Shopping esprit in the Paris showrooms

PARIS - Joan Shepp hurries through the narrow streets visiting showroom after showroom. Her curly hair blows as she clings to her Metro map.

Shepp is in the middle of her annual weeklong Paris quest to fill her Center City boutique, Joan Shepp, with to-die-for clothing and accessories.

With Paris Fashion Week's runway shows having ended Sunday, buyers from around the world are deep into Market Week, getting down to the important business of shopping for their customers.

But ordering this year has been tricky.

Last week, the U.S. currency fell to 67 cents to one euro - talk about putting a cramp in shopping.

Still, Shepp, in her 60s, and daughter Ellen Shepp-Weinstein, 44, are determined to continue their long-standing urban-chic tradition of finding new merchandise that is also true to the store's sculptured black aesthetic.

"This trip I have to really be careful," Shepp said, repeating this week's shopping mantra. This is the lowest the dollar has been since Shepp began shopping for her store in Europe 25 years ago. "I can only buy what I can definitely sell."

With the emphasis on the waist and sleeker, more architectural cuts, women's fashion will be veering toward classic European style starting this spring. When fall rolls around, the trend will be in full swing: Skirts will be longer, blazers will be much more cinched. Clutch bags will be big and flat like envelopes. Outerwear will include capes. And in a new twist, which seems to come out of nowhere, winter hats will flop a bit like Papa Smurf's.

So as Shepp and her daughter shuttled through Paris on their way to runway presentations and showrooms of contemporary fashion heavy-hitters - Dries Van Noten, Balenciaga and Chloe - they weren't looking just for the perfect crisp white shirt, the can't-live-without pleated floral dress. They were searching for the best ways to infuse the attitude, the style and the savoir faire into their almost-10-year-old Walnut Street store.

"It's about figuring out what's going to come next," Shepp-Weinstein said, "and making that a part of your store's vision."

Shepp arrived in Paris Feb. 26 after two days in Milan. Shepp-Weinstein joined her mother in Paris at a hotel on the Left Bank, not far from the runway shows at the Louvre and an easy Metro ride to many of the designer showrooms.

In most cases, the mother-daughter team tried to see the collections on the runway and keep appointments with designer sales reps. But with a full Paris itinerary including 20 appointments in a week, that doesn't always happen.

"The clients log on to style.com and they see what's on the runway and they come in and ask for it by name," Shepp said. "It helps to see them."

Part of the first few days were spent at Premiere Classe in the Jardin des Tuileries. This is a trade show that features smaller brands such as soft-shoe company Trippen, leather-boot-maker Henry Beguelin, and L.A. jewelry-maker Chan Luu.

In the accessories tent, it's so easy to get distracted.

Big, colorful scarves in must-have wool blends dangled next to oversize chunky bags. There were pretty dangling earrings and ribbed tights in every color. This is serious fashion overload. But Shepp and Shepp-Weinstein managed to remember every store they had been to and exactly what they'd seen.

Shepp likes to wander around to take everything in. Shepp-Weinstein zeroes in on an item and tries everything on.

"It took me years to make myself try on every piece because they look so different on the hanger," Shepp-Weinstein said.

And then a boot by Angel Azorin in three colors, cobalt blue, black and gray, caught everyone's eye.

"Paris is a place where we always find surprises," Shepp said. "We never know what we are going to see. We have to be ready."

On a Saturday morning, the women made their way to Van Noten's showroom. There are some designers with multiple showrooms, but only the biggest have entire spaces to themselves.

The Antwerp-based designer is known for his strong prints. Shepp's store does pretty well with his line.

Her eyes lit up the minute Shepp walked in. The entire collection, not just what was shown on the runway, hung along both sides of the hardwood-floor studio. Easy-to-wear solids made of raw silk hung opposite prints in electric shades of tomato red, emerald green and cobalt blue. There were a lot of dresses with pleated skirts. (Yes, they are back.) Models sauntered around for buyers to appraise.

"This is art. We should present it as if we are in a museum," Shepp gasped. Until now, she'd been rather reserved in her comments. After all, she had had to adjust to a sticker shock that would cut her budget by a fraction or so.

But this excited her.

"I'm over the top," she said.

Shepp and Shepp-Weinstein went through each piece of the collection, taking pictures, writing out their favorites on a large order form. They didn't leave until 6 p.m.

But a color story started to emerge; it looks as if the store will be filled with grays and chocolate browns. It will pop with jewel tones. This, Shepp-Weinstein said, is just as important as choosing the silhouette, as everything must blend in and fit on the rack.

So many designers, so little time. By now the duo had visited Rick Owens (he's done great things with casual). As well as the red-heeled French shoe wonder Christian Louboutin (how can you go wrong?). And Comme des Garcons, Junya Watanabe (architecturally splendid).

One of their last stops Tuesday morning was Yohji Yamamoto - this is no surprise, as both wore black Yohji shoes and carried black Yohji bags.

There was some newness against the stark white walls. The designer's bustled skirts and knitted sweaters and jackets were reminiscent of the late 1890s - yes, scary.

But there was still a selection of Joan Shepp staples: crisp shirts and tailored-yet-baggy black pants.

The end was near. It had been hard to get everything done as they ran into international friends in the fashion world, had dinner with fellow buyers, schmoozed sales reps.

There was hardly time to write orders, the most time- consuming and important part of the trip. It was now that the women looked through their pictures, figured out their budget, got down to the business of ordering clothing. Last night was a long one.

"You go over and over it again until you are tired and you don't want to look at the clothes anymore," Shepp-Weinstein said.

"Then a few months later, it comes to the store and you take it out and are like, 'Wow. Now I remember. Now I know why I loved it.' "