Left: Notre-Dame de Paris; right:Chapel of the Invalides.

Paris is a global hub of fashion and has been referred to as the "international capital of style".[212] It ranks alongside New York, Milan and London as a major centre for the fashion industry. Paris is noted for its haute couture tailoring, usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable seamstresses, often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques. The twice-yearly Paris Fashion Week, an apparel trade show, is one of the most important events on the fashion calendar and attracts fashion aficionados from all around the world. Established in 1976, the Paris Fashion Institute offers courses in design, manufacturing, marketing, merchandising, and retailing.[213] International Fashion Academy Paris is an international fashion school, established in 1982 and headquartered in Paris, with branches in Shanghai and Istanbul.[214]


French Republican Guard on Bastille Day
Paris has a large number of high-end fashion boutiques, and many top designers have their flagship stores in the city, such as Louis Vuitton's store, Christian Dior's 1200 square foot store and Sephora's 1500 square foot store.[215] Printemps has the largest shoe and beauty departments in Europe.[215] Sonia Rykiel is considered to the "grand dame of French fashion" and "synonymous with Parisian fashion"[citation needed], with clothes which are embraced by "left bank fashionistas".[215] Petit Bateau is cited as one of the most popular high street stores in the city[citation needed], the Azzedine Alaïa store on the Rue de Moussy has been cited as a "shoe lover's haven",[215] and Colette is noted for its "brick-and-click" clothing and fashion accessories. The jeweller Cartier, with its flagship boutique near Paris' place Vendôme, has a long history of sales to royalty and celebrities:[216] King Edward VII of England once referred to Cartier as "the jeweller of kings and the king of jewellers."[217] Guerlain, one of the world's oldest existing perfumeries, has its headquarters in the north-western suburb of Levallois-Perret


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The earliest grand festival held on 14 July 1790 was the Federation of July festival at the Champ de Mars. Since then many festivals have been held such as the Festival of Liberty in 1774, the Festival for the Abolition of Slavery in 1793, the festival of Supreme Being in 1794, and the 1798 funeral festival on the death of Hoche. On every anniversary of the Republic, the Children of the Fatherland festival is held.[218] Bastille day, a celebration of the storming of the Bastille in 1789, is the biggest festival in the city, held every year on 14 July. This includes a parade of colourful floats and costumes along with armed forces march in the Champs Élysées which concludes with a display of fireworks.[219] The Paris Beach festival known as the "Paris Plage" is a festive event, which lasts from the middle of July to the middle of August, when the bank of the River Seine is converted into a temporary beach with sand and deck chairs and palm trees.[219]
Religion[edit source | editbeta]

       
Left: Notre-Dame de Paris; right:Chapel of the Invalides.
See also: List of religious buildings in Paris
Like the rest of France, Paris has been predominantly Roman Catholic since the Middle Ages, though religious attendance is now low. Political instability in the Third Republic was a result of disagreements about the role of the Church in society.[220] The French Constitution makes no mention of the religious affiliations of its people and allows the freedom to practice any religion of their choice provided it was done as a private matter.[221]
Some of the notable churches in Paris are: Notre-Dame de Paris, the most famous Gothic structure (the cathedral where Napoleon declared himself emperor in 1804);[222] La Madeleine (Church of St. Mary Magdalene), built in 1806 in the form of a Roman temple;[223] Sainte-Chapelle, built in 1247–50 in Gothic Rayonnant style and damaged in the French Revolution, it was restored in the 19th century by Viollet-le-Duc;[224] Chapel of Les Invalides (Church of Saint-Louis), built between 1671–91;[225] Sacré-Coeur Basilica (Basilique du Sacré-Coeur), built from 1876–1912;[226] Saint-Sulpice (1646–1776); Le Panthéon (1756–97), in Neoclassical style; and Basilique Saint-Denis (1136)