If you were to ask foreign visitors what, for them, best embodies the French art of living, they would no doubt spontaneously visualize a gourmet macaroon and immediately cite a historic temple of Parisian fashion: Galeries Lafayette. For more than a century, this unrivalled address has brought together all the trendy brands of "French chic".
Since its opening in 1894, this "novelty store" created by 2 Alsatian shopkeepers has been dedicated to bringing together the finest fashion, leather goods and jewelry brands to equip, in a single shopping session, the Parisian woman in search of the most elegant products. With their sharp business sense, Théophile Bader and Alphonse Kahn gradually expanded their first premises at 1 rue La Fayette by buying three buildings on boulevard Haussmann and another at 15 rue de la Chaussée d'Antin. Their 19th-century 70 m2 "Galeries" thus became, at the beginning of the 20th century, Galeries Lafayette.
In 1912, this 45,000 m2 Art Nouveau-style department store, already admired for its monumental staircase banister by Louis Majorelle, added what still dazzles visitors today: a neo-Byzantine stained-glass dome 43 m high! It's the perfect way to showcase the very best in fashion and luxury at this now unmissable 40 Boulevard Haussmann (Paris 9th).
Contemporary with the birth of the great French brands (Lanvin, Guerlain, Hermès, Cartier, Vuitton...), the famous retailer has, since the end of the 19th century, been able to detect what would set new standards in fashion, cosmetics, accessories and watch-jewelry making.
This is an approach that its discerning buyers continue to adopt today, whether to feed its website www.galerieslafayette.com or to equip its many physical sales outlets in France and abroad:
Two spaces, virtual and physical, where you can buy Claudie Pierlot clothes.
My fashion corresponds to a Parisian lifestyle.
What could be more coherent for this Parisian fashion theater than to offer its customers the timeless pieces of a designer renowned for her chic, uncluttered universe? From sober little dresses to well-cut coats, since its creation in 1984, the company has defended fashion that respects ideal proportions and is free of the superfluous. Clothes that add allure to the wardrobe of urban women and suits for different occasions, as illustrated by this selection of Claudie Pierlot dresses.
After the designer's death in 2009, her elegant, timeless style was perpetuated by her successors (the Sandro and Maje brands and, since 2010, a holding company of the LVMH group) and embodied by Audrey Marnay. More than an advertising muse, the diaphanous red-haired model is a veritable inspiration for the brand, so naturally does she represent today's chic Parisienne.
An ideal ambassador not only for Claudie Pierlot, but also for Galeries Lafayette, the world reference in shopping for over a century.
Valérie from Comme des Français
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