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Home Style

The Best-Kept Vintage Secret in Paris

by admin
February 28, 2022
in Style
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PARIS — Not lengthy after Rihanna wore a classic pink Chanel puffer for her being pregnant announcement, one other instance of the exact same coat appeared — at an public sale in Paris, the place it was bought for two,500 euros ($2,830), beating its excessive estimate by 66 %. Not that it got here from Rihanna’s closet, although the precise proprietor has her personal degree of fame.

That piece was one in all a number of hundred placed on the block by a single collector generally known as Catherine B: a flame-haired, age-indeterminate, extravagantly accessorized pioneer of the posh resale recreation.

For nearly 30 years, Catherine Benier has been shopping for and promoting the crème de la crème of pre-owned Hermès and Chanel purses, jewellery, scarves and different equipment out of her Left Financial institution boutique, a listed landmark that, at barely lower than 100 sq. toes, makes buying a one-to-one expertise by default.

However although doll sized, Les 3 Marches de Catherine B (named for the storefront’s three steps), is a number one vacation spot for a rich, and sometimes well-known, clientele anticipating restricted editions and sought-after types in porosus crocodile, lizard or the buttery-soft, supple field leather-based used within the Nineteen Sixties and ’70s.

When Les 3 Marches opened in 1994 with only a handful of scarves and different equipment, early shoppers included Catherine Deneuve, who lives close by, and Inès de la Fressange. Ms. Benier turned identified for paying up entrance for resale gadgets, in contrast to a standard dépôt-vente, which operates by consignment. She additionally mingled nightly with the in crowd on the legendary nightclub Castel across the nook.

Phrase of mouth did the remaining. The shop turned a useful resource for tastemakers, editors and stylists in quest of vogue week seems to be for his or her shoppers.

In a phone interview, the inside designer Nate Berkus recalled assembly Ms. Benier within the early Nineties, when he was interning in Paris for the jewellery designer Dominique Aurientis. He purchased a Hermès Plume carry-on, and although he not has the bag, the friendship has endured.

“Catherine’s an unique,” he stated. “She’s such an entire connoisseur and character, it’s like attending a chapel run by a crazily dressed excessive priestess of classic. It’s all the time this storied, layered expertise and you permit with a treasure each time.”

One of many causes for her success, Ms. Benier stated, is that she “isn’t simply promoting issues.” As an alternative, she approaches stock with a collector’s eye, styling herself not as a classic supplier however an antiquaire de mode, or vogue antiquarian.

One more reason is consistency: she has by no means strayed from her two first loves, Hermès and Chanel (within the Lagerfeld period).

“Whereas craftsmanship is crucial, for me luxurious has extra to do with custom than elitism,” she stated, citing Hermès for its household historical past and Chanel for the girl who began all of it.

“True luxurious is small and uncommon. It’s one thing you watch for. I choose that to immediate gratification.”

Till 2021 Ms. Benier additionally bought classic Chanel and Hermès clothes in one other retailer, only a few doorways down from Les 3 Marches, however earlier this yr she determined to liquidate the inventory — 600 tons together with the pink puffer — through the Paris public sale home Gros & Delettrez and concentrate on equipment, her unique obsession.

Self-taught, voluble and opinionated, Ms. Benier stated she has been concerned with vogue for so long as she will be able to bear in mind, simply not “new” vogue. Relatively, she prefers issues with a backstory. Born and bred within the St.-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood, she credit her father, a mosaicist, with instilling in her a respect for distinctive craftsmanship and the idea that artisans put their souls into what they make. Her esoteric outlook she attributes to her astrological signal, Most cancers.

“I’ve a really sensual rapport with objects,” she stated. “They communicate to me. After I promote a bag, it’s not only a bag, I inform the consumer the place it’s from, why it’s particular. You construct a connection that doesn’t exist within the digital realm.”

Whereas she has purchased some items at retail and at public sale, at this time Ms. Benier primarily sources her inventory by fielding inquiries. “Nothing is best than when somebody calls and says, ‘I’ve one thing for you’.” she stated. “I’m all the time hoping they’ll shock me. Generally it’s price it, and typically it’s not.”

