Parislog 64
September 24, 2006

I had a day without much planned and so I decided to go see a live window display at the Galerie Lafayette downtown. It was a part of the festivities they had planned for the “rentrée” (coming back to school). By live, I actually mean that the model was a living breathing person and not plastic.
I got there and walked all along the storefront until I found the window that would be used and they kindly enough had put the schedule on the window as well. I had about a half an hour until the next show so I went inside and browsed around a little. I looked at an art show of dolls called Blythe. They were all were dressed by designers. But I was bored because I had seen them displayed at the Pret-a-Porter show.
Time passed and I headed back to the window, jostling my way through maddeningly thick masses of people doing their shopping. I got to the window and no one was there yet so I was able to place myself front and center. Yeah! I waited the 10 minutes and quickly the space around and behind me filled up. Another photographer positioned himself just to the left of me.
The sound of feet clacking towards us tapped out of the speaker overhead. A door opened and out walked the living mannequin. She pranced. She posed. She started to adjust her clothes. Then the clothes start to come off. ???????? She is doing a strip routine in the window on the street of downtown Paris.
It was real old Burlesque. It was all about the seduction. It was an actual choreographed show of 30 minutes and went all the way to panties, hose and pasties. Then she went about redressing as though for a day at the office, very sexily of course. The very last bit of the performance after she was completely redressed was licking the window. Really. Not pretend.
In France there is an idiomatic expression “lecher les vitrines”, which means licking the windows and is said in place of window-shopping. I can only imagine that this was a play on that phrase and being in a department store window.
Okay, I will admit that my Anglo-Saxon self was a little shocked.