‘Creaky, cosy and slightly whacked out’
is how French style icon Ines de la Fressange (one-time muse of Karl Lagerfeld and Jean Paul Gaultier, friend of the late Yves Saint Laurent, designer in her own right) describes the rented apartment on Paris’s Left Bank that she calls home. ‘At first sight, it was like a country house in the city, with a garden, old wooden stairs and wooden floors. It was very chic; full of 18th-century furniture, but too stiff for me,’ says Ines. ‘My target was to make it look less fragile and anything but a showroom because we would be surrounded by children and dogs. I wanted to walk in with my family and feel like we were on our holidays.’
Seven years on, the apartment is a boho mix of colour and pattern, cheap and antique, baroque pieces and battered-around-the-edges flea-market finds. It may seem a strange setting for a woman renowned for her quintessential Parisienne chic – all navy blazers, striped sweaters, skinny jeans and flats (Roger Vivier, of course. Ines is the shoe brand’s global ambassador). ‘I think my career comes through in the look of the apartment; the sense of risk and avoiding convention,’ she says. ‘There are pieces from Tunisia, India and Morocco, but the decor is very French. And it changes all the time.’
It’s the confection of candy colours that you notice first – candyfloss, pistachio and gobstopper red. ‘I actually toned down the colours when we moved in,’ Ines says, laughing. ‘The staircase was painted a deep ochre, but was too strong and “present” for me. And there was a red faux marble paint effect in the bathroom. I wanted the walls to look as if they’d once been white, but had coloured over time into a slightly beige-pink tone,’ she says. She chose a blush pink for her bedroom, while dining chairs are painted fondant shades – as bright as the stacks of jumpers and rows of shoes neatly arranged in her dressing room.
‘I don’t have a decorating style, it depends on the house. I dress the space individually, just as I would a woman,’ Ines says. ‘The small sitting room had wonderful old wallpaper, so I kept that and chose furniture that would fit with it. Elsewhere, I changed knobs on drawers, which always makes a big difference.’ It’s hard to believe that when she moved in, she brought nothing with her and each piece of furniture was collected to fill the space – from Ikea, ebay, flea markets and antique dealers. ‘It’s a bit like the old houses by the sea on France’s east coast, where families have been adding furniture over the years,’ she says. ‘It makes a cosy atmosphere.’ And in its indefinable, undeniable style, one that’s very, very French.