****
Fashion
Also at the Palais Royal are, from top, the
vintage clothing shop Didier Ludot, the
designer Rick Owens’s shop, La Petite
Robe Noire and the perfumer Serge
Lutens.
By Jessica Michault
PARIS
he sleeping beauty of Paris is
T finally starting to stir thanks
to a number of suitors, each
with his unique luxury kiss.
And the cumulative effect is a new fash-
ion focal point in the City of Light: the
Palais Royal.
With its tree-lined walks, flowing
fountains and kid-friendly sculptures,
Palais Royal always has been an oasis
of calm within the bustling city. But
now this collective back garden for
many Parisian families and sun-seek-
ing employees on their lunch breaks
will have a new luxury-loving crowd to
contend with.
The Old World charm of the location
— with a family-owned antique store,
art dealers and toy shops — is getting a
major overhaul, although most of the
change is taking place on the Galerie
de Valois side of the square, owned by
the Bank of France.
There, every other store under con-
struction or just opened in the past few
months comes from the world of fash-
ion. Exactly what this means for the fu-
ture of this quaint and quiet sanctuary
remains to be seen. But one thing is
certain: fashionistas have a new luxury
playground.
At 156 Galerie de Valois, the shoe de-
signer Pierre Hardy has built a little
black box of a boutique that is home to
his distinctive high heels. Open since
October 2003, the store expanded this
month into the space next door, allow-
ing the creation of a room dedicated to
Ha rdy’s men’s shoe line, including the
hotly sought limited edition sneakers
and a new collection of men’s bags.
The 90-square-meter, or almost 970-
square-foot, store has an industrial feel
to it — black iron beams are used to
display the shoes and the floor is
covered in waxed ebony linoleum.
Central to the design is the light-box
wall art that Hardy designs every sea-
son and that acts as an inspiration for
his collections.
The staff is friendly and outgoing, if
sometimes overwhelmed by the num-
ber of people that fill the store on their
lunch break or a quick nip out of the of-
fice. And there is sure to be no letup
once the word gets out that this season
Ha rdy’s famous open-toe heels finally
will be available in crocodile (¤3,700,
or $5,430). Those in the know only have
to give the shoe’s reference number,
1440, to get their hands on this super
luxe addition to the collection.
Just a few doors down from the
renowned shoemaker is the hip young
handbag brand Corto Moltedo. It is the
first flagship store for the company, in-
troduced in 2004 by Gabrielecorto
International Herald Tribune
A new address
in style:
Palais Royal
Moltedo, who counts Madonna and Na-
omi Campbell as fans of his supple
leather bags.
Still under construction, the 65-
square-meter space at 146-148 Galerie
de Valois has been envisioned in a way
that incorporates the worlds of architec-
ture and art into the fashion mix, the
goal being to create a shop that blends
harmoniously with the artistic tone of
the other Galerie stores. For its opening,
installations from the renowned
Colombian artist Federico Uribe will
decorate the walls, which are made of
recycled wood, and there are plans to
invite other artists to show their works
among the designer bags. The shop is
scheduled to be open for business by the
beginning of October in hopes of tap-
ping into the fashion-savvy hordes ar-
riving in town for Paris Fashion Week.
Steps away from Corto Moltedo
resides the world of Serge Lutens,
which officially is known as Les Salons
du Palais Royal Shiseido. One of the
first major names to believe in the
power and potential of the Palais Royal,
Lutens took up residence in 1992.
Once customers cross the threshold,
they are transported into a midnight
garden of earthly delights. Hand-
painted insects dance across the base-
boards while smiling moons and astro-
logical signs stare down from wood
moldings that frame a ceiling
blanketed with stars.
The master mixer of fragrance
elixirs has not only concocted a line of
25 scents with names like Chergui,
Tubéreuse Criminelle and Ambre Sul-
tan that can be found only in this store,
but a unique space dedicated to the
pleasures of all the senses.
Eyes can feast on the central circular
iron staircase with its golden arrow-
head motif subtly echoing the gold-
tipped black-pike fence that runs the
length of the Palais Royal courtyard.
Hands can caress the antique mini-
ature marble baths placed on each
counter so that once a perfume stick is
sampled, it can be dipped in water to
keep the potent aromas from over-
powering the shop. And finally, there is
the smell of distinctive fragrances,
their melange of olfactory ingredients
so intoxicating you can almost taste
them.
In stark contrast to Lutens’s world is
that of Rick Owens, whose store sits at
130-133 Galerie de Valois. White, bright
and full of light, the shop, which
opened in summer 2006, uses gray ac-
cents against the simple furnishings,
with the collection displayed on top of
wooded crates and from industrial
metal poles.
