Shopping in Paris: How to 'lèche-vitrine'

I used to love shopping. Since a very early age, I could spend hours and hours at the mall (I apologize to the friends and family unwillingly dragged into this). After a while, that changed. Around the beginning of high school, I stopped liking shopping and buying, and began to prefer what I suppose could be called 'shopping vicariously'. Anyone who went to the mall with me can confirm that I had, at most, one small bag for every three of theirs, and I am an expert at rationalizing why they should buy something. This morphed into me being taken along as what you could call a personal stylist; I was brought along on shopping trips with everyone from my friends to my brother and consulted on what they should buy. As I got more and more into fashion (and less and less willing to impulse buy) I began to dislike shopping. Don't get me wrong, I love clothes; but it became such a time sucker that I preferred looking at styling online and finding the perfect piece from the comforts of my own room. Nothing at the mall was ever what I wanted, so rather than waste my time, I simply found exactly what I wanted online. It became about having the piece and getting to play with it in my closet, not spending hours traipsing through a disturbing amount of sequins, leopard print, and that weird neon mesh trend that couldn't go away fast enough just to find the perfect shirt.
But Paris, as it often seems to be, was a game changer. It isn't about buying things or owning them, it's about the adventure. I have been doing a lot of what they call 'lèche-vitrine', or directly translated, licking the windows. When you are surrounded by all the big names, from the classically french Yves Saint Laurent (or, Saint Laurent Paris, thanks to Hedi Slimane ) and Chanel to the lesser known Zadig and Voltaire, the Kooples, and a million other names that are out of most people's price range, you can't do much actual shopping. In fact, the only thing that you really CAN do is drool, making the term 'lick the windows' quite accurate indeed.
I may not be able to buy, but Paris is bringing back the magic that is window shopping. Wandering through aisles and looking at the glittering pieces with impeccable stitching and getting that little itch that comes when you see it... that itch that, for me, makes me want to be more a part of these places than can be achieved by simply purchasing. It's like standing in an art museum. If you can look, but you'd better not touch... that means it's time to start creating your own.

Laduree (the Kind of the French Macaron...):

 Spiral of doom (for wallets):

 Racks of sparkling pieces (both literally and figuratively):

 Le Bon Marché:

 A tiny perfume boutique:

 The Fashion Royalty:

And the King, bien sûr:

 The most beautiful place to shop, Gallaries Lafayette:

And suddenly I was doodling again...