When it comes to glamour and to fashion, we will always have Paris. Designs from the city’s houses influence shapes, colours and fabrics season in and season out; this is a city where clothes are deemed just as much works of art as the Matisse, Rodins and Gauguins on display in art galleries. The shows themselves might be off-limits to all but the elite fashion press and international buyers, but there is style on the streets of the city for lesser mortals. Here is our pick of the best places to shop for fashion in Paris.
For one-stop shopping, the choice is phenomenal at Galleries Lafayette. Despite the crowds, it still has a certain glamour, with the stained-glass rotunda in the main store dedicated to women’s fashion, ranging from high street to high luxe and hot young creators. Cross the bridge to the mens’ store and Lafayette Gourmet, with its whirl of deli counters, and superb Bordeauxthèque (devoted to Bordeaux wines ranging from everyday bottles to an incredible collection of historic vintages). The third building spans home and kitchen. There are more than 20 places to eat while you shop – from caviar and macaron snacking, to Angelina’s tea room and rooftop restaurant Yoom. There are even cookery classes, and an art gallery. The window decorations are a must see at Christmas. www.galerieslafayette.com
For over 20 years, Armand Hadida has been picking out cutting-edge, ready-to-wear accessories and designer items, and introduced the Antwerp Six to France. He now has six shops, including a vintage design store in the Puces de St-Ouen, each with its own distinctive style. This branch, which now stocks menswear as well as womenswear, is like an art installation in itself, with cascading planks of wood by Belgian artist/architect Arne Quinze and hundreds of video screens. As well as labels like Rick Owens, Balmain, Balenciaga and Golden Goose, you’ll find occasional experimental limited editions and Fornasetti design objects. www.leclaireur.com
Editions MR (formerly Melinda Gloss) At the forefront of the current French menswear revival, this label now has Left and Right Bank outlets, with this stylish store in a converted bank. Despite the name, it is actually styled by two men, who refresh classic tailoring, sometimes a striped shirt or navy blazer, sometimes a floral dandy look or fleece jacket. It has quickly gained a reputation for the quality of its fabrics, with fine cotton shirts, pure wool jackets, and a large range of knitwear. This branch also offers a made to measure service. www.editionsmr.fr
Almost sculptural ladies’ shoes are artistically lit in this long boutique designed by Thierry Dreyfus, located on Paris’s shoe row. Clergerie was one of France’s most influential shoe designers in the 80s, and the brand, still made in France’s shoe capital Romans, is making a comeback with fashion designer Roland Mouret. The high boots, clunky 70s-inspired platforms and 40s silhouettes are sexy but walkable, beautifully made and, he insists, incredibly comfortable to wear. New lines are introduced each season but the lace-up Oxfords and brogues in numerous versions remain a classic. www.robertclergerie.com
After sprouting all over town in the past few years, Zadig et Voltaire’s big new flagship store stocks its men’s and women’s lines, accessories and even a collection of streetwise togs for kids, in an industrial-style space with raw concrete, exposed pipes and streaky marble counters. Its clothes have a more rock-chick appeal than rivals like Sandro and The Kooples, with slogan T-shirts and classic jackets contrasting with more extravagant items like fake fur coats. While basic casuals are pricey, the quality is generally high, though what I still think it’s best at are its handbags and clutch bags and comfortable, well-detailed knitwear. www.zadig-et-voltaire.com
Spree The fashion concept store, Montmartre style. Roberta Oprandi’s selection of clothes and accessories, from hip labels like Acne, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Carven, Helmut Lang and Margiela’s MM6, are casually stretched out over pieces of classic 50s designer furniture by Eames, Paulin et al (also for sale). There are also changing artworks on the walls. Across the street, you’ll find more vintage furniture and art exhibitions in the gallery run by Roberta’s husband, artist-designer Bruno Hadjadj, in an old DIY shop still marked Papiers Peints. www.spree.fr
Like its neighbour and rival Galeries Lafayette, Printemps has shot seriously upmarket in the past few years with an array of glitzy, luxury mini-boutiques, fine jewellery and a huge space devoted to watches. Printemps Mode stocks every fashion label imaginable, while the Home/Beauty store proudly claims to be the largest beauty department in the world, and includes the Scent Room devoted to exclusive perfumes. Housewares range from classic porcelain to all the kitchen gadgets and pans you need. There are plenty of places to eat, including a circular brasserie under the listed art deco dome. www.printemps.com
Isabel Marant’s original boutique, from the days when she first introduced her vision of Parisian ethno-chic. Sadly, prices have gone up a lot since then, but she remains a cult fashion insider’s insider. The look is understated and terribly cool, with lots of short, short dresses, grungy trousers, striking, ethnic-inspired patterns, lace and flounces paired with well-cut black jackets or bohemian knits. There are also her much-copied wedge trainers and great ankle boots. The shop also stocks her less expensive Etoile range. www.isabelmarant.com
After its classic outlet on rue St-Honoré, Hermès’ Left Bank store is much more spectacular, installed in the art deco former swimming pool of the Lutétia. Amid giant wooden cones, you’ll find the famous silk scarves, handbags and wallets, exclusive perfumes, jewellery, tableware and a café, all for phenomenal prices. You can still buy a saddle here should you wish, but, sign of the times, this branch also contains Petit H, a luxury, handcrafted take on recycling. Travelling tea boxes in crocodile skin, silk jewellery, pendants from spoons, crystal vases are among one-off items made by the Hermès craftsmen. www.hermes.com
This tiny gallery near the National Assembly is a showcase for striking contemporary artists’ jewellery that is light years from diamonds and tiaras. Ranging from the delicate to the dramatic, many are one-off pieces. Naïla de Monbrison keeps a large range in stock, such as Giorgio Verna’s pieces in pebbles, copper and Murano glass, and Catherine Le Gal’s steel bracelets, and presents them in solo shows or in themed exhibitions associated with tribal pieces. www.naila-de-monbrison.com
With its distressed chic look and mixture of new and second-hand men’s and women’s clothes, designer furniture and vintage items, kitchen gadgets and tableware, even knitting wool and covetable notebooks, Merci provides a 21st-century bobo (bourgeois-bohème) alternative to Colette . The store is in an artfully converted industrial building on the edge of the Marais. Prices are high, but you can feel good as some of the profits go to a development charity in Madagascar. There’s a restaurant in the basement. The ground-floor tearoom doubles as a second-hand bookstore, where you can browse its shelves of books over cakes and tea. www.merci-merci.com
This shop sells easily the best practical-yet-chic boots in the whole of Paris. Founded in 1958, it is the only French company specialising in manufacturing Carmargue-style boots. Slouchy suede ankle boots in taupe, sand and black sit next to tan leather knee boots. When friends ask where you bought your shoes: you can reply, smugly, that they weren’t from the high street, but were made by hand in the south of France. At about €350 a pair, they are relatively good value. www.labottegardiane.com
Set up by a young PR in 1978, this 7,535 sq ft (700 sqm) collection of six shops is the largest and best of all the dépôt-vente in Paris. Dépôt-vente are boutiques to which well-heeled Parisiennes sell their old (often never worn) clothes, and mortal folk can get their hands on them for less than buying them new. Réciproque has thousands of designer items, from rails stuffed with classic Chanel jackets to Yohji Yamamoto and men’s leather accessories. www.reciproque.fr