I'm a life-long Taylor Swift-ie with an eye for recreations. I had a trip booked to Paris with my husband Cedric, and I knew I couldn't go there without visiting the famous cafe, La Palette, which is featured in the music video for one of my favorite Taylor songs: "Begin Again".
Not only did I visit, I also had to go one step further and meticulously scour the internet to find just the right hair, shoes, sunglasses and skirt to recreate images and video clips from the music video!
Side by side of recreation Taylor Swift outfit.
After securing the outfit pieces from Poshmark, Etsy and Goodwill, I then searched for a Parisian photographer who was cool with my quirky request. I stumbled upon Corinne Isasako on Upworks and she thought the whole concept was a blast! I shared a Pinterest board of music video screenshots and paparazzi captures. With her flair for movement & candid shots combined with my inspiration and organization, together we made my Taylor Swift fantasies come to life!
Where We Went:
La Palette
Originally a favorite gathering place for students of the nearby École des Beaux-Arts, La Palette holds a special place in Parisian art history. Legendary artists like Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque once sat beneath its awnings. In the music video, the female lead character is often seen drawing and writing on a sketchpad while the interested suitor is shown as a photographer. The artistic history of this establishment was probably why it was chosen as the meeting café for these two artsy love birds.
These days, La Palette’s sunny, flower-filled terrace makes it one of the most charming spots in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Its facade and one of its two rooms are officially listed as historical monuments, and inside you’ll find a delightful mix of paintings and ceramics dating back to the 1930s.
Hours: Open everyday from 8am to 2pm
Address: 43 rue de Seine 75006 Paris France
Website: https://www.instagram.com/lapalette.officiel/
Travel Tip:
If you're also planning to create content at this historical cafe I suggest visiting right when it opens at 8 am. Cedric and I did this and we had the whole cafe to ourselves for about an hour and a half before other patrons started to come in for breakfast.
Outside of the famous La Palette cafe in Paris
Rue Marazine Street (Facing the Institut de France)
We had a lucky surprise and stumbled upon another location for our fabulous photoshoot. Right around the corner from La Palette cafe was a stunning street with a view of the domed Institut de France behind it. These street photos below were taken near the Il Vicolo restaurant on Rue Marazine Street. This eatery actually looks pretty yummy and you might want to visit after taking some great candid street shots!
Street Photography on Rue Mazarine
Why We Did This:
Why did we spend one of our days in Paris recreating this music video? Because this song is very special to us. This song came out right before Cedric and I started dating, way back 12 years ago. The song is about a woman who has "spent the last 8 months thinking all love ever does is break and burn and end," which was exactly the amount of time I was single after a breakup before I found Cedric. I was through with obnoxious men who weren't treating me right! I vowed to just stay single and stop looking. Then the woman character in the song meets a man by chance "on a Wednesday in a cafe" where she watched love "begin again." Our story is similar: we ran into each other by chance on an MBTA subway car in Boston during senior year of college in Mission Hill. Our meeting was even on a Wednesday!
This song goes on to describe the new relationship, with the woman amazed at how well she's treated now, with lines such as "I think it's strange that you think I'm funny, 'cause he never did" and "You pull my chair out and help me in and you don't know how nice that is." As soon as Cedric and I got together, I was enamored with his kindness, laughter ("you throw your head back laughing like a little kid") and willingness to go with the flow to make me happy. Which he still does to this day by gladly agreeing to complete little side quests such as dressing up for themed photoshoots.
At the time, I brought up the similarities within this song to him while we were dating and it was the first ever song he surprised me with by learning on guitar. We even performed it together, with me doing vocals, during one of his first visits with my family.
Closing Thoughts
Not only did I kill two birds with one stone (I also wore this outfit to the Taylor Swift ERAS concert that we attended in Portugal), but we had a wonderful day with memories that I'll cherish forever. Plus, the photographer was so taken with our love and this photoshoot idea that she even wrote a whole blog article of her own about the experience: Begin Again By Taylor Swift Photo Shoot With Deanna & Cedric
So, if you have a crazy cosplay idea with your partner then I would say go for it, and see where the day takes you!
Check out more of my Paris videos here and more of our Europe adventures here.
