Something Wicked This Way Comes...

And it's sure to silent your merry hums! Think you can handle all that could scare? Not the Fête des Sorcières, a witch festival there! To the celebration in Chalindrey, France, you must; hurry, hurry, my friends, before all will be dust! (Or, in other words, you must check out France's annual witch festival in Chalindrey, the site of a historic 16th century witch hunt. The celebration seeks to evoke Halloween's Celtic roots, and in addition to scaring you witless, there's a haunting Celtic dance performed every Saturday night through the entire month of October!)

 

Photo credit: etsy

The Haunted

Damp. Silent. Creepy. Not usually words most associate with France, thought to be one of the world's most romantic and glamorous countries. But it certainly boasts its fair share of the macabre and horrifying! Some of the earliest Halloween traditions started in the region, and with so much history lurking in every crevice and corner, it's a wonder most visitors don't shiver straight out of their designer footwear!

Eiffel tower

Loire village Bois

Paris catacombs

Church of Saint-Catherine Bell Tower in Honfleur, France

Scene from Les Vampires, 1915

La Garangeoire, Saint-Julien-des-Landes, France

Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris

Subway entrance, Paris

* The first picture, as well as the last two, can be purchased as art prints here.

Photo credits from top to bottom: etsy.com, eyefetch.com, iphone-photographer.com, flickr.com, oliverdegabriele.posterous.com, filmsquish.com, panoramio.com, wackyowl.com, etsy.com, etsy.com

Wanderlust

Paris, New York and Milan are the epicenters of fashion, but after seeing the debut collection from Russian photographer-turned-designer, Ulyana Sergeenko, we're thinking a trip to the North is in order! Her retro-fairytale  fall/winter 2011 collection not only made our jaws drop, it had us rushing to the mirror with bobby pins and red lipstick. We've seen some pretty stellar takes on the 1950s housewife look as well as the fairytale princess look, but this mix of both with a modern edge by far blows anything else we've seen out of the water. Or ice, if we're thinking in Russian terms.

 

Photo credits: Russian Vogue 2011

Modern Elegance

As you can probably guess based on our previous blog posts as well as the array of fun merchandise in the French Charmed boutique, we love all things vintage and shabby chic. We've focused our whole lives on it, practically! However, with that being said, we absolutely cannot resist the magic of pure, unadulterated elegance, like these rooms designed by Occa Home. You know, the kind of chic frillery at which husbands everywhere roll their eyes and say, "Is that really necessary?" But as we all know, it's not necessary. It's absolutely necessary!