I’m on the look out for an Asian woman in a grey puffa. It is how Susan Lu, the woman behind the brand new label, Bend Sport Couture, described herself in a scrawled email. Turns out Susan is entirely too self-deprecating. I spot her in an instant, rushing across the road, slim-line, knee-length grey parka draped over a gorgeous silvery knit, charcoal silk Japanese-style slip and chocolate brown cords. Her skin is clear, her sleek black hair straight from a L’Oreal hair commercial and her manners impeccable. She is, in other words, exactly the type of stylish, elegant woman one can imagine launching her own sport-meets-style fashion label to immediate industry interest.

“Am I late? I’m late, aren’t I?” Brushing aside her apologies, we take up a table at Lézard Café on the rue Etienne Marcel, still jammed at 2pm with lunching groups reluctant to head back out in to the cold and grey Paris day. This is only Susan’s third interview since the label’s launch in October and – with two years of work having gone in to creation of this first collection – the American-born, 18-years-Paris-based designer is clearly devoted to ensuring the success of her business.

“I started two years ago with my sister who lives in Hong Kong,” Susan explains over Perrier and herbal tea. “She was really in to this yoga idea, and I like to do sports as well, so we started this label but about 18 months ago decided not to continue together.” But Susan, by now excited by the idea of a sport-focused clothing line that didn’t forsake fashion, continued with the project. Between jobs doing costume design on international film sets, videos and commercials – her profession for the past decade – the persistent designer successfully assembled a collection that owes as much to good design as it does to sporty comfort.

The 25 piece collection covers everything from sophisticated bathing suits and elegant yoga ensembles, to sleek parkas and slouchily sexy post work-out cover-ups. They are the sort of work-out outfits the well-kept women of Southern California go wild for: clothes that easily make the transition from morning gym session to lunch date to afternoon manicure appointment. Herself born and raised in the LA area to Chinese parents, Susan admits she sees more than a little of her LA-self in the designs. “That’s where I grew up,” she says of the strong visual Californian link, “and I don’t know what happens when you design clothes but it sort of just pops out, what you’ve been around most of your life, I guess.”

Still, almost two decades in the French capital has clearly made an imprint. Whereas so many LA-born labels trade in simplistic fabrics and candy-bright colour (think Juicy Couture), Susan’s European experienced has leant Bend Sport Couture an adult thoughtfulness and sophistication difficult to find in other sport/lifestyle brands. “I had the idea to do something that was sport oriented and for sport, but something much more prêt-a-porter than you’d find in a sport store,” she muses. “I find that everything in sports clothing is very, you know, performance, it’s like you have to be an athlete or you have to have Nike or Adidas written on you and have some stripes. And I thought that in the market there was a place for something else, something a bit chicer, something a little more luxury.”

While Susan completed the first collection last year, dissatisfaction with some of the pieces meant heading back to the drawing board for an additional 12 months before the creative perfectionist felt ready to release the label on to the commercial market. And the wait has apparently paid off. Though her October second launch missed the recent Paris fashion week, she has been gratified by interest in Paris, the US and Thailand. By February her first summer collection will be hanging among racks of Marc Jacobs, Vivienne Westwood and
Alexander McQueen in two or three independent boutiques across Paris. In Thailand, the luxe Amanpuri resort has picked up pieces for sale in its resort spa and – across the Pacific – both Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s have expressed an early interest.

Clearly the brand is aiming for the luxury market. Prices range from 150€ to 600€, courtesy of the well-fitted designs and sophisticated-yet-easy-care technical fabrics. Not small change, she admits, for clothing that is sold primarily as flexible sporting gear. Susan’s decision to fabricate the clothing in France must also invariably add to the finishing price, though she is apparently immune to the seduction of cheaper production offered by China or Turkey. In France, she says, she has more control and is assured of a high-class product. “So it’s important for me to keep my collection stylish and upmarket otherwise, well, it would become something else otherwise.”