The most striking thing in the store,
besides the clothing, is the life-size im-
age of the designer himself. Created by
the artists at the Madame Tussaud wax
museum, it stands above the sales
counter as if surveying the shoppers as
they slip on his high-heeled boots or a
distinctive, asymmetrical, skinny-
sleeved top. But the most arresting fea-
ture of the faux Owens is that it is, in
fact, a fountain. Those who are familiar
with the designer need only guess
where the water springs forth (think
the Manneken Pis in Brussels).
It is important not to miss a trip up
the store’s open staircase. There, on the
first floor, can be found the Owens fur
collection — these are not your grand-
mother’s fur coats.
Ca n’t afford a fur in the new world
economy? Well, there is always one of
Owens’s clever fur collars (¤790) with
a built-in zipper pocket, making it easy
to pop in a lipstick and a bit of cash and
dash out the door.
Or maybe one of his ironic fur-
covered toys can be justified more eas-
ily: ‘‘The kids will love it, too.’’ Also on
display upstairs are clothing from the
hot young designer Gareth Pugh and
knitwear from the buzzed-about Alice
Lemoine.
In July, after looking for more than
two years for a location, the distin-
guished glove maker Maison Fabre
opened its first free-standing store at
128 Galerie de Valois. As one of the
saleswomen describes it, the owner,
Olivier Fabre, was drawn to the history
of the location and the creative atmos-
phere that permeates Palais Royal.
The company, in business since 1924
and operated by four generations of the
same family, chose a very simple dis-
play concept in the store. Rows of back-
lit boxes show off a rainbow of leather
gloves in an array of shapes, sizes and
styles. The handmade gloves are rea-
sonably priced (if you exclude those
¤950 made-to-order versions in cro-
codile), considering that each pair is
completely made by hand in the little
French town of Millau, where gloves
have been a specialty for hundreds of
yea rs.
There even are gloves for children,
decorated with cute little gold bows at
the wrist and occupying pride of place
in the store’s front window.
And for the perfect dress to go with a
new pair of Fabre gloves, next door at
125 Galerie de Valois is the perfect little
black dress in La Petite Robe Noire.
This is the fourth store that the vintage
clothing guru Didier Ludot has opened
since he first arrived at Palais Royal in
1974; his first store was across the
courtyard at 20-24 Galerie de Mont-
pensier.
At La Petite Robe Noire only black
versions of vintage designs reinter-
preted by Ludot are for sale. The store,
with its blood-red walls, diffused light-
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Photographs by Ambroise Tezenas for the International Herald Tribune
ing and delicate furniture gives the
feeling of stepping back into a time
when women dressed up even to go to
the grocer.
And new this season is a collection
of vintage furs that have been taken
apart and reconstructed into elegant
modern wraps. Environmentally
friendly furs for ¤3,000 — now that’s a
purchase you could feel good about.
If there is one new edition to the Pal-
ais Royal that sticks out like a sore
thumb it is the Acne studio store. At 124
Galerie de Valois, the shop, which
opened in March, seems like a trans-
plant from a shopping mall, with a for-
mulaic décor that feels as if it is trying
to force itself into the eclectic style of
the Palais Royal.
But everything is too shiny, too mod-
ern and transparently obvious. It
doesn’t help that multicolored under-
wear, just introduced in September,
greets a shopper at the door or fills the
front window on a laundry line.
With fans like Sofia Coppola and
Charlotte Gainsbourg, the jeans and
clothing line must have some chic ap-
peal. But it is lost among the over-
wrought surroundings. Maybe the ar-
rival of the jeans collection designed in
partnership with Lanvin will help turn
11
Paris’s Palais
Royal has
attracted a
number of new
fashion labels,
including, from
top, Acne, the
shoe designer
Pierre Hardy,
Marc Jacobs and
the glove maker
Maison Fabre.
this store around. And maybe Lanvin’s
designer, Alber Elbaz, who dresses the
vitrines of his own flagship store on
Faubourg Saint-Honoré might be per-
suaded to stop by and do Acne’s win-
dows, too.
Finally, coming in mid-November to
114-121 Galerie de Valois is the first
Parisian store for the designer Stella
McCartney. The 150-square-meter
shop will be designed with the same at-
tention to McCartney’s environment-
ally friendly aesthetic as her successful
London and New York stores.
The large space will carry the de-
signer’s clothing line, accessories,
lingerie, perfumes and skin-care col-
lection.
It will be conveniently situated al-
most directly across the square from
the Marc Jacobs store at 56-62 Galerie
de Montpensier, which many have
credited with starting Palais Royal’s
luxury renaissance. The double
whammy of two of fashion’s hottest
cool brands in such close proximity is
sure to be a strong siren call to other
luxury brands looking for a novel place
to set up shop.
iht . com/style
More photographs of the Palais Royal