How to do a Mrs Harris Goes to Paris
I follow in the footsteps of Mrs Harris for an utterly "Dior-able" weekend away
I know this is The British Travel List, but I wanted to share the most wonderful weekend away I had in Paris, recently. And as the French capital is just a couple of hours away on the Eurostar, I made the exception for this newsletter.
I had the most amazing commission from Escape.com.au, to travel to Paris and recreate the journey of Mrs Harris, to tie in with the release of the new movie Mrs Harris Goes to Paris. The movie - based on the 1958 novel by Paul Gallico - stars Lesley Manville, playing the same role the late Angela Lansbury did in her 1992 version, as the London cleaner who goes on an adventure to buy a Dior gown.
“Fashion designers offer one of the last refuges of the marvellous. They are, in a way, the masters of dreams,” Christian Dior said in 1958 and his dream is as strong as it ever was, thanks to the new fashion exhibition La Galerie Dior, housed in the enormous Dior complex 30 Avenue Montaigne, near the Champs-Elysees - the same address Mrs H headed to.
It’s a magnificent exhibition and 1,300 people tour the gallery every day, taking the staircase selfie challenge in front of the “Diorama of miniatures” and marvelling at the gowns, which cover the 75 years of the house of Dior. They include the Bar suit, which began it all, plus dresses worn by stars such as Marlene Dietrich (“no Dior, no Dietrich,” she told Alfred Hitchcock) and Princess Diana, complete with a Lady Dior bag, which was named in her honour.
The exhibition space takes you past the original staircase Ada Harris walked up to the atelier and into Christian Dior’s actual office, lovingly-preserved, as well as the first workrooms. See pic, above.
It was here Christian Dior created what was dubbed the New Look, in his first collection in 1947. And whatever he had, it was magic, because some seven decades later, women today are as entranced as Ada was by the look and the label.
The exhibition is just exquisite, room after room of more than 1000 looks, sketches and documents. There’s a garden room, with flowers dripping from the ceiling, high-tech displays and a ballroom, with towering columns of gowns, which come alive to a glittering night sky.
The new 30 Montaigne, which opened earlier this year, is like a Dior Wonderland and Mrs Harris needn’t show bundles of cash to get herself in the door today; it’s much more democratic. You can spend €15 for a coffee and croissant in La Patisserie Dior, or as many thousands as you want in the store.
There’s also a restaurant, Monsieur Dior, by Michelin-starred chef Jean Imbert. The menu has dishes based on Christian Dior’s own recipes and everything is meticulously thought out – from the maitre d’s tuxedo to the tableware you can buy. I try a chocolate tart so delicious, it’s as close as you can come to eating a Dior dress.
The rest of the weekend passes in a blur of beauty - I walk over the Pont d’lena and along the Seine, to see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night, like Mrs Harris. I wander the streets, sit in Parisian pavement cafes, have cocktails in the George V hotel, and just take it all in. Then, too soon, like Ada, it’s back to London, with, as Gallico concludes, “the city that had bestowed on her such a priceless memory.”
The Paris List
Watch: Mrs Harris Goes to Paris is in cinemas now
Visit: Pre-book tickets to La Galerie Dior
Travel: Journey to Paris from London via Eurostar
Stay: I stayed in Hotel Claridge, a four-star fashion-industry favourite by the Champs-Elyees.
Drink: I splashed out on cocktails at George V - the Four Seasons’ stunning flower displays are worth a visit, alone.
The British Travel List is the sister newsletter to The Royal List. It is a weekly guide to my favourite places to visit and stay around the country. I am an experienced travel and lifestyle journalist who writes for British and Australian newspapers and magazines and am passionate about British travel. For more of my work, visit kerryparnell.com