And the next collection looks to be even more on the side of sport/casual wear, with the introduction of a parka in a mink Tencil mix and the addition of 10 more pieces to further the versatility of her brand. “What I’m doing is creating pieces that can fit underneath that are much warmer, either in wool or cotton or mixtures,” Susan explains. “And I try to stick with shapes that you can put one on top of the other: you can wear them in summer as separates, and you can wear them together if it’s cold and you need something more wind proof. The thing is it’s all about climate control. If you are working out or if you are busy and running around and you are very hot, then you want to be able to alternate what you have on your body.”

As for the future, Susan has big plans. First there is talk of the addition of knitwear, accessories and leather, her plans to hit the lucrative international spa and resort market (“it’s really targeted towards women buyers that have that kind of schedule – rushing from gym to work to lunches”) and her musings on the suitability of Australia and Asia as possible marketing targets with their warm climates and – at least where Australia is concerned – sporting lifestyles.

For the moment, however, she is keeping busy with promotion and press, not to mention a spot of Parisian sight-seeing with a couple of New York friends in town for a visit.

www.bendsportcouture.com

Bretagne isn’t on the receiving end of too many shout-outs when it comes to discussions on the best of French food and wine. (Blame it on the fetish self-absorbed foodie memoirists have for Provence.) But that doesn’t mean those proudly Celtic peeps in the north of France haven’t made their due contribution, as anyone who’s ever eaten a steaming, nutella crêpe from a Paris street cart can attest. For my money I go savoury every time, and there’s no better place to get a cheesy mouthful than Ty Bernic in Paris’ second arrondissement. Run by a somewhat absent-minded Breton, the rustic space nonetheless serves up a great range of piping-hot galettes stuffed with everything from the classic ham, cheese and egg, to a gourmet duck or saucisse offering. And for those a little rusty on their Britannique etiquette, a short footnote: crêpe is the name generally reserved for sweet versions of the Breton pancake, while a galette – made with buckwheat flour and salt – is the base for all things savoury. Bon appétit.

54, Rue d’Argout
75002 Paris
Tel : 01 45 08 05 23

Details: Metro Saint Germain or Saint Sulpice

www.lecafedelhomme.com

161 Spring St
Melbourne
Tel: + 61 (0)3 9654 0811

www.becco.com.au

6 rue du Marché Saint-Honoré
75001 Paris
Tel: 01 42 61 93 87

Subterfuge by sausage: defined as the act of encouraging vast quantities of offal consumption in the guise of a harmless hot dog. Though the weisswurst (white sausage) vendor at Kleiner Ochs’nbrater (stand 4/27, Viktualienmarkt, Munich, 00 49 89 298 282) does seem cheerily upfront about the realities of this Bavarian breakfast specialty, a blend of calf’s head, veal and seasoning. “It is the traditional München breakfast,” he informs. “We make it from the cow’s head and drink it with beer.”

Bottom’s up.

One of 140 stalls at the 200-year old Viktualienmarkt, Kleiner Ochs’nbrater stands side-by-side in the cobble-stoned courtyard with traditional butchers displaying skinned rabbits, pig heads and trotters, gourmet French cheese stalls, Turkish spice merchants, Italian traitors and the golden, honeyed wine of Honighäusl (stand 1/2, Viktualienmarkt, Munich, 00 49 89 266 147) – the ideal post-weisswurst digestif. For Hans Haas, head chef at Munich’s Michelin two-starred restaurant, Tantris (Johann-Fichte-Strasse 7, Munich, 00 49 89 361 9590), the lively scene is something of a metaphor for modern Bavarian cuisine. And in the chill half-light of a winter morning, there is no better place to get a taste.

“Munich is more educated now,” Hans explains later that morning, taking a break from pre-lunch service in his mod-look restaurant. “There are now good little Italian restaurants, great Thai, and chefs doing more modern things with Bavarian food. But this is not to forget the traditional things.”

