NATALIE JOOS

There are a handful of women in the fashion industry that I admire. Among them are the epic mothers of fashion journalism, Suzy Menkes and Hilary Alexander, as well as more recent greats like Tamu McPherson and Caroline Issa. Each woman is carving their individual place in the fashion industry and retaining great amounts of integrity and class while doing it. I like that.

One person who has recently landed on my fashion radar is the multi-talented Natalie Joos. She's a casting agent, author, photographer and consultant - a woman of many talents, no doubt. She also has a kick butt blog that I love. It's called Tales of Endearment and it chronicles all her adventures and has beautiful photos. Natalie is one of the stand out subjects of street style during fashion week thanks to her bold outfits and infectious smile. She always looks so upbeat and positive - an excellent reminder that fashion should always be fun.

OUTSIDE CHANEL...

Surely the Chanel show is the apex of all things fabulous at Paris Fashion Week. Come on, it's Chanel for crying out loud. I was expecting some sort of post-apocalyptic paparazzi frenzy... which was pretty much exactly what it was. Imagine you're in big building and the fire alarm has just gone off. Everyone is stressed and panicked, unsure of where they ought to go or where they ought to look. It's chaos. Suddenly the sprinklers come on and water starts pouring from the spouts positioned on the ceilings above everyone's head. Now, take that image... add traffic, platforms and a string of luxury fabric to the mix. Et voilà. You've got yourself the entrance to the Grand Palais where the Chanel show took place.

Let's put the crazed fashionistas and paparazzi aside for just a second though and recognize that there were some magical little fashion moments taking place. The whole experience made me feel as if I had been transported to a Chanel black-and-white infused fairytale. Everyone was painfully chic and, I swear, enough 2.55 bags floated past me to stock an entire shop. Next time sky, please, just hold off on the rain. Merci.

Rollover images for descriptions and check Tumblr for more photos and outtakes.