By buying SCANDALE, founded in 1932, in order to dissolve into it the identity it had spent twenty years building, Maison Close reverses the usual logic of the luxury market: betting on a heritage rather than on a brand built from scratch.
A house that gives up its name
Founded in Marseille in two thousand and six, Maison Close established itself within two decades as one of the most recognisable signatures of French lingerie, since extended to ready-to-wear, swimwear and accessories. The House aims for twenty million euros in revenue in two thousand and twenty-six, with the United States as its first market, ahead of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy.
On the twenty-second of July two thousand and twenty-six, however, it ceases to exist under that name and becomes SCANDALE. The operation starts from a purchase: on the twenty-seventh of October two thousand and twenty-five, Nicolas Busnel, founder, president and creative director of Maison Close, buys the House of SCANDALE from Erik Ryd.
Robert Perrier’s founding gesture
SCANDALE was born in nineteen thirty-two, founded by Robert Perrier between Lyon, the historic cradle of silk, and Paris, capital of haute couture. The House supplied silks to Chanel, Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Jean Patou and Givenchy, before Perrier introduced synthetic fabrics into French haute couture, then devoted them to lingerie.
This is his most singular gesture: well before the appearance of Lycra, Robert Perrier turned liquid latex into a fibre and gave birth to the first modern elastic girdle, freeing the silhouette from corsetry’s constraints.
An image ahead of its time
René Gruau designed the House’s logo, extended by campaigns by the artists Pierre Couronne, Diaz and Jean Jacquelin, deployed in France as in the United States. SCANDALE then came under the control of the Hop Lun group, before Halle Berry joined its capital in two thousand and fourteen, meant to accelerate its North American development.
The bet on transmission
“SCANDALE has always been part of my universe of inspiration, as much for its creations as for its communication. The campaigns illustrated by René Gruau deeply marked my imagination and my vision of French femininity,” says Nicolas Busnel, who speaks of “as much a matter of course as an immense honour” when Erik Ryd offered him to take over the House.
The opening of SCANDALE’s first permanent Parisian flagship, at 5 rue Cambon, is planned for September two thousand and twenty-six — the first physical expression of this new ambition, ahead of a private show marking twenty years of Maison Close, on the twenty-fourth of September, at the Théâtre du Trianon.
Key dates
1932 — foundation of SCANDALE by Robert Perrier
27 October 2025 — purchase of SCANDALE by Nicolas Busnel
22 July 2026 — Maison Close officially becomes SCANDALE
September 2026 — opening of the flagship at 5, rue Cambon, Paris
It remains to be seen what rue Cambon will say of this heritage hypothesis: can an Aesthete recognise, beneath a name nearly a century old, a House of which she knew nothing yesterday?
Cette publication est également disponible en :