It’s with this last ringing commandment that Hans sends me back by way of the Marienplatz’s famous gothic town hall with its near-five-centuries-old Glockenspiel to Weisses Brauhaus (Tal 7, Munich, 00 49 89 290 1380), formerly home to the Schneider Weisse brewery. One of Gerhard Schroder’s haunts, the food is everything a modern-day Maria could ask for – though the menu, surprisingly short on schnitzel, contains an awful lot of offal. Schweinsleber (butter roasted pig liver), schweinsnieren “sauer” (sour pig kidney) and kalbsherz (calf heart) aside, I settle on succulent haxe (pork knuckle) in Weisse beer sauce over mounds of salty sauerkraut. It’s heartland cuisine, the kind of solid, uncomplicated and richly meaty dishes for which the region is known.

Of course in Munich food is only half of the equation. Beer momentarily aside, wine, too, has an established Bavarian berth. Between the Rhine’s better-known grapes – the unctuous rieslings and distinctively spicy gewürztraminers – there is a world of lesser known varietals to be unearthed. Like the fresh and fruity dornfelder, one of Germany’s ‘new’ reds. Or the easy drinking portugieser, a late afternoon tipple tasted with soft and smoky Italian speck at Dallmayr (Dienerstrasse, 14-15, Munich, 00 49 180 500 65 22), the 300-year old lux deli of choice among the Münchener foodie elite.

It is these same well-dressed gastronomes we will encounter later that evening at Tantris, but not before taking Hans’ advice and indulging in a pre-dinner apfelstrudel martini at Mark’s Corner bar (Neuturmstrasse 1, Munich, 00 49 89 29098 862). All the taste and none of the fat – a way to whet the appetite before the ensuing haute cuisine extravaganza.

A ten minute taxi ride later and we are tucked-up in Tantris’ Asian-meets-Mod dining room facing a delicious onslaught from the €115 dégustation menu: rich oxtail broth with semolina dumplings, crispy tête de veau with mushrooms and arrugola, succulent roasted lobster and moist mascarpone soufflé. It is a masterful international display from a kitchen universally acknowledged as the birthplace of German nouvelle cuisine. Home via the late-night Islay bar (Thierschstrasse 14, Munich, 00 49 89 2916 3700) for a whisky digestif – there are some 200 on offer – we retire replete.

Our last day, a brilliantly sunny Sunday, proceeds in a lazy haze of sipping, strolling and snacking. From early morning schmalznudels (doughnuts) alongside local market traders at Café Frischhut (Prälat-Zeistl-Strasse 8, Viktualienmarkt, Munich, 00 499 89 268 237), to exotic, chocolate-coated fruits at Spanisches Fruchthaus (Rindermarkt 10, Munich, 00 49 89 264 570), Munich’s tradition of day and night nibbling is entrenched. For us, sharp coffee, a cool vibe and bite-sized jambon ciabattas at Bar Centrale (Ledererstrabe 23, Munich, 00 49 89 223 762) fire up the furnace – like the Milan-style Garibaldi (Schellingstrafe 60, Munich, 00 49 89 2867 3670) in the hip university district, the casually funky café is one of the city’s great little Italian locales.

Beer halls, of course, abound and as midday passes it’s the perfect time to explore our as-yet untapped Bavarian beer experience. Hans has less to offer on this front, but there’s plenty of other free advice to go around. A German friend recommends Altes Hackerhaus (Sendlinger Strasse 14, Munich, 00 49 89 260 5026), for its authentic vibe and great hackbraten (meatloaf) five minutes from Marienplatz. But we take the advice of Bar Centrale’s shaggy-haired barman and head to Hofbräuhaus (An Platzl 9, Munich, 00 49 89 290 1360). The failing afternoon light and traditionally somber beer hall-style interior gets us in the mood, but the gigantic steins almost stop us before we start – Germany may boast some 700 varieties of beer, but that night, between the two of us, we manage to taste just six.

