Hortense Bonneau’s All-Time Fave Spots in Paris
Where to get a good éclair…and some really spectacular baby clothes.
Although Hortense Bonneau of Hortense Jewelry is a seasoned West Coaster—she hopscotched from San Fran to Santa Monica before finally settling in L.A.—she spent the first three decades of her life in the City of Light. Here, take a tour of the Parisian places Hortense makes a point to visit when she goes back home. —alisha prakash
Dalloyau
“The first thing I have to eat when I go back is a good éclair au café and a religieuse au café—both with coffee inside, not chocolate. I like to buy them at Dalloyau founded in 1682 near the garden Le Luxembourg. I buy my favorite pastries and go to the garden. French pastries are just a dream.”
(2 Place Edmond Rostand)
Bonton
“Bonton is a gorgeous store for kids. It’s quite expensive, but the clothes and toys are so amazing that, just for the inspiration, it feels good to visit.”
(Multiple locations)
Mariage Frères
“Here, you can find wonderful teas. The place is so old and magical. There’s a store downstairs where I buy my teas, and upstairs, there’s a Salon de Thé, where you can sit and enjoy tea with the most amazing pastries.”
(30 Rue du Bourg Tibourg)
K. Jacques
“They have amazing sandals in the Marais area. You can often find a mini selection of K. Jacques sandals in L.A.—but only the flat ones, and K. Jacques offers heels as well!”
(16 Rue Pavée)
Le Bon Marché
“I like to go to Le Bon Marché because you can find a lot of the famous brands in one store. It’s like the equivalent of Barneys.”
(24 Rue de Sèvres)
Diptyque
“I also love going to the candle store Diptyque. The one in Paris is the oldest one—I think it’s the first one that opened. The store is so authentic and beautiful.”
(34 Boulevard Saint Germain)
Le Café de Flore
“Summer in Paris is just the best, especially in August when everybody is gone for vacation. I like to sit outside and have a drink around 7 p.m. I like all the cafes in Le Marais or Saint Germain, like Le Café de Flore. It’s kind of cliché, but it’s an old café where all the writers and singers in Paris used to—and still—go.”
(172 Boulevard Saint-Germain)
Le Petit Cambodge
“The Asian restaurant Le Petit Cambodge—my husband and I used to live right next to it, so we were there all the time. On weekends, they have a line on the street that’s crazy.”
(20 Rue Alibert)
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Hortense Jewelry
Long before French-born Hortense Bonneau was designing her line, she was a kid with an eye for jewelry. “When I was five, I went to Florence with my dad. There’s one street with jewelers on both sides, and I wanted to go inside every store,” she says. “Then, at 10, I went Place Vendôme in Paris, spending hours looking into the windows of Van Cleef & Arpels and Cartier.”
But she ended up working as a photo editor at a magazine for years before realizing she had an itch. “I wanted to do something with my hands, but I didn’t know what. So my husband sat me down and asked me what I liked in life,” she recalls. The first thing that came to mind: jewelry.
When she moved to San Fran with her movie-animator man, she made the switch. “I washed dogs. That’s how I made money to buy a bench and tools,” she says. One year later, Hortense registered at the Academy of Art and the Alan Revere Academy, and after working as a metalsmith for other designers, launched her own fine-jewelry label in 2007. Over the years, it’s evolved as her life has—taking a pause when her daughter Lola was born, making the move to L.A. when she did, getting daintier when the mood struck her. “Step by step, that’s how I grew.” —alisha prakash
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Weather Vain: Paris, France - 52 With a Chance of Rain
Even when it’s rainy there, we’re itching to be in Paris. I mean, we aren’t fools. Here’s what we’d wanna be wearing if we were so lucky today. —erica
Clockwise from top left:
+ A black Hope button-down that, with its asymmetrical hem, is so much more.
+ A glam Kelly Wearstler cuff that will make you even more bummed that you missed The Sporting Project’s latest pop-up dinner series (a good reason to book another trip!).
+ The sort of easy necklace by Gabriela Artigas that won’t get in your way in the French Trotters fitting room.
+ This Gryphon trench will keep you dry..and motivated to make the walk to La Pâtisserie Des Rêves.