“In life, there are issues that belong to us, after which someday it’s important to half methods. Karma shifts and it’s important to transfer on to let one thing higher come alongside,” Ms. Benier stated earlier than her personal public sale sale.

In pre-Covid instances, throughout vogue week a safety element may typically be discovered blocking the tiny Rue Guisarde whereas a rich consumer skimmed a number of baggage off the cabinets. Often, a consumer would drop in to improve a bag by promoting an outdated one again, which Ms. Benier stated is how she as soon as wound up flipping the identical black Kelly bag 3 times over.

On a latest morning, a reporter needed to wait exterior Les 3 Marches whereas a 20-something buyer inquired a few uncommon miniature Kelly night clutch within the window. Its value: €14,000.

Les 3 Marches is unapologetically one of many highest-priced classic retailers on the town. “My costs mirror the acquisition quantity,” Ms. Benier stated matter-of-factly. “If one thing was price cash to start with, it’s price cash secondhand.”

Nonetheless, there are a selection of choices accessible for a lot lower than present retail costs and fewer than these listed on resale platforms corresponding to The Actual Actual, Vestiaire Collective and Hardly Ever Worn It: a classic Kelly for €4,800 or a Birkin at €7,500 — whereas when you create a bag want listing at Hermès, the entry retail costs for these types vary from €9,000 to €18,000. And a Chanel 2.55 is listed at €3,800 (retail, €8,000).

That’s, if it’s on the market within the first place.

Above Ms. Benier’s desk is an association of objects “purely for the pleasure of the attention,” together with a wicker basket designed by Mr. Lagerfeld that after belonged to the flamboyant Italian vogue editor Anna Piaggi, a Lilliputian Kelly in black lizard pores and skin initially commissioned by an unnamed Hollywood actress for her daughter and sun shades accented with a silhouette of Coco Chanel.

Additionally scattered across the retailer: good luck charms following the rules of feng shui. Tucked in an obscure nook is a huge crystal paperweight within the form of a diamond. Glittery snow globes characterize water parts. All however hid is a 500 franc notice (initially price about $85) obtained from Linda Evangelista, who stopped in and bought a Chanel bandanna within the store’s very early days.

Ms. Benier stated she took it as the absolute best omen and by no means as soon as thought of spending it.

Then there’s her most prized possession, the unique Birkin bag: “the primary It-bag of all time.”

Ms. Benier purchased the bag in 2000 for a sum she declined to disclose after it resurfaced at public sale (the unique proprietor, and namesake, Jane Birkin had bought it at a charity public sale for AIDS analysis in 1994).

“The goose with the golden eggs and magic beans are nothing in comparison with my pleasure after I knew the bag was mine,” Ms. Benier stated.

“For me, the bag didn’t have a business worth, as a result of it was by no means my intent to promote it,” she continued. “For me, it was extraordinary, like discovering Adam’s rib. It’s probably the most stunning, coveted piece within the historical past of vogue.”

Since then, she has deflected affords to purchase the bag at any value (together with from Rihanna), holding it secreted away besides for infrequent appearances in exhibitions at MoMA and the department shops Liberty of London and Galeries Lafayette in Paris. It’s now on its approach again to Paris from the “Luggage: Inside Out” exhibition on the Victoria and Albert museum in London.

The place it could go subsequent remains to be unconfirmed. She goals of inserting it on the Maison Gainsbourg, a newly opened museum within the dwelling of Serge Gainsbourg, on the Rue de Verneuil within the Seventh Arrondissement.

“The Birkin was born in 1984, when Jane nonetheless lived in that well-known home. It’s like a part of the household,” she stated.

Then there may be her assortment of some 2,500 Hermès scarves, which Ms. Benier stated she believes is likely one of the largest on the planet. She will communicate concerning the designs, and their illustrators, at size. The identical goes for a trove of Chanel vogue jewellery.

“I made my ardour my métier, however not every thing exists for the aim of making a living,” she stated. “There’s a reminiscence that should reside on.”

Tags: BestKeptParisSecretVintage
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