And while Hofbräuhaus is conveniently located next door to Hans’ pick for modern Bavarian, Schuhbecks (An Platzl 6-8, Munich, 00 49 89 216 6900), we never do make our reservation. Maybe Munich’s founding fathers had it right – there really are some times when only bretzel, bratwurst and beer will do.

On any given day, at any given contest taking place on the Californian coastline, she’ll be there. The WGSN photographer, snapping hundreds of photographs of the “coolest” boardshorts. The collated and categorised images go on to form the basis of the WGSN’s highly prized sport reports, put together by the world’s leading online research, trend analysis and news service for the fashion industry. “Even people like Marks & Spencer want to see what’s going on in boardshorts,” says WGSN active sports editor, Danielle Spencer. “It’s one of our most influential areas.”

But what Marks & Spencer crave to know, apparently the surf industry itself doesn’t. It’s the first day of the 2006 EuroSIMA Surf Summit 5 in Hossegor, and while the beaches are crowded with bikini-clad fans checking out the latest Quiksilver Pro action, the conference hall is two-third’s deserted. Blame it on the sunshine, the lure of the waves or disinterest in a somewhat lacklustre first-day schedule, but by 2pm barely 30 of the 100-or-so industry folk listed on the attendance sheet have turned up. Apparently not even the lure of a free thermos is not enough to drag people through the door.

“I’m a little disappointed,” says Sole Technology’s Franck Messman during a break in sessions. “I mean, there are very few attendants and the actual seminars haven’t been really relevant. The first one was quite good, but I didn’t think the data was very good.”

The data he’s referring to was that compiled by Loïc Le Fournier in his summing up of the 2006 European Surf Market. Le Fournier, head of the Boardsports Local Productive System (SPL Glisse), an association responsible for the support and promotion of action sports industry professionals in France’s southwest, certainly had all the figures: the biggest players (Quik, Billabong, Rip Curl and O’Neill), the industry’s worth in 2005 (10€ billion), the biggest markets (the US at 4.9€ billion), surfing as a percentage of the world’s board sports markets (65 per cent).

What he didn’t have, however, was certainty. Something moderator and Boardsports Source Magazine employee, Iker Aguirre, was at pains to point out. “This is a surf market analysis and Loïc took as a base the most reliable sources but there may be some disagreement with the figures.” So, informative but not definitive.

Not that there were too many outrageous claims in need of unquestionable numerical support. The 40 minute presentation hit on all the usual suspects – the expectation of increased growth in the women’s market, the need for companies to guard the small percentage of technical sales in order to retain their core authenticity, and the emerging focus on company-owned retail stores. Not forgetting, of course, the lure of the new markets in Eastern Europe and Asia and the industry’s cause du jour – new technology and multimedia.

More interesting than the recitation of unanalysed figures, however, was the hour-long conversation regarding the new boardsports business park, currently under construction in Anglet. To be completed in 2007, the “American-style” activities park will provide a business base for the industry in the southwest, providing office and warehouse space for some of the 40 boardsport companies based out of this corner of France.

The first tenant, Volcom, has already established its new European operation out of the park, to be shortly joined by other nearby-based companies, says Pascal Marty, development manager at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Bayonne/Biarritz. “For confidentiality reasons we can’t mention names, but we expect the park to be full within the next 14 to 16 months,” Marty says.

But more than just an industrial centre, the park aims to operate as a “nursery” for new business while simultaneously providing a focus for regional government funding. Businesses based here will gain preferential access to funding grants offering as much as 27 per cent of a company’s initial investment in the project. It’s an exciting development, says EuroSIMA President, François Payot, and one which will help ensure the industry’s continued growth within Europe.

“When we arrived 20 years ago the market was growing, but today in France we are in a saturated market,” Payot says. “So for a small brand it is more and more difficult to dig his hole and this kind of park in Anglet will help a smaller brand to have a potential to be strong in Europe.”

