Sylvie Grumbach, Didier Grumbach’s sister, is the public-relations guru who has helped launch the likes of John Galliano, Vivienne Westwood and Viktor & Rolf and whispered in Kenzo Takada’s ears.
Although the siblings’ careers have been intertwined, especially in the beginning, they are very autonomous. Sylvie Grumbach, who was behind the heyday of the Palace nightclub, operates a p.r. agency that specializes in fashion and culture.
Its longevity underscores her shrewd business sense across eras of tough economic times. Brother and sister share a mutual respect and admiration.
“I asked him for advice like you ask a big brother who is a bit wiser,” said Sylvie.
“She saw fashion and took risks [by representing very young designers]. She is bourgeoise and totally interested in avant-garde creation,” Didier, for his part, noted.
Related Galleries
Fashion is in the family’s DNA: Didier and Sylvie’s grandfather founded Parisian manufacturing company C. Mendès, and, in 1971, Didier founded Créateurs et Industriels (“Creators and Industrials”) with interiors maven Andrée Putman as a forum for fashion designers to meet manufacturers and sell their designs — the pioneer of concept stores.
Sylvie handled its p.r. Although, in the beginning, she was the little sister, Créateur et Industriels became her playground in which she organized fashion shows.
Shows featured budding designers such as Issey Miyake and Jean-Charles de Castelbajac. They attracted le tout Paris and the crème de la crème of fashion editors, including WWD’s John B. Fairchild.
“At the time, a p.r. would do show production, would help with the casting, the fittings, et cetera. I have been lucky enough to know this period when [p.r. agents] were close to the designer, to the studio,” Sylvie recalled.
After five years, Créateurs et Industriels folded, and Sylvie started working for Valentino, whose ready-to-wear line was manufactured by C. Mendès. Valentino Garavani was opening his first store in Paris, on Avenue Montaigne.
This was the time when Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé and their set lit up Paris. A night owl, Sylvie would dance on the tables at Le Sept.
“There was a DJ from South America named Guy Cuevas — he was the first DJ. His music was fantastic. There was funk, there was salsa, et cetera. It wasn’t disco yet,” she said.
Didier, meanwhile, was more of a regular at Le Sept restaurant upstairs.
Le Sept owner Fabrice Emaer went on to create Le Palace in 1978, and Sylvie quit her job at Valentino to jump on the bandwagon. Her mother wasn’t particularly happy about it.
“Since I was out at night, I thought, Why not make it a job? I hadn’t realized that to succeed in the night scene, you had to work during the day. But I did, and it didn’t prevent me from being out at night,” she recalled.
As one of five cofounders of Le Palace, which became the Parisian counterpart of Studio 54, she drew the fashion world to the club. She threw a birthday bash at the club for her friend Takada, whom she knew since the Créateurs et Industriels days. There was a cartoon theme: Sylvie was Smurfette, Takada was Minnie Mouse.
“We had a lot of great times together,” Takada recalled. “We went on vacation a number of times together — to Egypt, the Grenadines islands and Bali — in the Seventies. She advised me on many fronts. She is very direct.”
At Le Palace one night, Grace Jones was performing and actress Farida Khelfa was at the door. The show was staged by the photographer Jean-Paul Goude.
Goude recognizes the “vital role” Sylvie played in his career, saying, “It was a shift in my life. I was moving back from New York and didn’t have many connections in Paris. She hosted me in her apartment [which] became my studio for a period of time, and she introduced me to many people, including Azzedine Alaïa.”
Sylvie later became his — as well as Helmut Newton’s and Max Vadukul’s — agent for printed images.
Le Palace dwindled, and, after Emaer’s death in 1983, Sylvie opened her own p.r. agency, named 2e Bureau (Second Office). “I named it 2e Bureau because my idea was to represent foreign designers in Paris. I wanted it to be their second office,” she explained. She started with a few clients, including Swatch and Vivienne Westwood.
Sylvie’s wardrobe retraces decades of fashion. In 2000, she donated some pieces to the Paris Museum of Fashion and Textiles. The donation included a treasure trove of pieces from designers such as Kenzo, Alaïa, Thierry Mugler and Claude Montana.
These days, she sports pieces by Felipe Oliveira Baptista, Stéphanie Coudert and Boris Bidjan Saberi, the latter two of whom she still represents with 2e Bureau. “I wear designers who surround me,” she offered.
Didier praised his sister’s sense of organization, saying, “She is very organized and never loses her temper.”
Goude highlighted that same paramount quality, saying, “She is as cool as a cucumber in the most tense situation.
“I don’t know Didier as well as I know Sylvie,” Goude summed up. “But both are discreet and restrained. They are elegant.”