Let me begin with a confession: I once spent eight consecutive hours in Le Bon Marché, and it wasn't because I was working there. Suffice to say it was 2006, I was on a gap year in Paris, and my grandmother—aka, the most tenacious shopper in Dallas—was in town. The experience was dazzling, hypnotic, even spiritual. It ended only after my impatient 14-year-old brother erupted in a fit of rage.
Le Bon Marché invented modern shopping. This sounds like a fabulous claim, but it's also a true one, as books like Walter Benjamin's The Arcades Project and Émile Zola's Au Bonheur des Dames attest. Curious readers, I highly recommend you peruse these two texts, but in the meantime, I'll break it down. Before the 1860s, unless you were extremely rich, shopping was a bit of a bore (as was the clothing). Le Bon Marché transformed it into entertainment, with an enormous, theater-like space featuring an art gallery, lavish window displays, restaurants, and of course, more pretty clothes than had ever been together under one structure. It also revolutionized the business of retail, implementing then-controversial practices like returns, fixed pricing, and casual "just browsing," which—shocker!—actually improved sales. In a way, Le Bon Marché was also feminist, as one of the first public spaces in Paris where women could venture unaccompanied or work semi-respectable (though underpaid) jobs.
What's the point? Recently, Opening Ceremony opened its first-ever pop-up at the historic department store, which, 145 years after it moved into its space on the rue de Sèvres, is still glamorous, creative, and, in certain ways, subversive (its grocery section stocks Kraft Mac-n-Cheese, impossible to find elsewhere in Paris). Of course, the real reason you should go is our newly arrived Fall/Winter 2014 men's and women's collections, as well as pieces from the Opening Ceremony & Magritte, Thierry Boutemy for Opening Ceremony, and Mickey Mouse / Opening Ceremony collaborations. The shop-in-shop isn't quite the same as an experience at Opening Ceremony, of course. But, if any other retail enviornment shares the OC philosophy of injecting discovery, adventure, and pleasure into shopping, it's Le Bon Marché.
Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche
24 Rue de Sèvres
Paris, France 75007
MAP
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Le Bon Marché's Opening Ceremony pop-up, featuring a curated selection of our Fall/Winter 2014 Opening Ceremony collection. Photos courtesy of Le Bon Marché ![]()
In addition to the curated selection of Opening Ceremony collection, the pop-up features pieces from the Opening Ceremony & Magritte,
Le Bon Marché invented modern shopping. This sounds like a fabulous claim, but it's also a true one, as books like Walter Benjamin's The Arcades Project and Émile Zola's Au Bonheur des Dames attest. Curious readers, I highly recommend you peruse these two texts, but in the meantime, I'll break it down. Before the 1860s, unless you were extremely rich, shopping was a bit of a bore (as was the clothing). Le Bon Marché transformed it into entertainment, with an enormous, theater-like space featuring an art gallery, lavish window displays, restaurants, and of course, more pretty clothes than had ever been together under one structure. It also revolutionized the business of retail, implementing then-controversial practices like returns, fixed pricing, and casual "just browsing," which—shocker!—actually improved sales. In a way, Le Bon Marché was also feminist, as one of the first public spaces in Paris where women could venture unaccompanied or work semi-respectable (though underpaid) jobs.
What's the point? Recently, Opening Ceremony opened its first-ever pop-up at the historic department store, which, 145 years after it moved into its space on the rue de Sèvres, is still glamorous, creative, and, in certain ways, subversive (its grocery section stocks Kraft Mac-n-Cheese, impossible to find elsewhere in Paris). Of course, the real reason you should go is our newly arrived Fall/Winter 2014 men's and women's collections, as well as pieces from the Opening Ceremony & Magritte, Thierry Boutemy for Opening Ceremony, and Mickey Mouse / Opening Ceremony collaborations. The shop-in-shop isn't quite the same as an experience at Opening Ceremony, of course. But, if any other retail enviornment shares the OC philosophy of injecting discovery, adventure, and pleasure into shopping, it's Le Bon Marché.
Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche
24 Rue de Sèvres
Paris, France 75007
MAP
Le Bon Marché's Opening Ceremony pop-up, featuring a curated selection of our Fall/Winter 2014 Opening Ceremony collection. Photos courtesy of Le Bon Marché 
In addition to the curated selection of Opening Ceremony collection, the pop-up features pieces from the Opening Ceremony & Magritte,