Of course while the park will provide business and wholesale space for new businesses unable to afford the cost of renting entire buildings, the one sticky topic this new venture doesn’t address is that of retail. Though Payot waxes lyrical about the need for strong competition to engender growth, neither he, nor the conference schedule, touched upon the big retail question – where are the independents? While small businesses may now find a European home within the cosy confines of Anglet’s business park, the problem of where to sell their products still looms large.

In a retail climate dominated by company-owned stores, the example of the difficulties for smaller companies in finding sales outlets are legion: One of Hossegor’s few independent retail outlets was recently swallowed up to serve as a showcase for Billabong’s ancillary brands, leaving little available rack space for those small businesses operating outside the protective umbrellas of larger parent companies and their far-reaching retail networks. Even trend leader, Volcom, is clearly held to ransom by its own lack of company-owned outlets: flying high on the US Stock Exchange, the company’s share price was significantly reduced following an announcement by Pacific Sunwear – Volcom’s largest retail outlet – that the group may no longer find room to stock the company’s full range of footwear. Even if the industry itself is not properly recognising the problem of independent distribution, the stock exchange clearly is.

A topic for next year, perhaps.

But if day one of the conference was categorised by weak seminars and low attendance, day two certainly went some way to redressing the balance. Large numbers turned out for a light buffet lunch by the pool, but even more poured in the conference doors to hear discussions on youth cultural trends and directional womenswear colours for the upcoming summer season. Of the two, it was the latter – presented by Danielle Sellwood of WGSN – that hit the ball out of the park.

While her presentation of upcoming colour trends clearly snared the attention of the rapt audience, it was her discussions afterwards which shed an interesting light on the relevance of the surf industry to mainstream fashion. “The cross-over is massive,” Sellwood explains of the company’s frequent surf industry trend reports. “People like French Connection, their high summer stories are always going to have a beach orientation. It doesn’t have to be necessarily palm trees and surfboards, but they want to be associated with what’s going on – and look like they are in line with what’s going on – in the industry. They are kind of hoping to fit in.”

As for what Sellwood predicts they will be inspired by, colour palettes this year are running the gamut from a slightly toned-down, retro feel to a sophisticated palette of contrasting, moody darks and lights. There is Nostalgia with its shades of grey and pale blues, cool and soft offerings moving away from the green shades that have dominated recent seasons. Tattoo offers a more macabre colour palette of black, flesh tones and soft silvers and golds – though without a metallic sheen – in a sophisticated range suited to sexier, grown-up swimsuit shapes. Timeless is all about ‘50s retro with an easy combination of colours that work well as stripes. Intense showcases directional brights contrasted against black, with Faded Neon offering chalky, washed out colours for a high summer look that is soft and easy to wear.

They are, says Sellwood, looks that have been already showcased on European runways this year and which consumers will be seeking in everything from casualwear to beachwear as fashion magazines pick up on the catwalk themes. In other words, designers take note.

Everywhere during the two days of the conference could be heard the lyrical sounds of industry execs chattering away in French. Hardly a surprise, given the location, but perhaps worth a comment when taking in to consideration the position of EuroSIMA as a surf industry body representing Europe. So where were the Italians, the Spanish, and the Scandinavians? It’s a question ASB brought up to a few attendees, though no one appeared particularly concerned by the conference’s French-centric nature.

“It’s much too small of a club, EuroSIMA, it doesn’t reach them at all,” says Sole Technology’s Franck Messman when questioned on the scarcity of retailers, industry players and agency representatives from other European sectors. “I mean, I didn’t expect that at all. Perhaps I would have thought that there would have been more of the footwear companies here – whether its Reef or Vans or DVS, companies that have European headquarters – though they are not really here.”

For Payot, EuroSIMA’s President, the lack of cultural diversity was accepted with a similar degree of equanimity. While firm in his stance of inviting “all the European companies, all the EuroSIMA members”, he is quick to point out the industry’s heavy French leaning. “You have to know that most of the big surfing companies are located in France and this part of France,” he says. “You have not many big brands outside of here and sometimes the smaller brands; they are one or two people operations. They have the nose in the wheels. They cannot travel here. It’s a shame, but when they get bigger they can send somebody and if they feel interested, come back.”

