist, Daisy Schwartzberg Toye.
We ate lunch at the outdoor bistro L’Avenue on the corner of Avenue Montaigne – well known for its classic French dishes and people watching from its terrace.
Among the dishes we enjoyed – minced beef fillet tartare.
And a flavorful steamed salmon fillet with fresh green beans.
Here I am in front of our hotel ready to attend the Hermès Womenswear Spring-Summer Runway Show. Did you catch this on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48? My bag is a vintage Hermès Birkin, 2001.
Both sides of the runway at the Garde Républicaine were decorated with a “meadow” of wildflowers, reeds, and tall grasses. There was also straw dust on the floor of the venue.
The Collection included many womenswear basics, such as this skirt and top, easy-flowing for springtime.
This ensemble is in a bright white-gray color – very fresh, sporty, and casual.
More suit-like fashions were roomy and loose to catch the spring season’s gentle breezes.
Top coats were also easy-going in natural colors with a professional style. Models also wore comfortable flat sandals.
The color palette included shades of dark burgundy – this to showcase a leather skirt and cotton bralette.
Here is another dark burgundy set – a leather coat and dress combination.
Here is a bright red cashmere coat to warm one on chilly spring evenings.
All the styles in this Collection are professional, yet simple and very clean.
This black top resembles a suit vest, matched with a long, tailored skirt.
Guests sat on tiered benches among the wild grasses. It was a very full audience. And not to worry, all the plantings used were replanted outdoors after the show.
While at the show, I bumped into Stefano Tonchi, Italian journalist, curator, and consultant. Always nice to see him and catch up.
After the show, a group of us gathered at Cloche, the revamped historic brasserie on the corner of Rue Coq Heron. We were there to join Hermès creative director, Nadège Vanhée, for dinner.
Some of the dishes on the menu included beautifully presented fish…
… and the most tender filet mignon.
Here I am with Daisy and Susan – all dressed for the afterparty. No, this was NOT planned.
Do you know who this is? It’s Ghali Amdouni, also known by the mononym Ghali – the Italian rapper and record producer – offering his signature “peace” sign in this snapshot.
And here I am with Axel Dumas, a sixth-generation member of the family that founded Hermès.
Here is the famous Eiffel Tower – the wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars. This photo was taken at midnight with the full moon in the background. It was a quick but very enjoyable three days in Paris, the beautiful ville lumière, city of light.
I hope you've seen my Instagram posts @MarthaStewart48. I just returned from a trip to Paris to attend the Hermès Spring Show 2024. During my brief visit to the French capital, I stopped in at the world famous bakery and café, Cédric Grolet: Opéra - not once, but twice!
Cédric Grolet is a leading French pastry chef and the executive pastry chef at Le Meurice, in Paris, part of the Dorchester Collection. He operates two of his own patisseries in the city including one inside Le Meurice, and Opéra, on the avenue de l'Opéra, which he opened in 2019. Cédric opened a third shop in London in 2022, and recently a fourth in Singapore. His pastries focus on fruits, and his unique interpretation of traditional French desserts. I tasted some of his popular creations including a Fleur Vanille, a Fleur Paris Brest Pécan, his signature nut cookies, and of course, his delectable croissants.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
This is the front of Opéra at 35 avenue de l’Opéra, where long lines of pastry-loving customers wait for hours to taste the sweet creations.
The famed Avenue de l’Opéra was created from 1864 to 1879 as part of Haussmann’s renovation of Paris. It is located in the center of the city, running northwest from the Louvre to the Palais Garnier, the primary opera house of Paris, until the opening of the Opéra Bastille in 1989. Here is a look down the avenue with a view toward the Opéra.
Here I am with the master patissier, Cédric Grolet, who first found his passion for cooking and baking when he was 11 working in the kitchen of his grandparents’ hotel in Andrézieux-Bouthéon, in the Loire Valley. Cédric entered pastry school at 14. At 21, he went to work at the renowned Fauchon and now, less than two decades later, he owns four of his own establishments.
Opéra is an elegant café and bakery. It is simply furnished and impeccably clean.
Upstairs, a number of grey bistro tables and chairs offer guests a place to dine.
Mirrors on the ceiling allow one to see behind the counter, where many of Cédric’s creations are prepared.
Here is a tray of Cédric’s signature nut cookies – peanut butter cookies topped with a variety of nuts such as hazelnuts, also known as filberts, almonds, and pistachios. These cookies are about six-inches across – big enough to share, if one so desires.
This is a Fleur Vanille, a sweet pastry with vanilla crisp, vanilla milk jam, vanilla dacquoise, and Madagascar vanilla ganache.
And this is called Fleur Paris Brest Pécan, a crispy sweet pastry with crunchy pecan, pecan praline, pecan gianduja, Paris Brest pecan cream, and soft choux pastry. This is Cédric’s rendition of the well-known dessert. Traditionally, the Paris Brest is made in a circular shape with a hole in the middle, as in a bicycle wheel. The name Paris Brest came from a bicycle race in Paris to the city of Brest and back.
These breads resemble small boules, or “balls” of bread.
Some of them were covered with seasonings similar to those on an “everything bagel” here in the US – poppy seeds, toasted sesame seeds, dried garlic, dried onion, and salt.
And the tart shells are just the way I like them – dark and fully baked.
Each one of these is perfectly browned.
And here are two of his larger tart shells – also dark in color. Cèdric uses a blind baking, or pre-baking, method for his shells to ensure the shells are finished to perfection.
Inside the kitchen, Cédric’s team works efficiently to make all the pastries and other confections. He says by the time the doors open, the pastries are already made.
Here, a giant commercial immersion blender is used to mix a batter.
