PHOTO CREDIT: COSTAS VOYATZIS
For those of you who may not be familiar with Printemps, let me provide you with a rudimentary background lesson. This quintessential Parisian department store is frequented by both locals and tourists alike, if not for the runway fashions inside, then just to marvel at its architectural genius. When I visited this store – or rather the series of stores all connected to create one massive mega complex – I too gasped at the bustling cosmetics building, the inspiring menswear building, and the overwhelming women’s footwear building. Yes, I said buildings. For this year’s Christmas season, the company commissioned none other then Karl Lagerfeld to use a distinctly Chanel lens to mystify and intrigue passers by with the windows. Holiday department stores windows have become famous the world over – be it Bergdorfs in NYC or to a lesser degree, Holt Renfrew in Canada. Can it get much better then Chanel for Printemps? The glitz and glamor, mixed with a warmth penetrating through the icy cold palette pictured above is so classically Chanel, and on a greater degree, so historically Christmas. This evokes a childish excitement in me, one constrained by my youth, yet propelled by anticipatory hopes of greater things to come. As a child, Christmas was dictated to me by my parents, and I was the recipient of new clothes and many presents. As I’ve grown older, I’ve gotten much more agency in molding Christmas the way I see fit, and in becoming the giver than receiver of extravagant gifts. Each passing year, the enthusiasm and energy in me mounts to unprecedented levels. How exciting to be able to art-direct a fairy tale, a distant childhood passion, a ‘perfect moment’ – when else do we ever get this opportunity? I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it many more times to come: I love Christmas.
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