Far from the rue Faubourg St Honoré you can take a walk on the wild side, dodge the ados hanging outside McDo and turn into rue Letort, just round the corner from the last stop on Line 4, Porte de Cligancourt.

Next to a building that looks a bit like a parking lot you'll find Kodjo an art gallery/boutique/bookstore/place to hang out. The fashion is fantastic and not too expensive either for the one-off pieces on offer. A kimono style dress/jacket by Florence Fontaine caught my eye and I fell in love. She's styled a who's-who of French music stars from Daft Punk to Air. Now she's working mainly on her own clothing line. Books are artist produced magazines, fanzines, graffiti or have some kind of DIY ethos. The first time I was there I found a free French punk fanzine from 2002.

Kodjo is the initiative of Victor Degbo, originally from Benin. The space has succeeded in building a loyal following of the creative types whose work it showcases. The great monthly parties in the shop (or outside in the street if you're a smoker) with music quite a few decibels louder then yer average vernissage have added to the popularity.

The curse of small cool galleries is that they're popular with the people who create as a place to showcase their work but these people normally have no money to spend in the shop! It must be hard to attract buyers to this neighbourhood which is a bit out of the way. Maybe they can capitalise on the traffic for the Marché aux Puces.

I hope so because it's 110% more interesting than Colette. For a start there's not a book of Terry Richardson photography in site. The merchandise (make no mistake this is big business) they hawk might have been "happening" in about 1993 but baby, most of it is so over. And the "Water Bar" is simply an affront to my intelligence. The Emperor de Hip/Hype Paris has NO clothes.