+ Nothing’s wrong with a little flash—especially in the form of these stroll-ready, Marais-friendly Dieppa Restrepo shoes.
+ Try not to empty this Clare Vivier wallet at Merci. Just do your best.
+ Iris & Ink leather pants the color of the wine that’s bound to fill your belly.
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A Year In…City Guides
Where to go when you’re in SF, LA, TX, NYC…
All of the designers we’ve worked with so far live in the U.S. of A. We’re talking all over America—San Fran, Philly, Chicago, Austin, L.A., Portland, Minneapolis, and, duh, NYC. Here, these crazy-talented, hyper-tuned-in people share their favorite local haunts and spots they’ve unearthed on their travels:
+ Erica Weiner’s Maine Favorites
+ Louisa Parris Plays Favorites in London and San Francisco
+ Susan Domelsmith’s Ultimate Guide to Austin
+ Where to Find Mandy Coon in the East Village
+ Gigi Burris’s Five Can’t-Miss Spots in Paris
+ The Nikolai Rose Guys Do the Upper West Side
+ Sophie Monet Okulick’s Guide to Big Sur
+ Elizabeth Yarborough Takes Us on a Color Tour of SF (see pic up top!)
+ Jaclyn Mayer and Orly Genger Borough Hop
+ Meredith and Wendell German Do Florence
+ Caroline Ventura’s (Gut-Busting) Guide to Montreal
+ Elena Coleman Howell’s L.A. Mid-Century Tour
+ Sara Dudzinsky’s Six Portland Restaurant Picks
+ Matt Singer’s NYC Neighborhood Walking Tour
+ Clare Vivier’s Very Favorite Places in Silverlake
Get yourself 25% off any order over $40 with the code NEWYEARNEWGEAR until the clock strikes 2012!
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On Vacation with Fortune Favors the Brave
These two globetrot in the name of their work.
The photo above—taken by Arnaud de Rosnay—pretty much sums up the duo behind the silver-fueled jewelry line, Fortune Favors the Brave. The shot of two carefree girls in braids, which is hung in Shannon Davenport and Julia Wilson’s immersive Brooklyn loft, doesn’t depict the two, but it may as well: Julia (brunette) and Shannon (blonde) travel the world looking for treasure—ideally in the form of inspiration for their line—as often as possible. “Shannon and I are escapists,” Julia says. “We’re always dreaming about living on an island or moving to the desert or the woods.” Here, the girls sift through photo albums of past trips to get to the root of some of their designs.” —alisha prakash
Shannon taking a dip in the Blue Lagoon in Iceland: “This first picture is a natural spring—it’s the one thing you do in Iceland—and the color is a crazy milky blue. We really like opaque stones because it’s a way to have color without being super glitzy.”
Julia hitting up the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris: “While I was there, I was thinking about how a lot of architecture in Europe is inspired by religion. There were cool shapes that we wanted to apply when we were going through the new collection. The cross pendant necklace is very clean and it’s got a nice square shape to it.”
Shannon getting wild in the desert in Namibia: “The desert was a really big inspiration for us in general—the arid, tough, isolated feeling.”
Julia soaking up the sun on an island off Railay in Thailand: “In Thailand, there’s gold everywhere. When I was there, I also saw so much texture in the landscape. We wanted to infuse that blend of gold and texture into our collection.”
Shannon horseback riding in Mozambique: “This was taken when I lived in South Africa for a little while. I got a lot of cool jewelry while I was there—basic, chunky, copper cuffs that were the inspiration for pieces like this one.”
Get the inspired, easy-to-wear (and gift!) earrings that the duo made for us here.
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The Insiders: Jenny Capano and Tara Gilson
Tara Gilson (left) and Jenny Capano manage sales at 3.1 Phillip Lim—a job that, among about a zillion other things, includes working to curate buys for stores around the world. And that means that these two crazy-impressive girls get to trot the globe a whole lot during the year—all while dressed in a mash-up of pieces from the designer’s line. Here, they talk shop. —jiayi
Q: What are some of your favorite places to visit when you travel for work?
Jenny: We’re in Paris a lot—we go about five or six times a year and always stay in the Marais. We love to eat in Paris—at Anahi, Le Voltaire, and Hotel Amour to name a few. Just recently, we started exploring new eats in the 11th. For shopping, we always go to L’Eclaireur. Veronica is the best and makes sure we don’t leave empty handed. And of course Le Bon Marche—everything’s under one roof there. We’ve become obsessed with Tabio for socks. Everything there is really, really fun.
