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I’ve been advised that building my own house with my own hands is a bad idea and I should leave it to the professionals,louis vuitton borse. But I spent a year as an apprentice carpenter after college before focusing my energies on becoming a documentary filmmaker, and ever since,sac louis vuitton, whenever I pick up a hammer to work on a weekend project, it just feels right.

My desire to build a home grew into an obsession after I got married last year — some sort of macho version of the nesting instinct. Reflecting during our honeymoon, my wife,louis vuitton sac, Julia,borse louis vuitton, and I hatched a plan that eventually evolved into this: Julia would finish her master’s degree in midwifery, I would quit my job as a videographer with The New York Times,vuitton pas cher, and we would travel somewhere interesting and spend half a year there volunteering on a construction project to learn the skills we’ll need to build our dream house,louis vuitton outlet.

Then, we would begin the monumental task of actually building the house on 50 wooded acres outside Woodstock,sacs louis vuitton, N,louis vuitton sito ufficiale.Y., that her family purchased in the early 1980s,louis vuitton pas cher. I would start freelancing as a documentary filmmaker but set aside enough time to work on the house, and Julia would begin delivering babies professionally.

There was never a debate about whether we wanted to our home to be green. It just felt like the natural decision to make. Maybe it’s the values instilled by our lefty parents and grandparents to try to be part of the solution.

Not even 24 hours after the Paris men’s shows had ended they were a dim memory. The women had moved in for the spring haute couture shows, like a temperance league. The tent for Dior today was so big, set up behind the Musée Rodin,sac louis vuitton, you could have run three men’s shows simultaneously. I saw writers who had sprawled easily on benches at the men’s shows now squeezed delicately into gold spindle chairs. The mood became tense, watchful. And you have the clients and the paparazzi, who must get the same pictures every year but don’t seem to care. It’s kind of like family. You show up out of a mixture of duty and curiosity ― and fear,louis vuitton sac, fear that someone will get a bigger bowl of porridge.

Dior was all pale tones,borse louis vuitton, like watercolors run beyond charcoal lines. The illustrator Rene Gruau was the inspiration for John Galliano’s rather beautiful looking dresses, all more or less in the ’50s spirit of Penn, Avedon and Suzy Parker. Gruau has served Mr. Galliano’s purposes in the past,louis vuitton outlet, for an illustrator and artist-themed collection that was more modern and ambitious than this one. But the colors were magical ― the shadings of red and black together, sienna and brown, gorgeous blues, pinks and greens. The shapes were particularly airy and delicate, though archival, with puffy little suit jackets over mean pencil skirts or full layered skirts, and lots of meringue silk and tulle for evening. In effect, Mr. Galliano reproduced a portfolio of exquisite drawings for a female audience dressed predominantly in black (and slightly rain-spattered at that) who wear separates and don’t get to the hairdresser as often as they wish. The contrast is rather daunting.

Against a backdrop of giant faceted stones, with front row that included Jodie Foster and Sophia Loren,louis vuitton sito ufficiale, Giorgio Armani presented a Privé collection that startled for its futuristic shapes and glossy,vuitton pas cher, hard-to-identify materials. Mr. Armani has shown clothes in this style before ― jeweled, glistening, plastic-like,louis vuitton pas cher, with spherical shapes ― but this one felt more accomplished. As wacky as the plastic saucer hats were, and the jeweled shoes with more jewels embedded in their clear plastic heels, I liked this collection a lot. I thought the fabrics (mostly a blend of nylon and silk) were interesting, and with few exceptions, Mr. Armani maintained a very lean,sacs louis vuitton, dynamic silhouette that was consistent with his signature style. Was it a future vision with a ’60s cast? Perhaps, but the clothes were compelling for their technique and the way Mr. Armani blended the hard-looking fabrics with his style.

Afterward I asked him if he had been at all influenced by Lady Gaga, for whom he has made some clothes, and he shook his head firmly. Well,louis vuitton borse, I wonder.

I popped up to the Chanel studio before the day was over. Karl Lagerfeld was at his desk, talking to Anna Wintour. Suzy Menkes was there, too, looking at the board of sketches with Amanda Harlech. Mr. Lagerfeld, who had on a Lanvin jacket and jeans with a blue striped shirt, was talking a mile a minute. I spoke to some of the studio assistants for a while; four of the young women are expecting babies. The model Kristen McMenamy was in the next room being fitted for the bridal dress, with an embroidered train of thousands of gold beads. Then she took a few turns of the studio while she and Mr. Lagerfeld chatted. After a while Stella Tennant came by for her fittings, bringing along her sister, and Ms. McMenamy said, at least once, “It feels like old times.”