Many of you know I try my best to support local designers and am a big advocate of clothing and accessories that, like my handbags, are ‘Made in Paris’. One of the designers I admire most is Mari of Koshka Mashka. Recently I had the chance to stop by her atelier just outside the city where Mari along with her team, creates and produces limited-edition womenswear collections.
Mari Samvelyan, who created the Koshka Mashka brand over 12 years ago after refining her skills in Italy, is a born designer. She creates from her artist’s soul, which is even more evident when watching her in action. Her inspiration comes from her colorful imagination, from walking around Paris, and in Mari’s words, “from beautiful and high-quality fabrics”, resulting in modern and timeless clothing.
The Koshka Mashka atelier is filled with clothing ready to display in the Haut Marais boutique and rolls of fabric waiting to be turned into an elegant dress, a blouse or maybe even a jumpsuit.
Each garment is handmade by skilled artisans who even create made-to-measure pieces. Now that is luxury!
Mari’s junior designer Caroline is an invaluable asset and often creates the samples for new collections.
Mari is not the only artist in the family. Her father is a painter and shares the atelier with his daughter.
Meet Mari and discover the Koshka Mashka collection at her Haut Marais boutique at 36 rue du Poitou, where you’ll also find her father’s artwork. Or join me on a fashion tour and I’ll introduce you! Meanwhile, discover other ‘Made in Paris’ designers, here.
Victor Hugo once said, “Great edifices, like great mountains, are the work of centuries.” This is certainly the case with Notre Dame de Paris. As the world is well aware, this past April flames engulfed our sacred cathedral, threatening to destroy it. As fate would have it, the cathedral stands intact. In tribute to this marvel of Gothic architecture recently celebrating 900-years, Kathy Borrus has just released a book featuring rarely seen photographs and stories from the past to the present day, even including an early map of Paris, with Notre Dame crowning the Île de la Cité.
Notre Dame de Paris: A Celebration of the Cathedral details the history and architecture of this landmark building while bringing to light its collection of priceless artifacts, the treasured Crown of Thorns among them.
“Mankind was never so happily inspired as when it made a cathedral…” -Robert Louis Stevenson
Notre Dame Cathedral from Quai de Montebello
Discover the rich history of Notre Dame, from the coronation of Napoléon Bonaparte to World War II and beyond.
Chimeras (gargoyles) of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris overlooking Paris
Book Notre Dame de Paris also details the legacy of the cathedral, with artists including Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso depicting Notre Dame in paintings. Cinema too played a role, as Victor Hugo’s classic novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame provoked many a Hollywood film.
West side of the Notre Dame de Paris
Within the pages of this collectors book for anyone with a deep affinity for Paris, I’ll allow you to discover for yourself why Notre Dame Cathedral is often considered an unofficial wonder of the world.
One of my most beloved parts of France is the Côte d’Azur. This region in the southeast along the Mediterranean coast boasts some of the most charming villages, neighboring the vibrant city of Nice. I recently discovered a few of these hilltop gems in a French Riviera hopping adventure, beginning in Mouans-Sartoux.
I hadn’t previously heard of this old-fashioned village, tucked between Cannes and Grasse and was pleasantly surprised to discover a 16th-century chateau and it’s neighboring modern art museum Espace de l’Art Concret in the former stables. All along the grounds of this castle, unique contemporary art sculptures caught my eye.
The streets of Mouans-Sartoux felt like walking through a living greenhouse, where plants lined the doorways and window sills. Along this walk I discovered gastronomic gem Mon Petit Resto, helmed by stellar chef Franck Cicognola. Next, it was time to head to Grasse.
Fascinated by French fragrances, many of which originate in the town of Grasse, I was eager to discover exactly how these perfumes are created, beginning with their floral compositions. This curiosity led me to the International Perfume Museum Gardens. Inaugurated in 2010, these three hectares of sprawling gardens act as an open-air botanical conservatory. Here I went on a sensory tour of the first plants used to make perfume in Grasse in the sixteenth century, including wild orange, lavender cassia from the mimosa family, myrtle and pistachio mastic. I also discovered that from the seventeenth century, the three major plants used were jasmine, rose and tuberose.
