Version française
 

Couture in an unexpected neighborhood

Rarely-explored streets between a medieval trade route and now-garish Grands Boulevards...
  • Craftspeople who work with leather and fur have nestled in these streets since the Middle Ages   

 

Coats ahd jackets, made in the workshop behind the store

 

 

      • Many have left. But creators in other domains take their place

 

• Boutique where young creators exhibit, and often work as they do so 

 

 

 

Fashion for young women and children, attractive and fun

 

 

 • One rings the showroom doorbell, and the internationally-recognized milliner comes down from her workshop...


 

And when autumn comes, fur and leather hats, made to order

 

These craftspeople are often totally involved in their creation. Few are tempted to cut corners – particularly not to finance marketing, which they don't do. As well, their overhead is relatively low, as are their profit margins.

 

Their production is therefore more affordable than that of the sumptuous establishments. As well, they know the profession as Commercial Directors of famous luxury brands, who lack manual experience, do not.


Such production is therefore often better.

 

  • To understand this neighborhood

 

Porte Saint-Denis and boulevard in 1830...

 

Here was the Continent's heart of luxury, where heirs and royalty flocked to squander fortunes. 
and now

 

Next to the medieval trade-route gates, it has returned to the hurly-burly of much earlier times.

 

 

  • The jewel-like Fan Museum reveals a refinement of which we can barely conceive  

 

 

At rear, the Curator restores a fan.
A fan's cost was equal to that of a car today.

 

Once a fan showroom, it nestles on the third floor of an ordinary building, next to African beauty shops. 

 

 

We leave awed.

 

 

  • Along our route we discover... 

 

 

At the end of one street
Of another

 

...the dignity of the 19th century.
  •  Nearby 

 

Since the passages are in the heart of the Right Bank, this visit can connect with such suggestions as: 

 Opéra – money, sex and majesty,   Shopping that only Paris can offer,  Workshop for haute couture,   Silks of kings... 

 

And of course, Walking into history – and neighborhoods, whose tours concern the central part of the city.

 

 

• Costs: please CLICK

º Fan Museum entry fee

 

 

Credits: Coat store / Catherine Aubin; girls sewing / Catherine Aubin; milliner's window / Camilla Macfarlane; arch toward 1830 / Marc Gaillard archives; raucous street / Claude Abron; Fan Museum / Claude Abron; bank, church / Camilla Macfarlane