Even the waffles are shaped like flowers. The edges are cut using scissors.
These waffles were delicious – crunchy exteriors with a warm dough filling and served with crème Chantilly – a cream sweetened with sugar and flavored with vanilla.
This was a refreshing coffee essence drink with coconut water and one large ice cube.
And here is Cédric’s famous flaky croissant – baked to golden perfection.
All finished with a cup of delicious café crème. If you’re ever in Paris, I hope you have some time to go to Cedric Grolet: Opéra. It is definitely worth the trip. In my next blog, I will share more photos of my Paris excursion and the Hermès Spring Show 24.
To stay organized during seasonal transitions here at my Bedford, New York farm, we follow a schedule of tasks from one year to the next.
Several times a week, I tour the entire farm and create very detailed lists of all that needs to be done. Maintaining such a large property is a huge responsibility and a tremendous amount of work. In order for it to thrive, animals and gardens need constant tender loving care. My gardeners and outdoor grounds crew have many projects including pruning and trimming the trees and shrubs, weeding and tilling the beds, planting new specimens, washing the hoop houses, cleaning the gutters, and so much more.
Enjoy these photos…
Some of you know, my Cantitoe Corners Farm sits on 153-acres. It’s a large property filled with developing gardens, groves and allées. This is my long and winding pergola. It runs from my flower cutting garden all the way to my espalier of Gravenstein apples. On the left is a stand of stately bald cypress trees. This area and so many others around the property are constantly being groomed. There is a lot to do to keep the farm looking its best, especially between seasons.
Every day, my gardeners and outdoor grounds crew are working hard to keep on top of all the maintenance of the beds. Everyone loves my Martha Stewart 48 gallon Multi-Purpose Re-Usable Heavy Duty Garden Tote Bags. They’re available on my Amazon shop. These totes hold hundreds of pounds and can be used for the garden debris and pulled weeds or inside the home for storage.
Here’s Ryan tending the lily and hosta garden beds outside my main greenhouse.
On one side, Ryan also trims the Cotinus trees. Smoke bushes, Cotinus, are among my favorite of small trees – they have superlative color, appealing form, and look excellent in the gardens. Cotinus is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the family Anacardiaceae, closely related to the sumacs.
Remember my former vegetable garden? Now that we created my new half-acre vegetable garden closer to my home, I designated this area for pumpkins and corn this summer. Everything has been harvested, so it’s time to clean up the area and rototill it before the cold season.
Here’s Jimmy removing all the old, dead plants and root systems.
All the debris is then loaded onto the dump truck and taken to the compost yard.
And then Chhiring comes in with our Troy-Bilt Pony Rear-Tine Tiller. The purpose of tilling is to mix organic matter into the soil, help control weeds, break up crusted soil, and loosen the earth for the next planting. One doesn’t need to till or break up the soil very deep – less than a foot is fine.
This is the garden all done – and ready to rest for the season.
Nearby, Fernando cleans the hoop house. This structure holds my tropical plant collection during the winter. I have four hoop houses here at the farm. They are constructed from steel frames and these polyethylene panels.
Fernando also touches up any areas of the base that need paint.
Up the carriage road in my herbaceous peony bed, all the peonies are now cut down to the ground and Pasang is weeding around them.
Here he rakes the beds after they are weeded. These peonies have done so magnificently over the years. The plants are thriving and continue to grow wonderfully. I plan to remove every other peony and move it to another space – I’ll be sure to show you how we do this process.
Here is the peony bed completed – so clean and clear.
Outside the flower cutting garden, Ryan trims and grooms the long stemmed anemones and other plants.
Pruning and grooming is also going on at the European Beech trees, which line two sides of a horse paddock and one side of my living maze. European beech trees, Fagus sylvatica, or the common beech is a deciduous tree belonging to the beech family Fagaceae and native to the woodlands of central and southern Europe.
Pasang is our resident tree expert here at the farm. He oversees a lot of the care of my trees.
Here’s Phurba pruning and grooming the boxwood along the allée to my stable. This is mostly done with hand shears to give them a more clean and manicured appearance. Phurba starts from the top of the shrub and works his way down.
I love boxwood, Buxus, and have hundreds of these bold green shrubs. They’ve grown quite a bit this summer. I take very special care of these specimens and make sure they are pruned and groomed regularly.
As many of you know, I am in the process of building a living maze, a botanical puzzle of interesting trees, hedges, espaliers, and shrubs. I started this three-acre maze project in the spring of last year, and it’s already beginning to stump some of those who stroll through its pathways. Byron is weeding underneath the hedges. Weeds in the garden are inevitable – left alone, so many of them quickly overtake healthy flowers and plants, stealing their sunlight, water, and soil nutrients. We are constantly trying to keep up with the weeding.
On another day, Phurba is cleaning the gutters around the farm. Gutters are designed to control the flow of water around the home. Keeping them clear prevents water back-up and moisture damage to the wood, fascia and foundation. This day was particularly wet with rain showers most of the morning and afternoon.
Inside the greenhouse, Ryan grooms some of the potted plants before bringing them into my home. I love all kinds of container plants, and over the years I have amassed quite a collection of specimens. Most of my potted plants are kept in the greenhouse, where they can be nurtured properly, especially during colder seasons and times when I’m traveling. However, I also like to decorate my home with a wide assortment of potted plants that provide interesting and expressive foliage. It’s an inexpensive way to add color and texture to any space.
And at the end of the day, here’s Fernando “raking” the roads. We created this special device to rake the gravel, so it is even and also picks up any debris along the way. This is done every couple of weeks to keep the roads looking neat and tidy. We’re getting a lot done here at Cantitoe Corners. What early season chores are on your list?
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