I was walking towards the Jockey Club where witty and entertaining Mickey Wolfson was giving a dinner party for a young couple of striking Byzantine scholars and I discovered that in the last two weeks, a new shop had opened in the spot of Jérome de Noirmont’s former gallery, at 38 ave Matignon. Two charming ladies, (hard to say who … Read More
The Tudors, a real fashion show
I have to admit it, I plunged back into Rebecca Fraser’s « A People’s History of Britain » (Chatto and Windus) in order to understand the dates and filiations of the Tudors. At a time when Shakespeare’s « Henry VI » (the play on the French and English king is directed by Thomas Jolly) is a hit at Ateliers Berthier in two 9 … Read More
Alexander McQueen takes a revenge
« London is where I was brought up, it’s where my heart is and where I get my inspiration » writes Alexander Mc Queen at the entrance of the exhibition of the V&A in London. I had seen the show previously at the Metropolitan Museum in 2011 but felt it would be more meaningful in London, and it was… The … Read More
A new dashing tailor
It is an amazing come back for Charles Balsan who has just opened a men’s tailoring shop, at 122 bd Haussmann, next door to the shop his father used to run thirty years ago. Balsan was born and raised in a textile factory, his family owned since 1864, when his great grandfather Pierre Balsan bought the Manufacture royale de Chateauroux. … Read More
And Gaultier leads the dance!
Jean Paul Gaultier is one of the rare French Couture designers to have been around for more than forty years and to have kept its inventively, sense of humor and modesty all along. After a world tour of 9 cities, (Melbourne, San Francisco, Brooklyn, London, Madrid….) this show is finally landing in Paris at Grand Palais, with special designs of … Read More
Jeanne Lanvin’s past glitter
When I walked into the new exhibition of Lanvin dresses at Palais Galliera this morning, Anna Wintour was being taken around by Alber Elbaz, the current Lanvin designer and co- curator of the show, with Olivier Saillard, who runs the Museum of Fashion. It was clever of course to open this retrospective of 90 dresses by the Grande dame de … Read More
Immigrant and famous
From Musée des Colonies, to Museum of African art, to Musée de l’Histoire de l’Immigration ! Political correctness has won in this beautiful 1930’s building located near Porte Dorée, East of Paris. It has the most impressive hall with mosaics on the wall and a beautifully crafted wooden floor. The building was conceived for Exposition Coloniale of 1931 and it … Read More
Buttons are having a ball
What an extraordinary exhibition curated by Véronique Belloir, on the social role of buttons at Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris ! The museum located in the Louvre, bought Loïc Allio’s vast collection completed by 792 worthy pieces by artist Henri Hamm, who used to create buttons for Doucet and Worth during the first World War..