My fragrant journey continued to the heart of Grasse where I met with artisanal perfumer Jessica Buchanan, the creator of 1000 Flowers. Instantly, I fell in love with several of her bespoke fragrances.
The next stop before creating my own custom fragrance at Galimard, one of France’s first perfume houses dating back to 1747, was to the International Perfume Museum.
Founded in 1989, this museum, the only one of its kind in the world, is well situated in Grasse, the birthplace of luxury perfumes. Organized into sections from antiquity to contemporary periods, I discovered the origins of fragrance and how they evolved throughout the years. I even took a fragrant tour of iconic scents.
The next stop in the French Riviera was to hilltop village Mougins, known for its gastronomy and art de vivre.
Mougins is where Pablo Picasso chose to spend the last twelve years of his life and where he died in 1973.
I encountered Picasso’s works, as well as those of Matisse, Chagall, Cézanne, Dalí, and Warhol to name a few, at the Mougins Museum of Classical Art, an awe-inspiring private collection of ancient art from Greece, Egypt and Rome juxtaposed with modern works, numbering over 1,000 pieces in total.
Both from above where I admired tiled rooftops overlooking lush landscapes, to the gallery-filled streets below, Mougins won my heart. I hope to return in June for Les Etoiles de Mougins, an international festival of gastronomy and lifestyle, in tribute to France’s culinary figure Roger Vergé. Until then I’ll happily dine at Le Clos Saint Basile where chef Matthieu concocts seasonal dishes while his sommelier wife Elien selects the wines.
My next stop was to the home of another great artist, this time a writer. Belles Rives hotel opened in 1929, set in the French Riviera town of Juan-les-Pins, once the private villa of F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda.
I even had the good fortune of staying in the room just above where F. Scott and Zelda slept. The views were breathtaking! My custom fragrance which I aptly named Eau d’Azur was ready to be worn as I dressed for dinner at elegant Michelin starred restaurant La Passagère, helmed by Chef Aurélien Véquaud. What a decadent feast, ending with lemon soufflé.
As I sat on the vast terrace overlooking the sea, I thought about the lives of the Fitzgeralds and the wild parties they threw in this exact spot, guests including Rudolph Valentino, Hemingway, Franck Jay Gould, Maurice Chevalier, and Pablo Picasso, and where a green light always shines on the horizon… It was here that F. Scott wrote ‘Tender is the Night’ and gathered inspiration for ‘The Great Gatsby’.
While staying at Belles Rives, I took a walk to the neighboring village of Antibes, famous for its rampart walls. Here Picasso once again took the spotlight at the Picasso Museum, originally the Grimaldi Castle.
Wandering through the colorful alleys of the old town of Antibes, full of cafes and local artisans around every pastel corner, I became even more deeply enamored with this region of France.
Every October we head to the Italian Riviera for a little off-season sea and sun, and sometimes the olive harvest. This time we left Liguria for a taste of Tuscany. The first stop on this whirlwind trip that my Italian so carefully planned was to the medieval town of Campiglia Marittima. While exploring this centuries-old hilltop town along the Etruscan Coast, I felt as though we had entered a deserted movie set. Were we the only actors?
Stopping for espresso in the town square, we skipped the Archaeology Museum and the Mineral Museum set within the 13th century Palazzo Pretorio and headed up to the archaeological ruins.
It was here that traces of pre-medieval settlements were left to discover, including a Romanesque window.
After getting lost in the sleepy streets, we left Campiglia Marittima for a smaller and more remote destination.
We drove along scenic Tuscan roads overlooking the Gulf of Baratti until we approached a gated stone wall. The only Etruscan village by the sea, the undisputably charming Populonia is home to 18 year-round residents.
After a decadent lunch at the best spot in town, family-run Osteria La Torre di Populonia, we skipped the Etruscan Museum and headed up to the castle where 360 degree views awaited us.
While I inhaled the views, my Italian pointed out the distant islands of Elba, Corsica, Capraia and Gorgona.
We bid farewell to Populonia and made one last stop along a cypress-lined road to pick up wine in Bolgheri.