And it is a shame, given the threat of homogenisation that comes as all brands find their focus and inspiration from the same small part of the world. The need for difference of opinion was brought home by – oddly enough – one of the only non-French-based brands to make an appearance at the conference, Nikita. During a forum discussion on womenswear trends, company co-founder Runar Omarsson explains the benefits that come with separation. “In Iceland you don’t wear pink to the beach unless you are a tourist or an exchange student, so it’s not like Roxy,” he says. “We don’t buy trend reports. It keeps us independent. More or less everyone is buying the same colour palette. It’s super important that everyone has their own vision and sticks to it.”

A few lacklustre talks, a couple of great and informative sessions, fluctuating attendance – so successful, or not, was the question posed to Payot in the dying hours of the conference. “It is progressed every year so that’s a good sign. Now what I expect is that people will take back something with them (that will) help them to be better in their business tomorrow,” Payot says, but not before adding a small caveat apparently relieving him of the immediate pressure to determine the conference a success, or no. “Now it’s not me who can tell if it is what I expected, it is the future which will let us know if it has been a good conference or not.”

A future which, next year, will call upon the same strategy of “brainstorming” and generalised discussion. If Payot’s predictions are correct, a 2006 success will mean higher attendee numbers in 2007. So, a tangible, definitive answer as to the conference’s worth? Looks like it just received a 12 month reprieve.

It’s Paris fashion week. All around town trip stylishly-clad, slender young models, shopping, eating and gossiping between shows. But on this sunny September Saturday, it is an entirely different breed of fashion event that has snared my attention. For starters the models (though edibly cute) are a good deal shorter, younger and – it would seem – hungrier: the excitable mini guests ravage a wheelbarrow full of French bon bons in a way that no clothes hanger-esque fashionista would dare. Of course when said guests are hyperactive toddlers at the opening of a hip Parisian children’s nightwear boutique, Le Marchand d’Etoiles, the picture comes in to sharp focus.

“Hi nice to meet you would you like a glass of Champagne?” It’s Amy Lassalle, the woman behind the boutique selling what she believes to be a new concept in children’s nightwear. She’s open and gregarious, her long and excitable proclamations defying all rules of sentence structure and punctuation. But while she’s eager to chat, now clearly isn’t the time: the small space just a hop, skip and a jump from Le Bon Marchè, the exclusive Left Bank department store, is jammed with stylish mother’s and their mignon offspring keen to take first peek at the merchandise. And so we take a rain check. Slipping out the door, I look back just in time to see her passing off another glass of bubbly to a fellow yummy mummy. Amy is clearly in her element.

It’s a few days later when I return. Just after 11am on a quiet Tuesday, Amy is occupied with paperwork but is clearly happy to take a break. She is a businesswoman, she says, but one who is old enough and experienced enough to revel in the fun stuff. “For me, I’m 35-years-old, I’ve been working for almost 20 years in this field,” says Amy of her time spent in the fashion industry, “and now I just want to have fun with it.”

And fun is precisely what Le Marchand d’Etoiles is all about. Named for the line of fashionable children’s nightwear that it features, Amy says the boutique offers parents more than just a shopping experience. It’s as much about injecting style back in to kid’s sleep wear as it is creating a mini-community for the local French and expatriate mothers and children who populate this chi chi quartier in the 7th arrondissement.

“As a mother, after having had three kids, boys and girls, you see that when you try and put pyjamas on your kids… there is just not a big choice out there. Especially if you want to be branchè and cutting edge,” she explains. “So when one of the designers told me about this collection (Le Marchand d’Etoiles), and I saw the collection, I was just seduced.”

