PRINTS CHARMING: Inès de la Fressange was among the first customers hitting J.J. Martin’s pop-up shop at Le Bon Marché for her clothing label LaDoubleJ. Founded in 2015 by the Californian, Milan-based writer and vintage fanatic, the collection is based on dresses and shirts in vintage prints lifted from the archives of Italian textile producers.
“We started with this first dress, really easy, really simple, in eight patterns, and now we have seven or eight models. The idea is never collections, just pieces. We launch a new piece every two months, two new prints, and it just kinds of adds on, and we don’t get rid of anything. This worked 12 months ago; we still love it,” said Martin, showing people around the stand, located on the store’s first floor and open through March 31. The plan is to add plates and napkins with Bitossi, a brand that’s been around since the Fifties, specializing in ceramics, and Mascioni. “The goal is to work with cool Italian companies that are under the radar.”
“It makes me happy,” said designer Lars Nilsson, taking in the vibrant installation wallpapered in the same prints as the designs. Vincent Darré was also on hand, having supplied the space’s vintage furniture. “There’s a kind of Capri spirit, very Jackie O, or Lee Radziwill. Sophisticated but also fun — hippy-chic, eccentricity and elegance,” said de la Fressange, who snapped up two of the shirts.