Shopping - Paris e-guide: The Travel Guide with its Own Website - page 80

Shopping

9 B2

Roger Vivier footwear as art
29 rue du Faubourg-St-Honoré, 8ème • 01 53 43 00 85
www.rogervivier.com Open 10:30-7 Mon-Sat
Roger Vivier, the revered French shoe designer famous
for his creations for Dior and YSL, died in 1998. But
his legend lives on thanks to this boutique created by
Italian shoe maestro Bruno Frisoni and his muse, Inès
de la Fressange. Its upper floor resembles a chic
Parisian apartment, where 18th-century antiques are
cleverly mixed with futuristic furniture by Hervé Van
der Straeten (see p74) and the walls are hung with art.
Rather than simply reproducing classic styles from
the archives, Frisoni has updated the shoes by
introducing contemporary twists. Vivier's famous
curving Choc heel thus becomes the Choc-Choc, a
vertiginous shoe in lime-green crocodile skin. Other
revamped classics include Zorro, a shoe whose fine
straps resemble the classic crusader's mask, and a
more tapered version of the square-toed ballerinas
Vivier created to go with YSL's famous Mondrian dress.

9 C2

Stephane Kélian fancy footwork
5 rue du Faubourg-St-Honoré, 8ème • 01 44 51 64 19
www.stephane-kelian.fr Open 10-7 Mon-Sat
Slip your just-pedicured feet into a pair of Kélian's top-
of-the-line shoes if you plan to stroll the streets in
style, before hitting that upscale bar. You'll find
practical (but never boring) flatties, wedges and lofty
stilettos; Kélian is a rare soul who can successfully
create both the classic and the fabulously fashionable.

The Golden Triangle
Trawling the three main shopping arteries of the
ultra-chic 8ème is a quintessential Right Bank expe-
rience. Start at couture heartland on avenue
Montaigne with a visit to Dior , Chanel and Christian
Lacroix and perhaps a stop-off at Louis Vuitton .
Alternatively, shop Italian-style, taking in Prada ,
Emmanuel Ungaro , Valentino , Dolce & Gabbana ,

Marni and the Gucci mega-store. Avenue George V
is home to Givenchy , Balenciaga and Jean-Paul
Gaultier 's new Starck-designed HQ. The vibe is
trendier and less intimidating on rue du Faubourg-
St-Honoré: after Chloé , Lanvin and Bottega Veneta ,
head down to rue St-Honoré for John Galliano 's
outrageous fashions and the mother of Paris concept
stores, Colette . For further details, see pp221-2.