It is little wonder that people come from far and wide for a weekend of shopping in Paris – from its Belle Époque department stores and art deco arcades to blockbuster fashion boutiques, vintage finds and gleaming concept stores, it’s arguably the best city for shopping in the world.
Ahead of the Olympics this July – when all eyes will turn to the City of Lights – we deep-dive into the best fashion stores Paris has to offer, collated with input from some of the city’s most stylish and design-conscious residents.
The best fashion stores Paris has to offer
Dover Street Market Paris
Some time in the making, Rei Kawakubo and Adrian Joffe have selected the Marais as the location of their latest Dover Street Market outpost, which opened in May (2024). Marking something of a departure from the Comme des Garçons-owned DSM stores in other cities like London, New York and Tokyo, the space has been entirely designed by Kawakubo for the first time and does away with market-like concessions in favour of a sparse collection of undulating displays which the Japanese designer hopes visitors can immerse themselves in (her desire is not for shopping to be the entire focus; as such, no clothing can be viewed from the street). Alongside brands from the Comme des Garçons roster, an ever-changing selection of international designers will be present – from Willy Chavarria to Craig Green, Wales Bonner and Simone Rocha – while the fatigued can replenish themselves in the Rose Bakery outpost (the first to be designed by Kawakubo herself). Read more.
3537 Rue des Francs Bourgeois, 75004 Paris
Saint Laurent
Part of a buzzing roster of renovations and openings on the once tourist-saturated Champs-Élysées – largely down to the arrival of the Olympics this July (2024) – Saint Laurent’s monolithic new store at number 123 is an exercise is considered design. The modernist, temple-like space, dreamt up by creative director Anthony Vaccarello, features an assemblage of stone surfaces across its four floors, populated with furniture by Donald Judd and Rudolph Schindler. Stepping inside, it is hard not to be impressed with the vast space, which is as cinematic as his collections. Art also features: a neon light sculpture by Welsh conceptual artist Cerith Wyn Evans hangs in the foyer, while further pieces will be rotated throughout the space in the coming months. Read more.
123 Av. des Champs-Élysées, 75008 Paris
The Broken Arm
Long a fixture of the Parisian fashion scene, concept store The Broken Arm continues to offer one of the city’s most considered edits of clothing, featuring pieces from Maison Margiela, Prada, Rick Owens and Wales Bonner, alongside up-and-coming names and collaborations (from an avid shopper’s perspective, The Broken Arm often features runway pieces from brands which are difficult to find elsewhere). It was founded by Guillaume Steinmetz, Anaïs Lafarge and Romain Joste – who met while creating online magazine Les Jeunes Gens Modernes – and has an artistic sensibility, taking its name from a Marcel Duchamp readymade, ’In Advance of the Broken Arm’. The shop itself, which is located on Square du Temple, reflects the area’s easygoing feel, and comes complete with a coffee shop and bookstore for weekend browsing.
12 Rue Perrée, 75003 Paris
Alaïa
The Alaïa store on 5 Rue de Marignan is an invitation into the Parisian brand’s world, a serene hôtel particulier which houses not just a boutique, but also a spa and café for the weary shopper. Designed to evoke the inviting atmosphere of the late Azzedine Alaïa’s Rue de Moussy headquarters – where the Tunisian designer would host his famous kitchen-table suppers – the latter, Café Alaïa Da Rosa, features Meditteranean dishes in the lush courtyard, while the former comprises treatments by aesthetician Martine de Richeville (she is famed for her ‘body remodelling’ massages). Meanwhile the four-storey boutique itself is an airy, light-filled space to peruse current creative director Pieter Mulier’s collections, an exercise in Parisian elegance.
5 Rue de Marignan, Paris 75008
Samaritaine Paris Pont-Neuf
First founded in 1870 by Ernest Cognacq, La Samaritaine department store relocated to its current address on the banks of the Seine in the 1920s, taking over a building designed by architect Henri Sauvage in the era’s art deco style. Falling into disrepair by the early 2000s, a purchase by French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH has seen the store – now simply ‘Samarataine’ – reopen in an impressive renovation which was completed in 2021. Meticulously restored to its glory days by specialist contractors – alongside four architectural firms who worked across the space – it centres around the original glass-roofed atrium with its frescoed ceilings and dramatic metal staircase. Promising a ’temple of Parisian lifestyle’, it provides an expansive array of shopping opportunities catering to all (expensive) tastes, including art from Perrotin Gallery, caviar by Prunier and customisable champagne bottles by Moët & Chandon, Ruinart and Veuve Clicquot, as well as an expansive array of men’s and women’s luxury fashion.
