PARIS — Beauty retail keeps blooming in Paris, with brands including Balenciaga, Houbigant Paris, Le Rouge Français, Solférino Paris and Tom Ford recently setting up shop for the first time there.
Balenciaga
Balenciaga
Courtesy
Balenciaga is not only delving back into fragrance, with the launch of a high perfume collection, it has opened a boutique to house it. The 645-square-foot store is in the same location where the brand introduced its first scent, Le Dix, more than 75 years ago. It borrows codes of the Balenciaga couture brand next door, which includes its raw architecture concept that repurposes structural components already there. The color gray — Balenciaga’s signature hue — infused the interior. Velvet, suede and leather are juxtaposed with concrete, plaster and metal.
Balenciaga, 10 Avenue Georges V, 75008
Houbigant Paris
Houbigant Paris
Courtesy of Houbigant Paris
Two-hundred-and-fifty-year-old French niche fragrance brand Houbigant Paris celebrated its birthday by opening two new boutiques. One is in Paris and the other in Cannes. The return to the French capital comes after more than 70 years of having no stand-alone store. The new shop measures 915 square feet and is meant to be the epicenter of the brand again. Houbigant’s first boutique opened on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré and remained there for 180 years. Its sign was made of a hanging basket of flowers. Clouds of flowers now hang down from the new boutiques’ ceilings.
Houbigant Paris, 62 Rue François 1er, 75008
Le Rouge Français
Le Rouge Français
Just a hop from the Place des Vosges is makeup brand Le Rouge Français’ first freestanding store, measuring about 270 square feet of selling space. It was conceived to resemble an apothecary or herbalist’s shop of yesteryear, with pharmacy jars holding plants. In this theme are also microscopes, mortars and pestles. The brand is undergoing a crowdfunding effort to raise 1.5 million euros.
Le Rouge Français, 16 Rue de Turenne, 75004
Solférino Paris
Interparfums SA this summer launched its first home-grown fragrance brand, called Solférino Paris, which nods to the company’s headquarters. Located at 10 Rue de Solférino, in the French capital’s 7th arrondissement, the building was acquired by the perfume-maker in 2021. Prior to that, the stately building had most recently been the Socialist Party headquarters. There, ceilings soar and a marble black-and-white checkerboard floor lines the entrance. That building not only inspired the collection of perfumes, but the new boutique that now sells them, as well.
Solférino Paris, 310 Rue Saint-Honoré, 75001
Tom Ford
Tom Ford Beauty
Courtesy of Tom Ford Beauty
Tom Ford Beauty earlier this month opened its first freestanding boutique in Paris. The 530-square-foot location is home to the brand’s collection of fragrance, color cosmetics and eyewear. The table serving as a centerpiece winks to a fashion runway. Other design details include Makassar-inspired ebony, velvet-upholstered wall panels and gray marble.
Tom Ford Beauty, 12 Rue Cambon, 75001