At odds, comedians live out many lives
MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2012
37 British designer Charlotte Macfarlane poses for a picture at her and Nicki Macfarlane’s showroom in London. —AFP photos
(From left) Beatrice, Isobel and Katie Mohr model bridesmaid dresses designed by Nicki and Charlotte Macfarlane.
From ‘Kate’ to cakes, French brides speak fluent English
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rom “Kate”-inspired lace dresses to towering wedding cakes-and even British celebrants-French brides-to-be are looking across the Channel, and the Atlantic, to make their day that bit more special. “These past two years, we’ve been seeing girls pick and mix ingredients from English or American weddings,” said Sophie Chastrusse-Peyronnet, who heads up a giant Paris bridal fair, the Grand Salon du Mariage, each October. Start with the lingo: French couples no longer cut the “gateau” but a “wedding cake”, they order “escort cards” to guide guests to their seats, and talk of “DIY”, when it comes to Martha Stewart-style decorations. “Our DIY workshop is one of the fair’s most popular,” Chastrusse-Peyronnet told AFP. “Young girls go crazy for it.” Lifted from the movies, blogs, or last year’s royal nuptials, Anglo-American styles and customs are shaking up traditional French weddings. “Sweet tables” stacked high with pristine-looking candy are a strong trend, but the really big business is in cakes. Two years ago, Canadian chef Taylor McLoughlin and American business
partner Krista Juracek opened the Sugarplum cake shop in Paris, offering North Americanstyle stacked cakes, 80 percent of them for weddings. “It’s going through the roof,” the 33year-old Juracek told AFP. “During wedding season we book months in advance.” “Most French people don’t want the same thing their mothers or grandmothers had at their weddings.” US and British lovebirds traditionally invest quite a bit more in weddings than in France. An average French budget runs to 13,000 euros, says the Salon, compared to $27,000 (21,000 euros) in the United States, based on a 2011 study, and 21,000 pounds (26,000 euros) in Britain according to consumer group Which?. But this is changing, with budgets on the rise, and US-style wedding planners stepping up to orchestrate the event. “We no longer have to explain what we do,” said one of the growing ranks of French planners, Caroline Le Moigne-Hirel. “Quite clearly the trend comes from the United States.” “You can see the Anglo-American influence everywhere,” she added; even as far as the ceremony itself, with English “celebrants” called
on to officiate. “People of mixed, or no religion who want to add a spiritual dimension to their wedding are turning to English celebrants” to write them a personalized ceremony with just the right dose of gravitas. ‘Princess gowns, but not meringues’ Then of course, the dress. “This year’s trend is for Kate-style lace gowns, with a deep scoop at the back”-directly inspired by the muchcopied Sarah Burton dress worn last year by the now Duchess of Cambridge, said Chastrusse-Peyronnet. Jean Postaire, owner of an upmarket wedding dress store in Paris, Metal Flaque, saw brisk sales for a David Fielden model inspired by Kate Middleton’s dress in the wake of the royal nuptials. Likewise a Jenny Packham model, this time based on an evening dress she made for the princess. Postaire, who introduced both British designers to France three years ago along with US stars like Vera Wang, says brides come to him for styles they cannot find in the French market. “Americans know how to create princess gowns that aren’t meringues-big but
Isobel Mohr spins around modeling a bridesmaid dress designed by Nicki and Charlotte Macfarlane. not ridiculous,” he said. “The British are good at linear silhouettes, its English chic, a more demure look.” Hoping to tap into this new appetite, a group of upmarket British wedding designers crossed the Channel this month, hosting a showroom in a Paris mansion. Nicki Macfarlane experienced the “Kate effect” first hand, having designed the bridesmaid gowns for the royal wedding. “Lots of doors have opened, it’s been very exciting,” Macfarlane told AFP. “People are looking to the UK much more.” One of her most popular designs, a little organza dress hemmed with English Cluny lace, was directly inspired by the royal dresses. Macfarlane currently ships direct to France. Her goal in Paris? To identify “two or three perfect boutiques. We’re not out to flood the market.” Stephanie Allin’s handmade dresses also mine a vintage English seam, like one recent design, “Rose Alba”, a mid-calf silk satin gown under chantilly lace, intended to suggest “a chic English village fete”. “With it you have tea Beatrice Mohr models a bridesmaid dress and crumpets-and lots of champagne,” she designed by Nicki and Charlotte joked.—AFP Macfarlane at their showroom.