9 rue de la Monnaie, 75001 Paris
Comme des Garçons
A place to ‘explore and experiment’ describes Comme des Garçons of its intriguing Paris outpost, which opened last October (2023) on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. Conceived by the Japanese brand’s singular founder and creative director Rei Kawakubo, the typically conceptual design features a labyrinthine layout comprising vast columnar displays and gleaming red walls which intersect the space. The full roster of Comme des Garçons lines and brands are stocked in the four-storey store – including Homme Plus, Shirt, Girl and Parfums, as well as some previously not available outside of Japan – making it a worthy pilgrimage for fans of the avant-garde label. And, as a bonus, it stocks Kawakubo’s Comme des Garçons furniture line, reissued for the first time in nearly three decades and the only place in the world it can be purchased.
56 rue du Faubourg St-Honoré, 75008 Paris
Nuovo
Located in the Marais, buzzy vintage store Nuovo collates irreverent, It-girl fashion which founder Lisa Lingenti says verges on ‘bad taste’. Largely stocking pieces from the 1990s and 2000s, brands include Jean-Paul Gaultier, Mugler, D&G and Versace dropped in curated seasonal ’selections’. Nuovo already boasts a roster of celebrity fans from Lily-Rose Depp to Rosalía and their purchases, alongside plenty of new arrivals, are documented on Nuovo’s colourful Instagram, which also features the store’s famously well-dressed staff playing try on.
130 Rue de Turenne, 75003 Paris
Issey Miyake
Paris has always been a part of the Issey Miyake story, its eponymous founder arriving in the French city from his native Japan in 1965 to study dressmaking at the l’École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne (he would show his collections there until his death in 2022). Now, a new opening in the city’s ‘golden triangle’ provides a sleek Parisian home for Issey Miyake, which designer Tokujin Yoshioka says continues ‘[Miyake’s] philosophy of craftsmanship and energy for the future’. It is a mood evoked by the luminous orange aluminium walls which are found throughout the space, designed to recall a rising or setting sun and lighting up the label’s always colourful collections (which here feature in a near-comprehensive offering of its various offshoots, including Issey Miyake, Pleats Please, Homme Plissé, Bao Bao, perfumes, watches, eyewear and more). Read more.
28 rue François 1er, 75008 Paris
Merci
Merci, located on Boulevard Beaumarchais in Paris’s third arrondissement, was one of the city’s first concept stores, and continues to stock an eclectic array of brands that it curates ‘like a good editor-in-chief’. After passing the signature red Fiat parked on the store’s cobbled forecourt, the interior – housed in a former fabric factory which dates back to the 19th century – features an array of clothing and accessories, as well as home furnishings, gifts and ephemera. The effect is that of a contemporary bazaar, while the Used Book Café on the first floor offers a welcome respite from the bustling streets of the Marais, serving versions of Parisian bistro classics in the library-like space.
111 Bd Beaumarchais, 75003 Paris
Didier Ludot
Found in the arcades of Palais Royal – a haven of independent boutiques just a stone’s throw from the Louvre – Didier Ludot has long been a destination for the discerning vintage shopper, its namesake founder sourcing and selling rare and often museum-worthy fashion for half a century (as such, he has often been deemed the father, or grandfather, of vintage fashion). He continues to collate a near-unparalleled curation of garments – a large amount of which is haute couture – from houses including Chanel, Balenciaga, Madame Grès, Yves Saint Laurent and Dior. Such is his influence, his gowns have graced the Oscar’s red carpet (Reese Witherspoon wore a 1950 Christian Dior satin dress adorned with roses, sourced from Didier Ludot, to win her Best Actress award in 2006), while his personal collection was auctioned in 2023 by Christie’s.
24 Gal de Montpensier, 75001 Paris
Dior
Avenue Montaigne is the spiritual home of Dior – it was here, in 1946, where Christian Dior opened the doors to his eponymous couture house at number 30 (and with it, changed the course of fashion history). After a two and a half year renovation, in 2022, the house opened its new flagship at the address, a vast space which comprises a museum, restaurant and even (for the very high-spending few) a hotel room, which gives you the run of the store after opening hours. Designed by architect Peter Marino – a longtime collaborator with the house – the impressive 2,172 sq m space features nods the house codes throughout, including wall designs based on the pattern pieces of haute couture, parquet de Versailles floors and toile de Jouy wall decorations. As such, the jewellery box-like space promises full Dior immersion. Read more.
30 Av. Montaigne, 75008 Paris
Librairie 7L
Though not technically a fashion store, Rue de Lille bookstore Librairie 7L was founded by legendary German designer Karl Lagerfeld in 1999, and has subsequently been acquired by Chanel. Naturally, it makes for a chic shopping experience, indulging the late Lagerfeld’s love of books a space which features a main street-level store – comprising art, fashion and culturally-minded tomes – and vast reading room with thousands of rare books on its floor-to-ceiling library-like displays. The latter is now host to a cultural program of talks and happenings, while 7L also serves as a publishing house with Éditions 7L, which was launched by Laurence Delamare in 2023.
7 Rue de Lille, 75007 Paris
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