Jonathan S. Paul, a friend of ACL, sent me this post card from Paris. He’s there covering women’s fashion for The Moment blog.

Hello from Paris, where women’s fashion has taken the city hostage. As a magazine editor with mostly men’s fashion on my c.v., I’ll say that I’m enjoying the experience here – and the preponderance of beautiful, decked-out girls. But after two nights of group dinners, drinks and dancing with fashion editors – where I was the only guy at the table – tonight I decided to take some time for myself. That meant: dinner alone, a bottle of Bordeaux – just me and two of my favorite men’s magazines, GQ and Men’s Vogue. I needed a shot of testosterone to clear my head of chiffon and lace. I first started thinking of A Continuous Lean when I read Michael Walker’s piece, “Anything, Anywhere, Anytime” in M.V. Somehow it managed to glamorize the work of cargo pilots (“freight dogs”). I suspect ACL’s readers would appreciate all the aviation jargon (“shooting an approach”) and factoids (shutting down a GM assembly line costs $42,000 per minute), which compensated for the piece’s overwriting and belly-flop ending.

Allow me a brief digression: I love the fact that Men’s Vogue routinely executes full-budget photo shoots featuring only men’s dress shoes. No faces, no shirts, just tight shots of well-shod feet for six pages! At any rate, on my way back from the restaurant, I passed by the Church’s shop, which was closed, but something caught my eye. (Church’s, as you know, is an English shoe company now owned by Prada.) In the store’s beautifully art directed window I noticed something I’d never seen before: digital photo frames made with with a handsome, light wood. I have been flirting with the idea of getting one of these gadgets, but they are always terribly ugly due to the hideous plasticy frames surrounding the LCD screen. I pressed my face close to the Church’s window trying to get a better look and I concluded that these were a custom job – Church’s probably commissioned a reframing, something I’ve thought of doing too, but never knew who could do a job like that for me? I might stop in the shop tomorrow to inquire and really put my French In Action. Good night from Paris. Jonathan S. Paul