I was not disappointed because I did not expect much. The new La Samaritaine is in a similar way as Le Bon Marché, a luxury store for famous brands with no spirit and no imagination, it is managed by the DFS group, duty free shopping. “Tout ça pour ça” as we say I French after more than 800 millions € … Read More
Ile de Ré is in top cultural form
The magical Ile de Ré acquired a bridge in 1988 and since then, it is easily linked to La Rochelle and even more popular than before. There is great social rivalry between Les Portes, at the extreme end of the island, and Ars five miles away, a bit like East Hampton and Southampton in the summer. But in the end, lunch … Read More
Compagnie Française de l’Orient et de la Chine, a mine of good ideas
Compagnie Française de l’Orient et de la Chine (CFOC), which was founded fifty five years ago by François Dautresme, a great traveller and collector of Asian art, has always been a fabulous place for finding Christmas presents, Chinese ceramics, trays in lacquer and exotic furniture. Now that it is owned (since June 2020) by Louis Desazars de Montgailhard and Laurent … Read More
Victor Hugo and Azzedine Alaïa share the bill in the Marais
Since the Marais has become inaccessible except by tube, you might as well group your visits in the area and this is what I did with great success this morning: I visited first Victor Hugo’s house on place des Vosges which has at the moment an interesting exhibition of his drawings recommended to me by Richard Berman, the New York … Read More
At Fleux, candles have a shape and happily no smell
I was visiting the new exhibition “Surface Horizon with Jean Marie Appriou and Marguerite Humeau” at Lafayette Anticipations, the foundation built by Rem Koolhaas for the Houzé family in the Marais which has helped make the large block on rue Sainte Croix de la Bretonnerie and rue du Plâtre, even more famous than before. And being totally disappointed by the … Read More
“Plunder”, or Napoléon’s adventures in art collecting…
Napoléon’s death’s 200 th anniversary is being celebrated everywhere this week, and even President Macron attended the ceremony around his tomb at the Invalides with the young Jean-Christophe Napoléon Bonaparte (b. 11 July 1986), a Harvard Business school graduate, who is the pretender to the throne. The Emperor has created many fabulous schools and law reforms but has also left … Read More
Chantal Thomass puts her life’s creations up for auction and Kenzo’s furniture is also sold
We mostly know Chantal Thomass for her whimsical luxury lingerie which she sold for many years on rue des Petits Champs near the gardens of the Palais Royal but she started designing fashion at 20 with Dorothée Bis and was part of the trendy “Le Palace” crowd in the late 1970’s. The auction organized by Millon at Hôtel Drouot on … Read More
Easter is chocolate time!
Sales of chocolate are so important for Easter in France that chocolate shops have been called “essential shops” like hairdressers and bookstores in the new lockdown law. I just read in Guide Lebey‘s newsletter, the guide of food and drinks which is sent out on Fridays, about a young chocolate creator, L’Instant Cacao at 3 rue des Petits Champs. The … Read More