Deparment stores in Xmas dresses by mariev
Each year, from the last week of november on , Paris begin to wear her Christmas clothes.Streets are alight and decorated.
One of the most impressive displays can be found Boulevard Haussmann, with the 'contest' between the 'senior citizen' among parisian department stores.
While Printemps focuses more on fashion designers (in 2004 the lights and window decos were signed Christian Lacroix), Galeries Lafayettes rely on a more traditional style (lights mimicking stain glasses and automatons in the windows).
After sunset, the street becomes overcrowded by people coming as much to have a look at those ornaments as to do their Xmas shopping (even so crowded that platforms, delimited by banisters, are erected in front of the windows in order to allow the smaller children to see the automatons and toys without beeing bumped or squashed).
more photos here
