There's an empty seat at the Paris Fashion Week couture collections

There’s an empty seat at the Paris Fashion Week couture collections. Dodie Rosekrans, art patron, collector, philanthropist, fashion icon, and international society figure who died in November will be sorely missed for her never-to-be imitated or equaled style.  

To be invited to her Tony Duquette homes in Paris and Venice was to be assured of mingling with an eclectic mix of artists, designers, Bohemians, and dignitaries – as long as they were interesting, they were friends of Dodie’s.  To know her was to be astonished, as echoed by John Galliano who remarked, “I was simply bowled over by her sense of style” or fashion illustrator, Glady Perin Palmer, who described Dodie as “By far the most imaginative, original dresser I’ve ever met.”  Let me add a few personal remembrances of my own.

Her husband John told me of a time early in their marriage when they were getting ready for a formal event and he found Dodie at work removing pink bows from a billowing while lace gown.  As they left, John complimented her dress queried why anyone would have covered it with the bows.  Dodie confessed “It was a night gown.”

Dodie’s jewelry could look like found objects and she turned found objects into jewelry.  At a soirée in Paris, Dodie arrived with her throat encased in chunks of green stones that looked like sea glass, but were, in truth, unpolished emeralds.  Dodie would have enjoyed them equally and worn with the same flair had been glass.  Another time at her home, she draped, and artistically knotted, a length of silk of the most delicate rose color over the front of a tweed suit.  The contrast of the sweet with the tart was captivating and when I asked where she’d found it, she said it had been ribbon that wrapped a gift she’d been given.

Artists give us the gift of seeing through their eyes – a fresh vision of the world.  That’s what Dodie did with fashion – she turned it into poetry.

A Paris Silver Vault

When our tipping silver tea pot crashed to the floor leaving the handle and top as separate pieces, I had doubts of finding a replacement any time soon -- or ever.  A tipping pot sits in a stand and rocks forward without having to lift the pot to pour, perhaps a seemingly small advantage until you had one and become used to the luxury.

The best plan seemed to have the pot mended, but it soon became apparent that repair would cost more than the original price of the pot.  An internet search produced one candidate but so small it would hold only a few scant cups.  Reconnaissance trips to silver shops around Paris yielded another possibility but it lacked charm and the cost was astronomical.

What to do?  One phone call solved the whole problem.   When I told Laure at her Stand 29 in the Marché Biron at the Clignancourt Flea Market my plight, she immediately told me she had a number I could choose from.  I was there the next morning and sure enough Laure lined up an array of beauties in all sizes, shapes, and eras.   I would have been delighted with any one of them but we narrowed it down to one that would hold enough tea for a party and I’m already making up the guest list.

Laure’s shop is truly a silver vault of treasures.  The highest quality heirlooms pieces, both of flat and hollowware, make up the collection.  Even the hardest to find items are included.  Have a yen for asparagus serving tongs?  Look no further.  The prices are fair and items inevitably find homes quickly.

Laure is carrying on a family tradition. The business was begun by her grandfather when he came to Paris from the Ukraine in 1921, interrupted during the war, and started up again by Laure’s father.   Now Laure continues their commitment to the high standards that keep international clients loyal over the years and  constantly add new ones.

Unlike the trend of dealers promoting their wares on the internet, Laure prefers that new customers find her by word of mouth or perhaps learn about her from cognoscenti such as David Allan in his book, French Silver Cutlery of he XIXth Century, in which she is the only dealer mentioned and most of the photographs are of her pieces.

For anyone looking for vintage silver in Paris, look no further.  If you are searching in another city -– make the trip.  The savings will help defray the cost of your travel and the satisfaction you’ll have from your purchases will be priceless.