My husband Ryan and I are planning a trip to Paris and Antwerp. It’s a long-overdue Christmas present, but I’m still waffling for a number of reasons: tickets to Paris are exorbitant right now; I love fall in the Midwest; I’ve been meaning to visit Porto. Coincidentally, our good friend from Detroit called this weekend from Portugal while he’s touring with Deerhunter to tell us that we have to go to Porto. He promised us that we’d love it–kind of dirty and utterly romantic.

Then  I remembered that someone was recently gushing about the Hotel Particular Montmartre. The glamorous interiors, designed by Morgane Rousseau, are indeed quite sharp but perhaps a little too fancy for my tastes–in a dripping crystal, gilded mirror, tufted wall kind of way. As I was clicking around aimlessly on the hotel’s website, I stumbled across a familiar piece of art currently on exhibit there: a delicate, frilly dress sculpture by fellow Detroiter and immensely talented Cristin Richard. Created from pig intestines she gets at Eastern Market, Cristin’s ethereal dresses–which do stunning job of exploring female sexuality, haute couture and the perception of beauty–are worth traveling for. Luckily, given the price of plane tickets to Paris right now, you can come to Detroit instead–the Paris of the Midwest.