Elle Palmu

Elegance in the Arts

A Conundrum of Operatic Taste👂🏻

I must admit I’m facing a conundrum of sorts at the moment with my ears. We often talk about taste when it comes to music, even though we don't refer to our physical tastebuds, but to the sort of music that each of us feels is 'music to our ears' (pun intended😜)...

Life Lessons

Perfecting Your Craft à la Maria Callas🔧

This week I've been pondering over the importance of having some sort of a craft or a skill in life that we enjoy developing. We may have many sorts of different roles to fill in life, but besides the feeling of purpose they bring us, most of us want to also develop...

Life Lessons

Are You Being Sincere?🥸

I must confess that I think I'm falling in love with Maria Callas again.😂 Well, I guess "falling in love" is a bit too strong an expression, but let's say that I'm fascinated by her charm, charisma, magnetism and sincere devotion to her art...

Style Lessons

Snippets of Callas' Cute and Funny Quips💡

Like promised last week, I'll share a couple of fun snippets of my findings from Maria Callas' letters and memoirs this week. It has definitely been interesting to discover Callas' thoughts in different eras of her life, and I think she has a very fun and beautiful way of expressing herself...

Style Lessons

What Is It Like to Be in Maria Callas' Shoes?👢

What would you think it feels like to be in Maria Callas' shoes? I'm beginning to get some sort of an idea of it now that I'm re-reading her letters and memoirs in French. I read most of the 598-paged book last year, but now I felt like going through meticulously every word of the book...

Style Lessons

An Ode to Jackets🧥

This week I’m reporting from an exhibition called Vestologie that is on display under the beautiful 19th century dome of the Printemps department store on the Boulevard Haussmann. 'Vestologie' refers to the French word "veste" that I now understand...

Style Lessons

Final Notes on the Fashion Week🪡

Alas, Paris Fashion Week has come to an end!  It's been quite a busy week, even though I haven't been really involved with the Fashion Week itself. I've mostly been watching some recordings of the shows and admiring some pictures of them...

Life in Paris

Fashion Buzz in the Fashion Capital of the World💃

Guess what? It's Paris Fashion Week again! Even though I'm obviously not invited to any of the shows, it's still just fun to think that I breathe the same Parisian air as all of the guests, models and crew that participate in the most important fashion event of the year...

Style Lessons

Parisian Style and Social Status👛

Last week I delved into a couple of things that came to my mind during my visit to the Musée des Arts décoratifs, but I feel that there's still something more to the idea of the "Parisienne" that we can expand on and explore. To refresh our memory...

Style Lessons

The History of the Fashionable ’Parisienne’💄

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of paying a visit to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs to see an exhibition called: "The Birth of Department Stores. Fashion, design, toys, advertising. 1852-1925." I've been wanting to go there for a couple of months already...

Life Lessons

Document and Remember Your Life📸

Do you like to document your day-to-day life through taking photos? I know I do! But this week I've pondered over my relationship with this question a bit more than usual. The reason is because I've started to experiment with taking photos with a small digital camera – and it's been quite fun!

Style Lessons

The Effortless Appeal of Ralph Lauren🏇

I cannot explain how inspired I feel right now! It's actually been a while since I've last had this strong of a feeling of inspiration – and it's wonderful and envigorating. You guessed it by the title of this email, my source of inspiration at the moment is the one and only Ralph Lauren...

Style Lessons

Be Careful When You Button Your Buttons!🛑

This week I'd like to just make a friendly reminder that also serves as a note to self: if you're buttoning a shirt without a mirror, it's useful to check if you buttoned the buttons correctly!

Life Lessons

The Key to Success in Fashion and in Life✅

Lately I’ve been especially inspired by the fashion designer Carolina Herrera’s message of style and elegance. I rewatched a few of her interviews and I realized once again how brilliantly she crafted her career in fashion while having a relatively normal family life outside of fashion...

Life Lessons

The Power of Sports and Identity🤸‍♀️

Salut ! The Olympics are soon coming to an end and I wonder what kind of performances we’ll see during the closing ceremony tomorrow! Speaking of performances, last Sunday’s men’s final tennis match between Djokovic and Alcaraz was legendary.🎾 They were basically playing the same level of tennis,

Life in Paris

Unbelievable Performances🤯

Greetings from a sunny Paris where the Olympics are in full swing! As most of us, I haven’t still gotten over how incredible Céline Dion’s performance was in the opening ceremony. It was just legendary, and the most perfect ending for the night...

Life in Paris

All Eyes on Paris 👀🥇

Today is the day! The opening ceremony of the Olympics takes place tonight on the river Seine and the eyes of the whole world turn to my new hometown : Paris! It's just very cool to be able to live during such a historic event.

Style Lessons

A Class Photo or a Ralph Lauren Ad?📸

This week I got to visit some bigger antique fairs with my parents for the first time in France – and it was a fun experience! In addition to finding me a new coffee table, I happened to find a very stylish old photo from a stack of random photos that one of the salesmen had on his table...

Concert Memories

Diana Krall Is Too Cool for School🧊

You know what? I saw Diana Krall play jazz live this week! Which means that I literally breathed the same air as her for about an hour and 45 minutes. How cool is that!😜 What's even cooler is that the concert was at the legendary L'Olympia...

Style Lessons

Remember to Check If You Have Chocolate on Your Nose!😜🍫

It’s been quite a while! I’ve had an intensive, but wonderful spring with my art history courses at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and now it’s time to look for new adventures.🤓

Life in Paris

Some of my French food discoveries so far🥐🍽️

Salut ! I hope you're all doing well.🥰 I've been feeling a bit under the weather these past couple of days, but it's nothing too dramatic. I'm just taking it easy so that I can be back in the game soon enough. Whether

Life in Paris

Some peculiarities of French culture I've noticed so far🇫🇷🇫🇮

Coucou ! Greetings again from a slightly colder, but ever so beautiful, Paris! I have now lived my first week or so as an independent Parisienne, and all I can say is that I am just full of life.🤓 Of course on some of the days I have felt a bit

Life in Paris

New beginnings in Paris🔑

Bonjour à toutes et à tous, My first week in Paris has come to an end, and all I can say is that I already feel at home in this city.🥳 My friends picked me up from the airport on Monday and drove me to my new apartment. Until my

Life in Paris

Paris awaits!✈️

The moment has finally come: I'll begin my new life in Paris tomorrow!🤩 We packed my apartment this week with my parents, and today I left the apartment for good. Of course I got slightly nostalgic about my apartment when I left from there for the last time,

Life in Paris

The apartment hunt is over!⚜️

Hello everyone, Guess what? I finally have an apartment in Paris! I got the news soon after I wrote the previous newsletter, and I've been over the moon since. I have still been kind of sick though, but I haven't let it slow me down too