Sometimes life in Paris feels like living a dream. This was the case when I was invited on a private art tour of a closed Louvre Museum. The occasion was to discover the artful inspiration behind eight new limited editionBuly 1803 fragrances, each one created by a leading French perfumer. Ready for this exceptional tour?
Two weeks earlier I met with Victoire de Taillac who in 2014 along with her husband Ramdane Touhami, opened their all-natural fragrance emporium Buly 1803 first in Saint Germain and soon after in the Haut Marais. Read more about the brand in my Luxos feature. Now back to the Louvre tour, starting with “the most feminine woman on earth” Venus de Milo. What does she smell like, you wonder? According to the perfumer inspired by this femme fatale, an exhilarating blend of mandarine, jasmine and amber.
Walking around an empty Louvre was surreal! Joined only by a handful of fellow journalists from around the world, we were led through the stillness of centuries-old chambers by Victoire and our expert guide.
The next stop was to a personal favorite, La Victoire de Samothrace, the Greek goddess symbolizing victory.
The Winged Victory of Samothrace, a Hellenistic marble sculpture of Nike, dates back to the 2nd century BC. I was completely taken by the majesty of this Greek goddess as we shared a moment in quietude. And her scent? A mix of tuberose, magnolia and jasmine with a hint of myrrh.
Our sensory tour continued to La Grande Odalisque, an oil painting by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres from 1814. As interpreted by the perfumer, her fragrance exudes incense and pink pepper along with musky notes.
Discretely hidden in the corner of the Louvre was painting Conversation in a Park by Thomas Gainsborough. As Victoire explained, this scent exudes notes of peppermint and bergamot along with Ottoman roses.
All of my senses were engaged as the tour continued from one empty room to another, the only other personalities present being those captured in frames upon the walls.
Our last stop was to Nymph with the Scorpion by Lorenzo Bartolini. This sculpture inspired a scent composed of heliotrope and jasmine with a touch of amber and musk.
While a tour of the closed Louvre isn’t available to the public, you can take a treasure hunt with THATMuse to discover many remarkable artworks, and have great fun while you’re at it. Trust me, I’ve been on a few!
Before leaving the Louvre we stopped at the Buly 1803 pop-up shop. Here I was able to sample all eight art inspired scents, along with their first collection of alcohol-free fragrances.
Obsessed with fragrances, my chosen scent was La Victoire de Samothrace. It brought me right back to Greece!
These Louvre inspired perfumes are available now until January 6th. In case you can’t make it to the Louvre Museum for your own sensory tour, these eight perfumes are also on sale at Buly 1803 and online.
Next time you encounter an artwork wherever you are in the world, imagine what it would smell like.
A few weeks ago I returned to Provence for an experience in wellness. This time home was luxury lodging Le Saint-Remy in the heart of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. The purpose of this trip, other than discovering this charm-ridden historic village where the sun shines year-round, was to try the five-star hotel’s new detox program. With no coffee or rosé wine on the menu, this might prove a challenge.
After settling into my spacious, well-appointed room with a view of the sunlit terrace, the detox program began.
Following a healthy but decadent lunch, I lounged by the pool, waiting for my consultation with a Professor of Chinese Medicine. What makes the spa at Le Saint Remy so unique is the focus on Tui Na, one of the oldest massage techniques in the world. The focus is not merely on relaxation but on an increase in energy and overall well-being.
Feeling rejuvenated after my Tui Na massage, a meditation and a lesson in Qi Gong, a gentle 3,000-year-old exercise that stretches the body and increases blood circulation, I set out to explore the village of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. The weekly market also captured my attention.
The streets were lined with pastel colored cafes, boutiques and art galleries, setting a perfect Provençal scene.
Close to the captivating landscapes of the Massif des Alpilles mountain range, an eclectic bike tour was on the agenda. What a scenic and not too strenuous ride along the winding paths! My reward was a stunning view of the village of Les Baux-de-Provence in the distance.
After three days of healthy gourmet dining, daily Tui Na massages, invigorating activities and only a sip of rosé (it’s Provence after all) I returned home filled with vitality. Thankfully, I could continue Tui Na in Paris.
