An Irreverent Portrait of Paris Luxury at Ankle Height.
Mr Watson’s Sidewalk Diaries #8: From Avenue Montaigne to Le Bourget. Vive Moi.
Short-sighted men are the lucky ones.
They have one more accessory with which to distinguish themselves: spectacles. There is hardly a better word for their effect. Bold or understated, they frame the face and improve the man.
Then come the watches and belts: the glint beneath a cuff cut slightly wider on the left wrist, the silver buckle flashing between the fronts of a jacket. And down below: calf leather oxfords, tasseled loafers, or cordovan cap-toes—lived in, never neglected.
It’s the shoes that make the man. Mr Watson knows. He goes through life at ankle height. _H
I’m a sucker for luxury. There, I said it.
It started with my first collar. R bought it at Barneys in New York, back when it belonged to that endangered species known as civilization. Beige leather, real leather, cut with discretion, stitched at the edges, and made to outlast today’s taste. The leash was two-toned: beige on the outside, tan canvas on the inside. Restrained. Expensive. Beautiful. In other words, entirely suited to me. I was three months old and already better put together than most adults in Brussels.
My first piece of advice to new dog owners is simple: if you want your puppy to walk properly at your side, buy him an expensive collar and leash. Style disciplines. Cheapness embarrasses.
I’ve just turned seven, and I’m still wearing Barneys. R must have emptied the inventory before their collapse. This one is cerulean blue, setting off my tan spots to great effect. Blue is not for the young. It requires maturity. Présence, as they say in French. Watch me on the Paris avenues and you’ll be reminded that elegance was never egalitarian.
Parisians know what I’m talking about.
At least those with the right addresses do. The ones in limestone buildings along leafy streets, around the quiet squares of Saint-Germain, or in apartments overlooking the Seine. They do not leave the house carelessly. There are mirrors in every hallway, and each one has its purpose. Women in pumps, men in soft moccasins. Very little is left to chance.
Trust me, I go through life at ankle height.
Then there are the Americans who arrived in Paris wrapped in democratic nostalgia, mistaking style for innocence and France for an alibi. New York’s Upper East Side without the sidewalk sheds. And with a better accent. They wear leggings on Faubourg Saint-Honoré, photograph menus, and dress their dogs in branded raincoats, confused between weather and dignity. I do not blame the dogs.
Take me instead to Avenue Montaigne. To La Réserve on Avenue Gabriel. To Prunier on Victor Hugo. To the sort of places where immaculately liveried doormen part the world at the mere sight of me and elegant saleswomen lose their composure before I have even crossed the threshold. They coo. They melt. They call me beautiful.
As though I needed telling.
I walk on, as one must, onto thick wool carpets steeped in the coded intimacies of other dogs: a dachshund approaching her season, a neutered Shiba Inu, and one or two insecure males with money behind them. I take it all in at once. A flicker of sympathy, perhaps, before superiority resumes its duties. I lower my nose to the fibers while a young woman speaks to H in the tone people reserve for minor royalty and attractive dogs. I am more than a companion. I am his social magnet. A few well-timed zoomies on the pale blue carpet at Miu Miu, and the room is his.
R and H drove me to Le Bourget last Saturday, and I took this as a sign that my life was finally aligning with my standards. We were clearly flying private to somewhere warm and civilized. I could already see it: my derrière on a wide leather seat instead of wedged beneath the row in front, beside the life vests and other symbols of involuntary resignation. I expected a Falcon 6X in the Gagosian hangar. What I found instead were three old Chevrolets, polished into paralysis. The chrome gleamed. The steel rods did too. Even the tires had the sealed, joyless finish of objects no dog had ever been allowed to inspect.
The leash was too short for me to leave my mark on Walter De Maria’s wheels. There is always The Lightning Field if ever I feel the need to live dangerously. But I am not tempted. Let the coyotes dare lightning and leave their scent on the rods.
Danger isn’t chic.
I’ll keep to the chestnut trees on Avenue Matignon and raise my leg in salute to the French flag flying over Daniel Buren’s verandah at the Élysée.
Vive la France. Vive la République.
Vive moi.
THE ÆSTHETIC NOMADS BLUE BOOK: PARIS, JUST NOT FOR DOGS
JOUSSE ENTREPRISE
A relief, this gallery. Furniture here has not been demoted to background atmosphere for soft people in soft cashmere. At Jousse, a table still has weight, a chair still has intention, and design is allowed its severity. Jousse has the rare confidence to let form speak before price does. That already feels close to moral clarity.
18 Rue de Seine - 75006 Paris
jousse-entreprise.com
HÔTEL DE LA MARINE
Some Paris monuments remain trapped in their own magnificence. This one escapes it. Behind the polish and ceremony, there is something more interesting at work: power arranged as intimacy, grandeur softened into rooms that still remember private habits. You walk through it with the unease that true luxury has always preferred not to explain itself.
2, Place de la Concorde - 75008 Paris
hotel-de-la-marine.paris
PETIT PALAIS
It sits there, serene and underclaimed, while all around it, Paris performs rather loudly. Inside, the eye adjusts. Ornament regains its dignity. Time slows just enough for looking to become serious. There are museums you visit out of duty and others that quietly restore one’s standards. This belongs to the second category.
Avenue Winston-Churchill - 75008 Paris
petitpalais.paris.fr
GAGOSIAN LE BOURGET
The journey matters. Paris falls away, and with it a certain social varnish. By the time you reach Le Bourget, the city’s cultivated reflexes have loosened. The setting is slightly alien, slightly industrial, faintly unreal. That is its elegance. Less gallery than zone of suspension, where scale acquires a different authority and the air seems to have been cleared for thought. And jets.
26 Avenue de l’Europe - 93350 Le Bourget
gagosian.com
BOURSE DE COMMERCE
The building alters the pressure around it. Under that rotunda, old commerce, private wealth, public spectacle, and contemporary unease continue their long Parisian argument. Even when the works turn theatrical, the space keeps a certain chill. Money may build the stage, but it cannot fully control what appears on it.
2 rue de Viarmes - 75001 Paris
pinaultcollection.com