PARIS MATCH
FRENCH JEWELLERS LES NÉRÉIDES SAY ‘PFFF!’ TO CONVENTION, COMBINING THEIR INTERPRETATIONS OF PARISIAN CHIC WITH KOOKY JUNKSHOP CREATIVITY
Ugly Betty recently borrowed a quote from Coco Chanel: “You should always take off the last thing you put on in order not to over-accessorise.” As long it’s not your dress/trousers, this is sound advice indeed. Unless, of course, you’ve just gone shopping at Les Néréides…
Hidden like a layer of buttery fondant in the macaroon of La Marais, Les Néréides jewellers is as sweet an outfit as you could hope for in Paris. Rue du Bourg l’Abbé is home to the international concept store and the label’s founders, Pascale and Enzo Amaddeo. Pascale is, like most French women, classy with regards to lying about her age, and brushes off the question with a “Pfff!”. But she will admit that she began designing jewellery 36 years ago. “It is important that my pieces express an emotion,” she tells me with passion, before adding, with a glint in her eye, “and that they make you laugh.” An eccentric redhead with the potential to be a femme fatale, she wears some of her own autumn/winter collection pieces around her neck with blatant disregard for Coco Chanel. As she turns over the purple glass stones of her necklace she shows me how each gem is individually set and sealed with the Les Néréides signature – impressive given that the piece is the same price as steak et poivres and kir royals for two. Les Néréides must be a godsend for every man with a cinq-a-sept femme (a five-to-seven o’clock mistress) and a modest wage.
Audrey, a Christina Ricci lookalike and Pascale’s girl on the shop floor, tells me that men love coming into the shop. And when the store boasts so many gorgeous staff, who can blame them?
What’s great about Les Néréides and its N2 diffusion line is that there is something for every woman, whichever one of her variable moods she may be in, from graphic silver-heart pendants, to smiley-face, acid-house earrings (I ask Pascale if she ever went “raving”; she says she still does), to a kitsch, naughty kitten, swinging on a little champagne bottle at the end of a chain.
This season, Pascale has joined the circus for a themed collection, which features a black top hat perched on a ring with a rabbit jumping out of it. Look inside the big top charm on the necklace and you can just make out the tiny silver silhouettes of the ringmaster and an elephant.
The girls in the office have fun. This is the Les Néréides style. When I visit the shop, Enzo has just arrived back from the countryside with a crate full of green plums that are decamped to bowls around the store. A group of girls hand-stitch display cushions from a vintage silk scarf that Pascale has donated from her own wardrobe. Pascale likes to cook pasta for her favourite customers in the store’s kitchen, and she holds legendary birthday parties downstairs for each of her girls at which, Audrey tells me with respect, “Pascale is always the last to leave the dancefloor.” When it came to choosing someone for next season’s look-book, Pascale wasn’t interested in models. “She has crushes,” Audrey giggles naughtily. “She met a girl at Fashion Week last year who she loved and she wanted to use her. Last year it was one of our interns.”
I can think of a Chanel quote much better suited to the Les Néréides lovelies: “A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous.” And they so are.
OOH LA LA!
PARIS JE T’AIME
Once you’ve accessorised in a manner of which Coco Channel would approve, it’s time to work it in a venue befitting your jewels and faux-junkshop pieces…
DIOR POLICY
JetAway recommends the new restaurant at Hôtel de Vendôme, which was styled with Dior in mind. Think dog’s tooth check black-and-white cushioned chairs, orchids and giant coffee-table books honouring the designer. The menu is seasonal and ingredients are sourced locally. The fruity champagne cocktails are cloudy with fresh pulp and they’re the perfect way to toast the fact you’re in a Parisian institution dating from 1832 and the reign of Louis XIV. 1 Place Vendôme 75001 00 33 1 55 04 55 00
STARCK CONTRASTS
Funkily bunk down at Mama Shelter, the new Philippe Starck-designed hangout in the northwest of the city. It’s a one-stop, fun hotel with rooms that have cute masks hanging over the lights and a restaurant that’s full every night, serving up delicious affordable food while a guest DJ creates the vibe. We had crusty baguette with three chunky dips including a moreish aubergine number and rustic hummus. The attention to detail, from the bonkers stats quoted in the lifts to the weather reports on the mirrors of each floor, remind you that you may be a 20-minute bus journey from Le Marais but you’re still in the middle of the party. 109 rue de Bagnolet 75020 00 33 1 43 48 48 48
FUNKY HAUSSMANN
For VIP treatment, try the revamped Westin Paris hotel near the Champs-Elysées, which has just unveiled its gorgeous Terrace restaurant. All rooms have an iPod dock, flatscreen TVs and wi-fi, plus there are free electric bikes. The hotel was designed by Baron Haussmann, with balconies on the first and top floors and a black door to signify the owners’ high social standing. Fancy! 3 Rue de Castiglione 75001 00 33 1 44 77 11 11
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