Vanessa Seward's Paris: A Vintage Lover's Itinerary

 

 

When Vanessa Seward and her husband, French musician Bertrand Burgalat, mark a special occasion, they often do so with a gift of vintage clothing. Their shared eye for extraordinary finds has earned them a reputation as one of Paris's most stylish couples.

 

Seward, whose signature is a distinctly '70s-inflected chic, maintains a dedicated studio for her personal archive, which now holds some 400 pieces. "I have things I designed myself, and then things I collected," says the Argentine-born designer, whose career includes stints at Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, and Azzaro before she launched her own label. "I never really threw away anything."

 

While the modern landscape of resale platforms and online auctions offers unparalleled access to everything from last season's sneakers to archival gowns, Seward remains a devotee of the in-person hunt. "I like that the very young generation sometimes turn to vintage rather than fast fashion," she notes. "The sustainable element is good and also, many times, you get much nicer fabrics, and it's better made."

 

For her, the real treasures lie beyond the most famous names. "You have really good labels which haven't blown up like that, and really wonderful designers which you can still find at affordable prices — and sometimes also things which have no designer, but which are really great," she says.

 

As the creative director of Scottish cashmere brand Begg x Co, Seward is perpetually on the lookout for knitwear inspiration. Yet, her quest is primarily personal. "I have a very visceral relationship with clothes, so I like to be able to wear them," she explains.

 

Her preferred haunts are run by vintage specialists with their own design pedigree. Among her enduring favorites are Stéphane, a part-time shoemaker beloved by local dandies, and Olivier Chatenet, who gave an exclusive preview of his new boutique during Paris Couture Week. Chatenet, a fixture in Parisian fashion circles, also insisted we visit Moji Farhat, a couture collector whose pieces grace celebrities like Madonna, Zendaya, and Taylor Russell.

 

The Archivist

 

At Insitu, Chatenet's light-filled courtyard boutique in a former Marais art gallery, he is putting the final touches on the space, where garments are loosely arranged by color.

 

Chatenet's career began alongside Azzedine Alaïa and Thierry Mugler in the 1980s. He is perhaps best known for E2, the reworked vintage label he co-founded in 2000 with his then-wife Michèle Meunier, which counted Gwyneth Paltrow among its fans. By 2020, he had amassed 4,000 pieces of vintage Saint Laurent, which he sold back to the house for its archive. Today, he continues to source rare items for a clientele of private buyers, museums, and designers.

 

"The vintage market is exploding, but it's a blessing in disguise, because it pushes us to try harder and always look for fresh, unexpected pieces," he says. "That's our edge: we have a deep knowledge of 20th-century fashion history."

 

He eagerly shows off a recent discovery: a 1970s Sonia Rykiel dress with a Jil Sander label sewn inside. "I found it with this extra label, which indicates that Jil Sander was reselling clothes at the time," he explains. "That's the kind of historical tidbit I love to learn."

 

Seward is captivated by a cream Zoran jacket and tries on a khaki wool cape by Gianni Versace for the Italian label Callaghan from the early '80s. She ultimately purchases an effortlessly chic ivory silk skirt from Karl Lagerfeld's 1970s era at Chloé. Chatenet offers alterations, but it fits perfectly. "I love her sincerity and the joy she has in coming here," he says of Seward. "Her presence, her style, what she loves, the way she talks about it — everything about Vanessa flows naturally."

 

The Couturier

 

Our next destination is Moji Farhat Vintage, a by-appointment-only showroom opened in 2018, situated in a second-floor apartment near the Paris Opera.

 

The entrance corridor is lined with mannequins in museum-quality pieces from Martin Margiela, Comme des Garçons, and Noir Kei Ninomiya. The inner sanctum is an Ali Baba's cave of couture, where one might find a saucer-like Philip Treacy hat once worn by Lady Gaga, a book of antique fabric swatches, or 1950s-era fetish boots.

 

A graduate of the now-closed Rose Bertin vocational high school, the soft-spoken Farhat possesses a technical background and a taste for the bold. "It could be a 19th century jacket or something more recent," he says. "There really are no rules."

 

Though he works extensively with red-carpet stylists, including Law Roach, Farhat is firm: no photos, and no loans. "We've had too many bad experiences," he states. He delights in introducing celebrities to his favorite designers, notably convincing Zendaya to wear a Jean-Charles de Castelbajac romper suit during her "Challengers" press tour.

 

Seward gravitates toward a 2013 Castelbajac T-shirt dress with a Surrealist portrait print. "It's funny because I now paint portraits too, and Jean-Charles is a friend," she tells Farhat. They bond over a shared appreciation for 1970s Louis Féraud by Per Spook. "I found several haute couture dresses from that period with archive photos, which I sold to a collector. Those were my favorite pieces last year," he shares.

 

The Dandy's Confidant

 

On another day, we venture to Seward's old neighborhood of Batignolles to visit Stéphane. His eponymous store has been a pilgrimage site for menswear aficionados for over forty years.

 

Now surrounded by trendy cafés, the boutique overflows with hunting jackets, tuxedos, dress shoes, and tweed caps. Stéphane is so publicity-averse that he withholds his last name. "For a long time, people found me through word of mouth," he says. His former clients include Ralph Lauren and jewelry designer Elie Top.

 

"Stéphane is truly the very well-kept secret of all the elegant men I have met in my life, obviously starting with Bertrand," Seward affirms.

 

A walking encyclopedia of menswear, Stéphane can identify a jacket's origin simply by its lapel. His current inventory ranges from a tab-collared Forestière from Arnys to a bespoke suit by Parisian tailor Claude Rousseau. At his bootmaking station in the back, he crafts custom shoes when the mood strikes and produces small clothing batches from high-end fabric remnants.

 

Seward tries on one of his safari jackets, modeled on a 1948 British army uniform, but Stéphane critiques the fit. "If I do another run, I'll make you one in your size," he promises.

 

A sharp dresser himself, Stéphane cherishes his knowledgeable clientele. "If I'd started selling online, even just 15 years ago, it would've burned me out," he admits. "My clients are all connoisseurs. They come here, they don't ask questions – and when you find your people, it's pure joy."