Closing its doors on December 20, before the onset of winter:colette can do it. Announcing collaborations with H&M, Sacaï or Lucien Pagès, then abruptly posting the word “end” on Instagram:colette can do it. The end of a” revolutionaryconcept store “, the obligatory stop for any fashion loyalist. A stir in the news: we don’t know which way to turn. General astonishment, and a flurry of tributes. From Sophie Fontanelle to the most sought-after designers, Colette Roussaux and Sarah Andelman are lauded as pioneers. Personalities whose eclectic selections have never disappointed. Vanessa Friedman even goes so far as to declare “colette educated me in fashion”. All these turns of phrase in the past tense give the impression of talking about people whose loss we mourn. Is this the trouble: why leave, why not stay until the end? To retire at the height of glory: a privilege of great men, a mark of prestige of the stars of “the great era”. Knowing how to say stop, before you’re out of date: embracing eternity and remaining forever the “concept-store” heralding trends to come. An elegant way to say goodbye.
Colette closes. Her victory over fashion began. Or had fashion already got the better of Colette?
A unanimous, unmistakable tribute: Colette was so perfect?
Colette: fashion before fashion, that’s the motto
For 20 years, the Colette store has galvanized the fashion world with its ability to capture emerging trends. Perpetually proposing new ways of presenting things: this translates into millions of window displays, over 300 art exhibitions, around 3,000 events, 37 CD compilations and 86,000 different brands. Every week, the items presented change. Colette brings capsule collections up to date, which move the crowds, so that everyone gets in on the act. Sarah Andelman declares that the secret to longevity is not to rest on one’s laurels; “to constantly reinvent oneself”. The pop music equivalent of Madonna. Except that the “Queen of the Pop” has ended up wallowing in this title, and becoming a shadow of her former self. Sarah Andelman’s penchant for change and the multiplication of ephemeral objects ultimately represents fashion in force rather than fashion in the making. At a time when collaborations have become massively integrated into our habits, and when wearing sneakers with luxury suits is no longer surprising, where is the audacity? Especially when the first floor is increasingly devoted to street wear. Sarah Andelman herself admitted in an interview for BoF that, while street wear and luxury used to touch, today they are completely merged.
colette: who to consult for tomorrow’s program?
colette in 1997
In 1997, Colette was the exception. The original intention was to create a place where people could stay: watch an exhibition, listen to music, drink one of 85 kinds of mineral water and leave with a T-shirt and an art book. Sarah Andelman brings together in one place everything she loves, everything she can’t find anywhere else (like Kiehl’s cosmetics ). If this store/museum/living space/hipster HQ closes its doors, it’s because the tide is turning. Whether in the world of fashion, culture or the arts. New combinations have to be invented. Is this the end of concept stores?
Concept stores by the bucketload: following the announcement of the closure of n°213 rue Saint-Honoré, GQ takes stockof the remaining concept stores, and the list is impressive: Merci and L’éclaireur lead the way. The concept of each of these stores is encapsulated in the word concept. This kind of observation leads us to think that it was high time for Colette to close its doors. Before blending into the crowd.
At Colette you can meet Karl as well as Vicotria and David, a tourist and a fashion victim, a millennial and a baby-boomer: the perfect mix?
Remake of a 20th-century film
Colette Roussaux and Sarah Andelman
Colette and Bel Gazou
colette department store, Colette great writer. Before 1997, the sound “Colette” brings some people back to wheat grass. Colette: a woman writer, who freed herself from Willy, collaborated with the greatest artists of the belle époque, cut her hair, and raised her daughter “Bel-Gazou”. Sarah is the “Bel-Gazou” of luxury. Together with her mother, they took over the Faubourg Saint-Honoré, marking it forever with a blue: Pantone 293c.
Stories repeat themselves: strange combinations form. Between homage and criticism, it’s hard to take a stand. Sure, Colette wasn’t perfect, but before the Pantone blue fades, Claudine is gone.
Going to Colette and buying sneakers: it’s the blues, not tomorrow’s blue. The worst kind of tribute.
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