“THE COLLECTION ON THE CARPET…“

“Oh, New York! I think it was 1980 when we landed there, if memory serves. Our first store was at 116 Prince Street, in Soho, a very industrial district in those days, a bit similar to Les Halles. I used to have to sweep the black grime off the pavement outside the store. There again, having the press on our side made all the difference. One day, I met a journalist from The New York Times in a big department store, and I laid out the entire collection I was lugging around in my suitcase on the carpet – he couldn’t believe it. [Laughs] So he came to Paris, and I took him to Barbès one Sunday morning. He wrote an article about it, illustrated with a photo of me in a leather coat, hat and trainers. That changed everything. The cool people in New York came to us.

This picture is of Bruce Weber and Bill Cunningham, the photographers. We were the epitome of Parisian style in their eyes. We still have three stores over there that do very well.”