As she prepares for her upcoming performance at So Frenchy So Chic 2020, musician Lou Doillon takes us on a dream date through her favourite local Paris haunts and exposes some of her long-time, best-kept frequents. From the florist she’s known for a decade and only just discovered he’s situated 500m from her apartment, to the vinyl store that recommends new artists weekly, Doillon’s Paris is intimate and enduring.
For flowers, Arôm
“I’ve been living here for nearly 20 years, and each time after fashion week, before my birthday, I would always receive the most beautiful bouquets that were always wrapped in music sheets.”
“I realised he was 500 metres away from my house, and I had never noticed him. And now, each time, obviously I give myself a bouquet nearly every week.”
For books, Page 189
“It’s owned by this little family where they are passionate readers, they have very interesting people who come in and talk sometimes, because it’s a tiny-weenie place.”
“What’s lovely is that they read nearly every single book that comes in, and they leave little papers on every single book – saying 'oh I love this one, I love this one.' And there’s always 3 people in there, always playing great music … a massive cat, the sunshine that comes in, it’s open on Sunday …”
For records, Le Silence de La Rue
“As a record maker, I find it very important to be in touch with people who are actually selling the records.”
“[The store owner] always helps you out … he’s a good friend of mine, so every month he tells me ‘oh go check out that girl and that guy’, or ‘I think you’d be into this’. So it’s always good to have that side of the story.”
For interesting gifts, Les Fleurs
“So Les Fleurs is the best gift shop around. It’s a mixture of vintage furniture, mixed up with odd creations, mixed up with plants.”
“I love building stuff and making stuff, and they’ve got wonderful parts to just do stuff. So they sell old factory letters, and they can sell old frames, and dried up plants, and you’re suddenly making things.”
For drawings, Arts Factory
“The art store, I love, because it’s a gallery, that’s nearly only about drawing. And I draw a lot, and it’s rare … for a long time, drawings and illustration have this awkward position where they’re neither considered really art, nor considered doodling, just kind of in this weird, in-between.”
“He’s also protecting lots of people who draw, and don’t know what to do with their drawings, like Daniel Johnson for example. So I bought two drawings of Daniel Johnson here about ten years ago. And I wish I would expose their ones, and each time I discover people I had never heard about, who I adore.”
For wine, Le Siffleur De Ballon
“Because it’s small, it’s lovely, because if you go there with a girlfriend, you don’t feel you know weird about having a drink, which, you know, some places make you feel weird …”
“They’re two young guys behind the bar where you can actually ask them, and they will tell you the story about everything! From the grape, to the moment it’s in your glass … without it being boring, tedious and this new generation of saying ‘now, we’re going to start on a leaf’ and all that crap. No, no, he will actually help you out, and they’re really very very kind.”
