Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Christian Lacroix Lists Paris Apartment

SELLER: Christian Lacroix
LOCATION: Paris, France
PRICE: €2,000,000
SIZE: 2,150 square foot (approx.), 4 bedrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Like all the other real estate gossips, Your Mama peruses the Private Properties column in The Wall Street Journal every week and the paper's most recent column reported that Haute-Couture hotshot Christian Lacroix (that's Luh-kwah, children) listed his Parisian pied-a-terre for sale with an asking price of €2,000,000. A few flicks of the beads on Your Mama's bejeweled abacus shows that converts to 2,652,500 U.S. clams at today's rates.

Iffin any of the children aren't already familiar with and in awe of Monsieur Luh-kwah's super sumptuous, prodigiously ruffled, cacophonously colorful, fantastically theatrical and hideously expensive clothing confections Your Mama recommends that you haul your deprived hineys immediately over to the couturier's internet portal and spend a some time swooning over the dee-lishus high fashion insanity.

Although we could talk a blue streak about Monsieur Luh-kwah's glorious follies in fabric, it's the real estate we're here to discuss, so let's get to the Luh-kwah's crib located in the gay, gay, gay Marais district in central Paris. Yes children, we know there are lots of Jewish people and Chinese folks and all other sorts of groups living up in the Marais too, but this historic and charming neighborhood is unquestionably a destination for hordes of Parisian homosexuals and their admirers.

Oh dear, we digress yet again.

Listing information and the Private Properties column report reveal the Lacroix apartment, located in a 17th century building near the soo-blime Place des Vosges, spans two floors–plus a mezzanine library accessed via some rickety looking stairs just barely wide enough to fit the slim hips of a visiting supermodel–and measures around 2,150 square feet with wonderfully high 13 foot ceilings. The kitchen and the bathrooms have been renovated.

Four bedrooms occupy the lower floor while the upper floor includes the public rooms which surround a 200 square feet interior courtyard where we wish Monsieur Lacroix had thought to put away the damn ladder before having photographs snapped. The modest and surprisingly restrained apartment retains much original detailing including well worn parquet floors and those unbelievably decadant and dee-voonly gorgeous gilded moldings in the master bedroom.

We can already hear some of the children snickering and having all kinds of righteous hissy fits and screaming that this place is one decorative hot mess. And if you look at it through Architectural Digest eyes, it is. However, Your Mama takes an entirely different view of Monsieur Lacroix's perfectly lived-in Parisian pied a terre. This is so very clearly not the apartment of a person who does up the day-core according to what is appropriate as determined by all dee-zine rag divas who get to decide that toile is the new tartan (which, of course, it is), but rather the very personal and quirky home of a man who does not give two centimes for what's considered "in style" interior design wise. Your Mama gives Monsieur Lacroix a standing ovation for listening to the music that plays in his own head and choosing to be surrounded by objects, artworks and furniture chosen for their personal meaning and inspiration and not for their vanity.

Monsieur Lacroix reportedly purchased and moved to another apartment nearby. Your Mama hopes and imagines his new digs will turn out every bit as personal as this one and we look forward to sipping some tea and fingering next seasons fabric swatches while curled up on that crazy-ass striped sofa that we'd sell our soul to the devil to own.

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