Q: Being on planes as much as you are, what are some of your essential magazines?
Tara: Monocle is a must. I actually still read The Economist every week—which is completely separate from fashion. Lately, Jenny and I have been really investigating more niche international fashion magazines. Ones like Sweden’s Bon and London’s Gentlewoman and Love Magazine that have very specific photography and interesting stylists and models really appeal to us.
Q: You both started working at Phillip Lim five years ago, after interning here. Did you always intend to work in fashion?
Tara: I always wanted to, but we both have a lot of other interests, too. I do a lot of yoga and taught it at Yogamaya in Chelsea for a bit. I did toy with the idea of grad school for international relations, but I never made the jump. And you learn about many other things being in this industry. We’re learning about global business, branding, and marketing —skills and ideas that translate across other industries.
Q: Besides yoga, what are some of your other hobbies?
Jenny: I do a lot of cooking—I’m a huge foodie. I’m big on mixing travel with food. Being in a new place, trying new food—I can’t think of a better experience. Tara and I travel all the time for work, but we always make time for vacation too.
Tara: We’re actually going to Art Basel in Miami in a couple of weeks for vacation. But the art and fashion worlds are very connected now, so to see what’s going on in the art world relates back to our business and our world. It’s a fun trip, but our eyes and ears are definitely always open for things that connect back to what we do.
Our Insiders are a mind-blowing bunch. Read about all of them here.
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Hot Shot: Nana Spears of Fort Makers Shows Off Her Favorite Office Supply
We love a house tour—the opportunity take a peek at how awesome people live. And since studios can be like second homes to designers, we decided to make bi-weekly rounds and bring back interesting things we discovered in these spaces. (That’s right: another new feature.) First up, something wonderful and loud beloved by one of the creators of the textile- and color-obsessed line Fort Makers. -jaime
“The different colored tapes—from mt masking tape and Dick Blick—are one of my collections. We use the tape for our marketing kits and whatnot, but the neon orange tape has been especially useful for all kinds of occasions. Once, we used it as a final touch to our first art show in Paris—it works well in installations.” —nana
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Of a Kind
This Fort Makers scarf would make for the perfect travel accessory. It’s got some serious international cred to back that statement up—hand-painted in Brooklyn and finished in Paris. —jiayi
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Getting Down with Tucker Prints
Starting points for the designs include photos from Africa and thoughts of dessert.
The designer in an awesome sweater jacket from her fall collection.
There is nothing subtle about the prints that Gaby Basora creates for her line, Tucker. But the designer manages to give every pop of color and in-your-face pattern a certain glossy sophistication and a burst of playfulness—a combination that translates to full-blown confidence for anyone who slips into one of her trademark blouses or flowy maxis. Here’s a look at how she does it.
“This print is called Tea Sponge Cake. The fall collection was inspired by Sarah Moon’s photographs—she’s an amazing French photographer. Even though she has these very bright backdrops in many of her photographs, there’s also a somber quietness to her work. Fall is largely inspired by that, but there were also times when it was very frivolous—like when you look at a print and think, ‘That looks like sponge cake.’”
“I walked past a jewelry store in Paris where they had this necklace made of a bunch of shells. I took a picture for my friend who’s a jewelry designer. When I looked at the pictures from that trip, I thought those shells would make a beautiful print. I played around with it on the computer, and the Smiling Fan print is a processed version of that.”
“My sister was living in Kenya for six months, studying and working. She brought me back all these little mementos and pieces of fabric she found. This print was taken from a picture she took of the ground, marks in dirt.”
“We wanted to do polka dots, but there’s something unexpected and whimsical about Tucker—if we’re going to do a polka dot, then we’re doing it slightly differently. We gave it a little bit more flexibility with the shadow element, which adds another color.”
Gaby used a super-cool print to trim the silk tank she made for us—check it out here.
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Of a Kind
In case you’re looking for another reason to be jealous of Emma Watson, these shoulder-grazing earrings from the Parisian line MiniCyn would be the bomb with her growing-out hair. —erica
