Bonjour mes amis! This post will separate the fashion lambs from the fashion goats. And I can say that because until recently, I had my hooves planted firmly with the fashion goats on this one. Are you curious?
I am not one who follows the latest style or fashion trends. I never know what is in style until it has been replaced by the Next New Thing. However, my good friend in Paris is always up to the minute on what is hot in all things “style’. One time we were having lunch together and she pointed out a woman carrying a bag which my friend knew by name. Not the brand name, mind you, (which I probably wouldn’t have known) but the style name. Lucky for me, she doesn’t seem to judge my total lack of style-savvy too harshly, and she is always happy to try to educate me on what’s going on in the fashion world around us.
One morning we were exploring Paris and she said she wanted to go by a store and look at a tote bag she was interested in buying. She told me the name of the store and it meant nothing to me. However, when we got there, I realized that it was the same store that had fascinated me when I had walked by it in the past. In fact, I had taken a picture of it. Goyard.
I was completely blown away by the trunks on the sidewalk and the cool stuff in the windows. And it had been around since 1853? Really? Who still buys trunks like that? I also had taken a picture of the little case in the window holding a dog bowl. Voila.
Just from the exterior of the store, it was clear that this was one fine place and catered to people with lots of moo-lah. Despite my fascination, I did not go in. It’s kind of intimidating. So I was excited to be walking in with my friend, who is not as easily intimidated by fancy French stores.
Goyard started out about the same time as Louis Vuitton, but has remained more elite than LV has. It has just a few freestanding stores around the world, and is also carried in a handful of posh department stores.
I love this YouTube video, which takes you inside the Paris store and shows you a few trunks owned by famous Goyard clients, including a cooking trunk owned by the renowned French chef Alain Ducasse.
You know how it is when you get a new car and suddenly you see them all around town? That happened to me with Goyard. Once I knew the pattern, I spotted it all over Paris. One day shortly, after my Goyard visit, I was in the tiny Stinky Fran-Prix by my apartment, and the young woman in front of me in line was loading her groceries into her Goyard tote. Then she pulled out her Goyard wallet to pay for the stuff! I’m sure I was staring shamelessly. What if she lost her cheese in the bottom of it, like I did with my rolling cart, only to discover it later by the nasty smell emanating from it? OK- not as likely in a tote bag, but still. Food? In that bag?
Here is a final video for your viewing pleasure. J’adore the writing trunk made for Sir Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes.
The next time you are in Paris, keep your eyes open for this classy chevron pattern, and you will definitely see it. It is so The Tote!
My Fashionista friend wearing her Goyard tote
233, rue Saint-Honoré 75001 Paris
352, rue Saint-Honoré 75001 Paris
Mais Oui Paris 