Taschen and Phaidon are usually my go-to publishers for beautiful coffee table and reference books, but having revisited the Assouline boutique on the Left Bank, I think I’ve changed allegiance.
While Taschen’s Left Bank store is sleek and ordered, with books uniformly displayed, Assouline has a thrown together, boudoir atmosphere, with scented candles and stationery.
I love the seductive red and black walls and creaky old wooden floor and especially the cushioned reading den at the back of the store. Even though we were the only ones in the store, no one came out to pounce on us, so we had free reign to grab, flick and click away. A member of staff did pop her head round the door when I accidentally knocked over a candle, at which point we decided to scuttle away.
Assouline have the most amazing selection of notebooks and diaries – my personal favourite being a collection of pastel pink and blue, leather-bound journals featuring Marie-Antoinette’s crest in candy pink…sooo pretty! Of course, Steven was more into the skull and cross-bones notebooks, which are also pretty cool. Would it be really loathsome to have his ‘n’ notebooks, I wonder?
As you probably already know, Assouline are behind those slender white hardbacks featuring beautiful photography and the biography of iconic designers like Christian Dior, Marc Jacobs and Yohji Yamamoto. Their fashion catalogue is really strong, but there are more unusual, specialised titles paying homage to the allure of geishas, bikinis, wasps (American women, not the insects) and…the cigarette.
I could have bought the whole store, but I thought this was one of the best finds, the American Fashion Cookbook, edited by the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
But don’t worry, there’s more than salad on the menu with gastro concoctions such as Isaac Mizrahi’s Truffle Spaghetti, Tory Burch’s Andalucian Gazpacho, Diane Von Furstenberg’s Saturday Night Chicken and a secret pot roast recipe courtesy of Michael Kors’ Grandma Bea.
The cookbook is illustrated with fashion drawings as delectable as the recipes and the foreword is writen by none other than America’s own slightly shonky domestic goddess Martha Stewart.
Not only does the book offer an insight into American designers’ dinner party dishes, comfort food and indulgent desserts, it is an initiative from the fashion council to promote healthy eating, or where models are concerned, just eating in general.
But, the most covetable Assouline hardback is yet to come in the new year – Olivier Theyskens: The Other Side of the Picture. Since finishing his spell as Creative Director at Nina Ricci, Theyskens has been quietly scribbling and editing away and the result is a view on his work so far, documented with beautiful images of his catwalk shows and backstage, captured by photographer Julien Claessens.
At a pricey £80, it’s one of those ‘work of art’ books that you just pray will be marked down in the Borders Foyles sale. Those days could be a long time coming, so if you’re planning a Spring trip to Paris, you could just find a comfy spot in the corner sofas of Assouline (and be left with enough cash for a Marie-Antoinette notebook).
Assouline, 35 rue Bonaparte, 75006 Paris