Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Dries Van Noten, 9 Quai Malaquais.


Dries Van Noten is pleased to finally announce the opening of a new shop in Paris dedicated wholly to his collection for men.  Situated at 9 Quai Malaquais in the 6th arrondissement, Dries Van Noten, Men is scheduled to open on Saturday the 25th of September 2010. The shop faces on to the Seine and will debut with a full range of garments and accessories from Mr Van Noten's collection for Winter 2010.

It has been some time that Mr Van Noten has sought to compliment his existing shop for his collection for women with a Men’s boutique in Paris. As luck would have it this quite extraordinary former gallery for Primitive Art became available in July 2010 and yet stands only a few doors from his women’s shop of four years at Number 7.




The restored original décor of rufous lacquered wood with soft curved edges and lines and inset vitrines dates from 1975 when it was designed by Monsieur Philippe Leloup, husband of the gallery owner, Madame Hélène Leloup, who’s selection of primitive art inhabited the space for over 30 years. They met and fell in love when Mr Leloup visited her gallery as a collector. Within weeks he was architect redesigning the gallery as well as her, only recently refurbished, apartments that, like her shop, overlooked the Seine from Paris’ left bank

Artifacts found by Mme Leloup throughout Central America and, more importantly, Western Africa, now form part of the most eminent private collections across the globe as well as those of the most celebrated museums in the world (including the Louvre that faces on to her gallery from across the river).

From the first minutes Mr Van Noten visited the, by then closed, gallery this summer he immediately became passionate to maintain and heighten the strong, luxurious yet intimately warm spirit Mr Leloup created. He decided also to introduce elements from his world and of his taste to create a contemporary, harmonious yet eclectically virile Parisian atmosphere. The revisiting of the decor of the 100 M square location has been meticulously executed by Dries Van Noten and his team along with their frequent collaborator Geert Voorjans; the Antwerp based interior architect.

Mr Leloup chose rufous (the colour of oxidized iron) for the ten coat lacquer paneling and thus the dominant color of the space as he knew it would be the perfect backdrop for any artifact, dramatic or simple, monochrome or vividly patterned. He is happy today that it performs the same role for contemporary men’s garments. In tribute Dries Van Noten has created a small selection of accessories for men in rufous lacquer leather exclusively available at the shop as is a small selection of evening wear designs for men.


"Objet trouvé"

Each original piece of furniture, "objet trouvé" and decorative feature has been carefully sourced by Mr Van Noten from salesrooms and antiques dealers in Belgium and across Europe. This specific yet diversified world expresses once more Mr Van Noten’s established love of shops as “cabinets de curiosités”. 9 Quai Malaquais combines beautiful objects from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries that, mid-September 2010 – made their way from Mr Van Noten’s ateliers in Antwerp, where they were first assembled as a collection, to Paris where, along with Mr Van Noten’s designs, they become the new inhabitants of the space.

Very happy, Mr and Mme Leloup joined Mr Van Noten and his team for a glass of champagne on the eve of the opening to celebrate the new life of their gallery - reborn, redesigned and revered as, Dries Van Noten, 9 Quai Malaquais.

A selection of furniture and objects brought to the 9 Quai Malaquais by Dries van Noten:




A 17th Century portrait in oil on canvass entitled « Portrait of a Man» by Antwerp master painter, Anthony Van Dijck. 

A William IV style Anglo-Indian teak sofa from circa 1840, originally probably intended for the colonial English market in India in the 19th century is partially upholstered in jet black woven horse hair.

A German wool and gold thread carpet designed by Edward Kroner and Schloss Kakhousen dating from circa 1970.

A collective of Etruscan ceramic vases, resembling the original black figured earthen wares from Attica, Greece where they would have been produced in the 5th and 6th Century BC.  These pieces, actually dating from the 19th century, were often produced and sold as ‘original’s’ to participants in ‘The Grand Tour’, and would have ended up in their collections in Northern Europe, ultimately influencing art, architecture and many other potters including Wedgwood.

Need wooden Italian art

Glass / wood table


Dries Van Noten exclusive to 9 Quai Malaquais:

A selection of small leather goods in rufous colour lacquer leather.
A small wardrobe of evening wear and accessories.


Other items available at 9 Quai Malaquais:

Men’s toiletries and shaving supplies by Geo F Trumper of Curzon street and DR Harris of Picadilly. London.
Parfums Frederic Malle

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