Chocolate conquers new worlds, from Asia to Brazil H istory is coming full circle: borrowed from the Aztecs four centuries ago, perfected for the palate by the Europeans, chocolate is conquering new worlds, with sales booming from Asia to Brazil. Every second, 95 tones of chocolate are wolfed down around the world, or three million tons a year, according to figures supplied by the annual Salon du Chocolat fair, which kicks off Wednesday in Paris. The globalisation of chocolate is most striking in Japan, where annual sales are soaring by 25 percent and French chocolatiers are feted like stars while their Japanese counterparts now rank among the world’s best. “Japan has converted en masse to chocolate in the past decade, with chocolate Salons in seven different cities,” said Francois Jeantet, co-founder of the Paris fair, which has spawned 21 sister events from New York to Shanghai. For the Salon’s annual fashion show
featuring life-sized chocolate dresses, this year’s model is a kimono-inspired number created by French chocolatier Frederic Casselwho has three stores in Japan. “We wanted to express Japanese tradition, cherry blossom in the wind,” in the long sleeves with chocolate flowers, said Cassel, who worked to a design by a young fashion student, Audrey Lempeseur. The 15-kilo edible dress-a month in the making-will be slipped on just moments before the show, lest it should melt under the spotlights. Afterwards, it will be shipped straight to Japan. According to Jacques Pessis, president of the highly-serious Chocolate Crunchers’ Club which each year rewards the best world chocolates, France and Japan are the current masters of the game. “Thirty years ago Belgian and Swiss chocolate ruled the world. These days French chocolate is known
the world over. And more and more Japanese chocolatiers, taking their inspiration from the French, are truly excellent.” Japan aside, chocolate sales are also growing 30 percent year on year in China, while in India-even though one in two Indians have never tasted chocolate-growth is 20 percent, for a treat taken ultra sweet and milky. “Nearly every country in the world is now part of the chocolate trade, including Asian countries and their colossal potential markets,” said Jeantet and his fellow founder Sylvie Douce. Six multinational firms together account for 85 percent of the vast market: Hershey, Mars, Philip Morris, Nestle, Cadbury and Ferrero. Producer countries like Brazil have turned into major consumers, while others like Vietnam or Indonesia are moving into cocoa growing. “In Brazil, the market is going through the roof,” said the master chocolate maker Stephane Bonnat. “Production-side, the country has shifted these past six years towards fine, high quality cocoa. On the consumer side, I had sold my whole stock of chocolate bars within half an hour at the first fair in Salvador de Bahia in July.” Bonnat works with 42 small-scale farms around the world. Like him, many chocolatiers now foster direct ties with cocoa-growers, who also take part in fairs, Douce explained. “Different worlds have come together, and it has helped to vastly improve the quality of both cocoa and chocolate,” she said. Some 200 chefs from around the world are set to converge on Paris for the 18th edition of the fair, which draws some 100,000 visitors each year.—AFP
An employee arranges some chocolates, during the second International Salon des Chocolatiers et du Chocolat.
Children participate in a chocolate workshop, during the second International Salon des Chocolatiers et du Chocolat, Saturday, in Geneva, Switzerland. —AP photos
New York billionaire gives famed park $100 million
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ew York’s famed Central Park saw a different kind of green when a hedge fund billionaire made a $100 million donation, said to be the largest gift to a park of all time. John Paulson, who made a fortune with the Paulson & Co Inc investment fund, announced the contribution to the Central Park Conservancy, which manages the Manhattan institution, at the iconic Bethesda Fountain. “It is a great privilege to be able to contribute to the Central Park Conservancy, one of the most important cultural institutions in New York,” he said. “The Conservancy is responsible for transforming and sustaining Central Park as the celebration of culture, nature and democracy that it is today,” he said. “It is my hope that today’s contribution will help it endure and flourish and inspire others to join me in ensuring that the Park continues to receive the support it needs to be this city’s greatest asset.” Central Park has been dubbed the lungs of New York for its spread of open grass, woodlands and ponds, stretching from the Midtown area into the upper reaches of Manhattan. It has also been something of a barometer of the city’s fortunes, becoming crime-ridden and badly kept in the 1970s and 1980s, before gradually being restored to its currently excellent condition. “Mr Paulson’s donation is the largest gift ever made to the Central Park Conservancy. It is also the largest gift to any public park and one of the largest ever made to a New York City cultural institution,” the Conservancy said in a statement. “Mr Paulson’s gift comes at a time of unprecedented use of Central Park: with more than 40 million annual visitors, Central Park is visited by more people than any other New York City cultural institution.”—AFP