America’s Best meets best of Paris
America’s Best Cleaners, a certification organization for high-end drycleaners, took a number of
affiliates to Paris to take a behind-the-scenes look at Parisian Haute Couture
as a part of their ongoing educational programs.
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The eighth district houses the presidential palace along with the American
Embassy, the British Embassy the Grand Palais and also the fashion districts of
Avenue Montaigne and rue du Faubourg St. Honore.
Affiliates of ABC began their stay in Paris with a tour of the private
collection of the Hermes family at the corporate headquarters on rue du
Faubourg St. Honore, just down the street from the Presidential Palace of
French President Nicholas Sarkozy.
From Napoleon travel chest trimmed in gold leaf and inlaid leather to an Hermes
riding outfit borrowed by Jean Paul Gaultier for one of
Madonna’s fashion shoots, this collection houses some of the most exotic items of
nineteenth and twentieth century France.
When making the film Marie Antoinette, the film makers wanted to borrow a
pheasant feather umbrella from the Hermes collection. Hermes declined due to
the fragility of the piece. When they attempted to duplicate the umbrella no
one could be found who possessed the skills and/or craftsmanship to make one.
The Hermes collection stems back to artifacts from Marie Antoinette and Napoleon
and running through the Belle Epoch of nineteenth century France to the
present.
The collection, from the beginnings of Hermes in 1837 to present day, when a
third-generation Hermes descendant decided to transition the company from its
roots as a harness maker to one steeped in the fashion world, inspires the
designer creations of Hermes.
The famous shopping districts of rue du Faubourg St Honore and Avenue Montaigne
with the flagship stores of Dior, Yves St Laurent, Hermes, Chanel formed the
background for ABC
’s visits with the management of Marni, Hermes, Prada, Armani, Cavalli, Liste
Rouge and other haute couture shops.
Next stop was the L’Opera de Paris Garnier, the opera house that made the Phantom famous. Madame
Ghislaine Oudin, Chef de Costumier, gave the affiliates a backstage tour with
an assortment of silk gowns encrusted with Swarovski crystals and other
flamboyant pieces. Pressing de la Madeleine cleans and maintains all the
elaborate gowns for the opera house during its operatic and ballet seasons.
The affiliates were given a tour not available to the public, which included the
basement above the lake under the opera house where the fictitious phantom
lives, to the dressing rooms, wardrobe rooms, ateliers and the fabrication
rooms.
The gilded hall of the opera house hosts Paris runway shows such as Valentino and Gaultier during the Paris fashion week.
Leaving Paris for Tours, which is located in the heart of the Loire Valley,
chateau country, the ABC affiliates visited the last operating silk factory in
France. Louis XI, king of France, who brought the silk trade to France in the
15th century to compete with the Italian silk makers, the foremost silk makers
in the Western world at the time.
A small contingent of silk weavers broke away and started silk production in
Tours. It has existed there ever since
– 500 years. The Le Manach plant in Tours uses the same tools and equipment used
250 years ago. In essence, the silks are hand loomed and sell at retail for as
much as $4,500 to $6,000 per meter.
These particular silks, though produced the same way as silks for garments, are
primarily used to restore silk drapes, upholstery, etc., including a number of
silk velvets, for the furniture in the various chateaus throughout France,
including Fontainebleau.
The affiliates watched the silk looms create jacquard prints on 180-year old
silk looms. The looms use punch cards not dissimilar to the old computer punch
cards which the jacquard looms influenced 150 years later. They could control
as many as 10,000 silk warp threads going into one bolt of silk.
Following the tour of the silk factory, the affiliates visited the factory of
Liste Rouge, a high-end shirt maker ($400 to $500 shirts) in Flers, Lower
Normandy which also has a retail shop on the rue du Faubourg St. Honore.
After visiting the factory, the affiliates visited Omaha Beach to pay their
respects to those who gave their lives during the D-Day invasion.
