Shopping à la Parisienne: Heritage Houses, Designers, and Artisans

The Parisian shopping we love is found neither in the crowded department stores nor on the avenues of globalized luxury. It lives in the boutiques where you talk with the woman who designs the clothes, at the artisans who have been making things by hand for a century, at the addresses passed along like family secrets. A month in the city opens that Paris to you.

Around the Jewel, three streets suffice. The rue des Francs-Bourgeois for the established houses. The rue de Turenne, now the axis of men's fashion: contemporary tailors, shirtmakers, under-the-radar sneakers. The upper Marais (rue de Poitou, rue Charlot) for young designers and niche perfumers. Our tip: go on a Wednesday or Thursday, when the sales staff have time to talk; Saturday belongs to the crowds. And don't miss the historic artisans around the Place des Vosges: glovemakers, hatters, papermakers. That is where the gifts people actually remember are found.

On the Left Bank, a twenty-minute walk leads to Le Bon Marché: founded in 1852, the oldest department store in the world and still the most elegant, with its Grande Épicerie — which is to food what haute couture is to clothing. All around, Saint-Germain lines up the historic French houses and the antique dealers of the Carré Rive Gauche.

Finally, our guilty pleasure: luxury vintage. Paris is the world capital of the field, and the Marais brims with consignment boutiques where pieces from the great houses turn up, fully authenticated. For the truly exceptional, the Marché Paul Bert Serpette at the Saint-Ouen flea market — the largest antiques market in the world, where the planet's decorators stock up on Fridays, dealers' day. Tax refunds from 100 € for non-EU residents, and every house delivers to the apartment: your mailbox awaits.