Six months pregnant with her third child and between jobs, Amy began her search for a store front location, finding the two-level boutique in a quiet side street between Le Bon Marchè, a children’s crèche and a well-regarded local obstetrician’s office. The perfect locale, in other words, for an American in Paris looking to bewitch local mothers with a trendy new concept in kid’s pyjamas. Today, a month or so after opening, and the shelves are bursting with all manner of gorgeous onesies, stylish little pyjama tops that could double as daywear, caftans and, coming soon, a range of shoes, winter knits and pint-sized gilets. Designed by three French women, the twice-yearly collections are made from 100 per cent natural fibres (linen in summer, cottons and knits) and – featuring stripes, embroidery and reams of colour – are fashionable enough to withstand the transition from Paris bedroom to Paris streets. This, explains Amy, is the idea behind the collection.

“Spending money on pyjamas is actually money well spent but we don’t think of it that way because they are just staying home in it. I mean, people spend a fortune on their kids (on daywear) and you don’t even see them during the day. So why not spend money on your kids for evening?” she asks. “It’s the only time you see them. And when your friends come over for dinner that’s when you want them to look nice.”

The entrance of a French mother and her seven or eight-year-old daughter momentarily halts the flow of Amy’s conversation. Breaking in to flawless French (Amy has lived in Paris for eight years and is married to a Frenchman), the vibrant Californian pulls out the dusky pink and burgundy striped pyjama set that had caught the little girl’s eye on a recent visit. She’s also quick to agree on the practical appeal of a gorgeous crib, meant for infants, as an attractive and cute doll storage unit. Twenty minutes later the two depart, but not before dropping a few hundred euros in to the store’s coffer.

“It’s hilarious, she bought that for her dolls,” laughs Amy of the 185€ bassinet. “But I’m used to eccentric people.” It’s a familiarity bred during almost two decades working in the luxury fashion market, starting out working at Max Azaria at age 15 in California, moving on to open Kenzo in the States, before working as GM of stores for Barbara Bui, opening Fendi in France and, later, taking up a short-lived position as general manager at Bonpoint, one of France’s internationally sought-after children’s-wear labels. Which is where Amy’s interest in the children’s fashion market burgeoned.

“The thing with working in children’s wear is that there is this really nice ambience, as opposed to working with luxury goods and more fashionista types of women. Even the most difficult of people are much nicer when it’s about their children,” laughs Amy, “it really is the antithesis of high end fashion.”

The store has also opened up avenues for the stylish entrepreneur to delve in to more than just fashion. The boutique, she explains, will also host night time readings in both French and English for children, along with theme-led celebrations for the year’s big festive holidays. “The idea is they come in after dinner in their pyjamas, we do a reading, they have a cookie, and then they go home and go to bed,” Amy says. The mother’s, meanwhile, could enjoy a glass of Champagne upstairs while browsing the racks and “whether they buy something or don’t buy something, at least they learn about the collection.” And who would do the reading? “I will! I do it every night at home.” Breaking off the conversation to retrieve a few of her children’s books from the lower level, she returns to indulge me with an impromptu reading session. It’s easy to see that this is the aspect of the boutique that Amy really loves. She is a born PR hound, and it is no doubt thanks to her irresistibly friendly demeanour that Le Marchand d’Etoiles is already establishing itself as a local kiddie fashion hot spot.

Of course once Paris has fallen for her own particular blend of business smarts, fashion savvy and effervescent spirit, there is little doubt that the rest of the world will become her oyster. “I would love to open in New York, eventually in Los Angeles and even in London,” Amy enthuses. “Especially in America, there’s not really that much choice in children’s wear.” At the same time she will continue to run her family of three. “People look at me like I’m insane for opening a store and having three small kids (aged between 10-years and 6 months) but I wouldn’t have been fulfilled if I was just…,” and it’s here she hesitates. Just a mum? I suggest gently. “Yeah. I need a project.”

And the next minute she’s off again, talking about next season’s new additions, about the creation of a year-round trademark piece (“something with the star, something totally identity oriented”) and the promise of a slipper collection, to appear in store next year. Before I know it nearly two hours have passed, Amy’s lively and intelligent chatter barely having slowed. She is indeed her own best PR.

www.marchand-etoiles.com