Autista may very well be the only luxury brand in the world built around distinctive buttons, painstakingly handcrafted in Germany’s Black Forest region out of precious materials and anchored securely on handsome, Austrian-flavored tailoring.

It’s been operating quietly and by appointment since August 2024 amid a clutch of antique dealers on Paris‘ Left Bank, its logo etched in stone above the door and its black epoxy garage flooring glinting with the flecks of sterling silver left over after the grinding and polishing of its unique buttons, which we’ll call X-shaped for the moment.

If you’re lucky, Autista’s proprietor Dune Chambaud will be there when you pass by, and you too can be bowled over by her charm and the conviction, passion and attention to detail she has applied to this unique fashion venture.

Her corner storefront, lit like the interior of an E-class Mercedes, intrigues with its vaguely futuristic display cases and its tight cluster of Stockmans displaying her hero product: Janker jackets fronted with those conversation-starting fasteners.

“The button has been completely neglected, completely overlooked by 99.99999 percent of the world’s clothing, which is just unbelievable,” Chambaud marvels in an interview over tea and madeleines. “I wanted to create an ornament that would be highly recognizable from a distance, but also kind of discreet — not a flower, not a cross.

“To me, the shape is so important because I wanted it to be instantly iconic, unisex and free from symbolism,” she adds.

For the record, the ornamental shape is composed of four partial As, the first letter in Autista, the logo spelled out in a vaguely medieval-looking font.

Autista displays its precious, distinctive buttons in velvet trays, as they were realized with jewelry craftsmanship. They come in solid silver, solid gold, Tahitian pearl and a colorful “rave” version that glows under UV light. The latter were inspired by uranium glass and are realized via a complex, proprietary, two-week process involving hand-poured layering and molecular stabilization.

After studying fashion design in Paris, Chambaud went on to get an MBA in luxury brand management in Shanghai and spent her career in departments other than the design studio, working in show production and exhibitions for Acne Studios, the wholesale department of Givenchy and public relations and events at Rue du Mail, the womenswear brand founded by Martine Sitbon.

Working at international auto shows during her pre-college and college years also instilled a passion for fast cars, and luxury branding tactics — all of which came to the fore in the creation of Autista, whose tagline “Rare Things for Rare People” is discreetly written tone-on-tone on a skinny black label sewn into the collar of some jackets.

The German designer also brought to the task her fascination with military clothing — the nearby Museum of the Legion of Honour is a personal favorite — and her personal collection of Janker jackets, inspired by how elegant they made her father, and the impossibly chic Hubert de Givenchy.

Chambaud has a collection of vintage Janker jackets, some found in Munich and Vienna, but “still they were imperfect in my opinion. They had this very unflattering traditional cut… And also I didn’t like the buttons, usually these very primitive, bulky 4 to 5 millimeter high horn buttons. They were so just off-putting.”

So she tweaked the fit of Janker jackets to her liking, with no extra seaming as is often done for “women’s versions” of Tyrolean tailoring. (The opening price for an Autista jacket is 3,500 euros.)

“I’ve always thought it was the chicest item of clothing one could wear,” she enthuses, tugging hers closed over a black concert T-shirt.

Yet Chambaud’s eureka idea for her fashion brand came only when she found the real estate on the Rue de Beaune.

“I always had an eye on this corner and I thought one day, if this space becomes available, the space will be mine. But I didn’t know exactly what I was going to do with it,” she recalls.

Beside her conviction about buttons being the most overlooked element of clothing — “button-making machines are only built for round buttons,” she laments — Chambaud is also adamant that her stealthy, under-the-radar approach has relevance in a world where everything is overcharged and overexposed.

“I believe in a customer who is curious, bold and free,” she says. “People who come in here feel like they’ve discovered something they’ve never seen or heard before. It gives them hope that one can still think and feel differently.”

Lo and behold, one of the first customers to push on Autista’s A-shaped chrome door handles was legendary actress Charlotte Rampling, one of Chambaud’s biggest idols and style icons. It gave her hope — and cued up a “curious and mystical” clientele, which she describes as a “mix of businesspeople, artists, royals, aristocrats and celebrities.”

Now Chambaud is working on expanding her product range with outerwear, vests, shirts, knits, pants, skirts and kilts, while placing her unique buttons at the center of all her creations.

“I think I knew from a very young age I wanted to create a luxury brand,” she muses, crediting her wide range of professional experiences for helping her understand the business side of things before applying her pattern-making and design skills. “Never did a job twice. Learned a lot,” she says.

Her love of antiques, vintage watches, luxury cars and military uniforms also fed a mania for details, which can be felt the minute one steps into her store, which blends elements of an art gallery, jewelry shop, fashion boutique and auto dealership.

Given the preciousness of her fasteners, Chambaud developed a button-shank sewing technique that employs waxed high-utility threads so the buttons can be handled easily and stand away from the jacket proudly. Buttonholes are piped, and then closed with tailor stitches.

Rare things, indeed.