OLD FRIENDS: Galeries Lafayette has reunited with Jean-Charles de Castelbajac for the holiday season.
The French designer will create the windows and decorations at the French department store’s flagship on Boulevard Haussmann in Paris, due to be unveiled on Nov. 12 under the theme “Au cœur de Noël” (“At the Heart of Christmas” in English).
Guillaume Houzé, chief image and innovation officer of Galeries Lafayette, said its relationship with the 76-year-old designer stretches back to 1980, when it invited him to participate in its inaugural Fashion Festival.
Since then, they have collaborated regularly. Among others, de Castelbajac took over the store’s windows for the bicentenary of the French Revolution in 1989, drew the official poster for the retailer’s 100th anniversary, and designed its holiday decorations in 2005, in addition to appearing in a campaign lensed by Jean-Paul Goude.
“We’re celebrating almost 50 years of creative friendship at a time when we need more than ever to come together around shared values like family, authenticity, creativity, but also curiosity. Jean-Charles embodies all of that,” Houzé said. “At a time when the world feels almost dystopian, given everything that’s going on, I think this will be balm for the soul.”
De Castelbajac is fresh off a major retrospective in Toulouse that highlighted his Zelig-like track record of working with everyone from Andy Warhol to Lady Gaga, Robert Mapplethorpe and Pope John Paul II. The show at contemporary art museum Les Abattoirs drew more than 100,000 visitors between December and August.
The Galeries Lafayette activation will also involve some of the designer’s regular collaborators across other disciplines, including music and art. “His creativity is without limits, and this has been an opportunity to work with a whole cohort of emerging talents,” said Houzé.
Arthur Lemoine, chief executive officer of Galeries Lafayette, said the event would cap a second half that has started strong for the retailer, which saw double-digit growth over the summer, boosted by the renovation of its beauty department.
“Jean-Charles brings an ambition that takes Christmas to a whole new level. He’s really pushed us to explore areas we have never delved into before,” Lemoine said.
