Words by Offspring community member @amalfiboyjay
Tell us a bit about yourself
I’m Janome Raymond, half Italian and half St. Lucian, born and bred in London. Recently, I started a new Instagram page @newlundunorder to document the vibrant urban culture that is in London, alerting people of pop-ups and events that they may not know about, I find a lot of people are unaware of how to attend events, so I try to make it a bit easier. I have recently dived into fashion a bit deeper, so I wanted to visit one of the Hubs of the fashion world – Paris – to see how it really goes down!
We saw you down in Paris for fashion week, can you tell us about what you got up to during your visit?
I got to Paris on Sunday the 16th one day before it all kicks off to familiarise myself with the place. I quickly learned that Lime bikes are the easiest way to get around. I did a bit of sightseeing on the first day managed to see the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Louvre and even the Champ-Elysèes, basically all the main attractions. The next day I went for dinner with a friend at a restaurant called Malibu (a very popular spot).
On the 19th Highsnobiety had an event called ‘Not In Paris’, here I met American Rapper Jeleel famous for his wild shows doing backflips. The event was well curated with different types of beverages, upstairs they had a café serving croissants and other patisseries and downstairs they had a massive slab of French butter with bread for everyone to just have a slice. Downstairs they also had some performances, here I witnessed an amazing artist by the name of BnnyHunna he was a wizard on the keyboard even playing two at the same time. He has a great song out you can stream called – ‘Calm Waters’ by Bnnyhunna. Everyone was vibing to his music!
To see all the different styles and outfits was so dope everyone made an effort, everyone had selected specific outfits that would express their individuality and that was nice to see. There were unlimited free drinks flowing so everyone was quite talkative and enjoying the moment while networking at the same time. Shout out the Highsnobiety team.
Around 11pm we get an Uber to another party at Siena and there is lobster linguine and truffle pasta just flowing - I’ve just walked into heaven, oh did I mention another unlimited FREE bar.
Was it your first trip there? Did it exceed your expectations?
Yes, indeed my first time in Paris, and it blew me away, the whole city is just full of activities, from street salsa, skateboarding, street parties and just so much to see and take in, not to mention the amazing food you just smell amazing food and patisseries. The parties are just non-stop, some places you have to stay for literally 10 minutes and be off just to show face and be able to visit other places because believe me it’s like 6 months’ worth of partying crammed into one week. I would be losing friends and by the time I find out they are at another event down the road… Send me your location rudeboy!!! Lol.
We saw you met up with a load of people, can you tell us more?
So, I’ve realised Fashion week in Paris is the place to be either January or June. For instance, I was walking with my friend, and we look up and it’s the American artist Buddy just walking casually in Paris, sat outside the Talk Nice studios pop-up and then AJ Tracey rocks up all casual and greets me. You could also find Sean Wotherspoon at the Dukes Cupboard pop-up. I met so many stylists and models and it’s so interesting to hear more about everyone’s stories and journeys. I also met some amazing photographers that have been tagging me up in pictures and it’s just been so sick that whole week was a movie. I saw famous Korean artist Yuta Nakamoto casually strolling around being followed by GQ Japan. So many artists are in town you just have to be in the right place at the right time and you could easily bump into Rhianna or some other celebrity.
Do you have any highlights from your trip?
Too many to mention from meeting Jeff Hamilton, Aleali May, Buddy and Smino to watching my first runway show in Paris. Seeing all those historical buildings and experiencing French culture the whole trip was amazing and I recommend anyone to go and experience fashion week at least once. One of my highlights had to be eating at Malibu, the food is banging! Another highlight was bumping into Aman, G and Luke from the Offspring team while walking around Paris. I must say they had some serious drip on.
How do you feel coming back from the trip? Is this going to be a regular occurrence now?
I’m already buying outfits for the next visit, it’s a whole vibe I can’t explain how much fun and laughter I experienced on that trip. I feel refreshed and inspired by all the different styles I saw, highly motivating trip! I will probably be there again in January.
Paris is known as the city of lights, fashion and of course the city of love. We see brand Jordan are re-releasing the Air Jordan 1 Low ‘Paris’. What are your thoughts on the upcoming pair, and would you say it truly reflects the Paris vibe?
I was one of the lucky ones to get the Paris Lows in 2020 i believe and they are one of my favourite lows. So overly looking forward to being able to get another fresh pair, I really hope they use same quality materials. The colours reflect those sunny afternoons in Paris, and the architecture of the beautiful city with premium leather, suede and tightly woven textiles. My favourite detail is the PRS tag that hangs from the laces and the gold tips on the laces are very stylish and give it a lovely finishing touch. But the quality is second to none. To me the vibe in Paris is top quality just like the shoe, everywhere in Paris is picture perfect and these shoes are a great representation of the beautiful city called Paris.
Quick fire questions:
What are the top 3 Air Jordan 1 Lows?
AJ1 Low Paris (no cap), Travis Scott x AJ1 Low Reverse Mocha and Travis Scott x AJ1 Low FragmentFavourite AJ1 Low collaboration?
Travis Scott x AJ1 Low FragmentDream AJ1 Low collaboration?
Travis Scott x AJ1 Low Medium Olive that are releasing shortly 👀
The Air Jordan 1 Low ‘Paris’ is available online and in Offspring stores on the 29th of June.
