20 years Colette: history of the Parisian concept store

The Parisian concept store Colette will close its doors after 20 years of business. The 750 square meter building, spread over 3 levels, will remain open for business until December 2017. Learn everything you need to know about the history and development of the Parisian concept store below: the most important moments from 1997 - 2017.

March 1997

Colette is the first Parisian concept store to open. Located at 213 rue Saint-Honoré, the boutique was founded by Colette Roussaux, a former employee of Sentier, and her daughter Sarah Andelman, a graduate of the l'Ecole du Louvre and a trainee at Purple Magazine. The shop offers art, fashion, design, music and street style. Designer Milan Vukmirovic joins the team as a co-creator. The characteristic blue-dot logo of Colette is created by Guillaume Wolf. 2001 Launch of first music compilation

Colette launches its first music compilations. The first Colette N°1 was released in March 2001, featuring artists from the electronic music scene, like: Peaches and Gonzales, Charles Wilp and Erik Satin.

2002

Milan Vukmirovic departs from the company in 2002, leaving management of the store in the hands of Colette Roussaux and Sarah Andelman. Despite the fear that departure of Vukmirovic's may negatively impact the business, the Colette continues to grow and gain name recognition.

2008

Colette closes its doors for a total makeover from July 7 to August 25. The store's renovation is led by the Japanese architect Masamichi Katayama. The retail area retains its leading fashion department and water-bar but offers more room to its growing beauty segment. More space is also given to streetwear labels.

2010

Together with French luxury fashion house Hermes, Colette brings back the mythical square silk scarves by launching an exclusive collection. Named ""J'aime mon carré"", the scarf collection is characterized by graphics and colors. Developed under the guidance of Hermes' artistic director of silk Bali Barret, the two tapped British photographer Matt Irwin to travel to New York, London, Paris, and Tokyo to shoot the accessories and create a photobook.

2012

Colette invites Parisians two-day carnival, free of charge. Visitors are welcome to attend workshops in the presence of perfumers Francis Kurkdjian, Alberto Morillas; participate in a competition of Pastry chefs Pierre Hermé vs Sébastien Gaudard' take Polaroid training; enjoy skate sessions; compete in ping-pong competitions and purchase customized t-shirts by graffiti artists in a 4,000 square meter tent located in the Tuileries Garde. Magic tricks and puppet shows also take place for the little ones.

2013

Hedi Slimane, artistic director of Saint Laurent, accuses the store of mocking the luxury fashion house after Colette begins selling t-shirts bearing a slogan: ""It's not a Laurent Without Yves"" in reference to the change of the Maison's name. Saint Laurent refuses to deliver collections to the store and asks Colette to pull all t-shirts from the store. The dispute was laid to rest when Saint Laurent appointed a new creative director, Anthony Vaccarello.

2014

Two hooded men break into the store on Rue Saint-Honoré, before shop's opening at 10am. Thieves force six employees and a security guard, who were inside, to lay on the ground before robbing the store. The duo escapes on a scooter with a fake license plate. The raid takes only a few minutes and no one is injured.

2014

The luxury boutique annouces its first swimwear collaboration: Colette swim x Speedo. Together with the world leading swimwear brands, the Paris-based shop organizes water-jumping classes in the Molitor swimming pool, which is considered to be the most beautiful in the capital city.

2014

Adidas previously halted the production of its Stan Smith trainers in 2011. But the iconic sneakers makes its comeback with Colette 3 years later. The German sportswear brand aims to market its shoe in leading concept stores such as: Dove Street Market in London, Barneys in New York and Colette in Paris. Adidas designs a special Stan Smith sneaker to mark the occasion, which embodies Colette's logo with charactaristic color blue.

2014

Colette is one of the few concept stores to exclusively offer the new Apple Watch. Launching in stores during Paris Fashion Week, Apple and its star-designer Jonathan Ive try to win over the world of fashion with its new accessory.

September 2016

Luxury e-commerce platform Style.com collaborates with Parisian concept store Colette to offer the French retailer’s products via its website.

As part of the ongoing partnership, a series of exclusive designer collaborations are available to buy online via Style.com and in-store, with the first being with Mansur Gavriel.

February 2017

In 2013 French luxury house Saint Laurent spectacularly severes ties with Paris-uber retailer Colette. The store has been stocking t-shirts bearing the slogan 'Ain't Laurent without Yves,' a not so subtle dig at Mr Hedi Slimane, who was the creative force behind the brand at the time.

At the time Colette's artistic director Sarah Andelman received a letter from Kering to tell her they cancelled her spring-summer 2014 menswear order. Since then, the world-renowned boutique has not been able to carry the brand, despite having been a faithful stockist since 1997.

But as Saint Laurent is now being designed by Anthony Vaccarello, who's own label Andelman championed at her store, the friendship between Colette and Saint Laurent is restored.

Colette buys the Saint Laurent's first womenswear collection under Vaccarello, which features in the store's window displays until March 1.

3 March 2017

French boutique Colette celebrates its 20th anniversary by launching a unique installation in Paris. Designed by New York-based creative duo Snarkitecture, the interactive experience dubbed The Beach features more than 300,000 recyclable, antimicrobial plastic balls in its giant ball pit.

23 March 2017

Ikea collaborates with Colette. The two partner to launch a collection with selected products. The Scandinavian brand is also featured in three major areas of the shop: the windows, the gallery and the waterbar.

6 July 2017

H&M announces its latest collaboration, which sees the fast-fashion brand working with iconic Parisian concept store Colette. Together the two creates an exclusive collection for H&M Studio AW17 line.

H&M Studio x Colette exclusive collection offers nine pieces, which feature a unique colour palette based off of Colette's signature blue.

The H&M Studio x Colette exclusive edition is set to launch on August 21 and will be made available in store and online at Colette for two weeks, along with additional selected items from the main H&M Studio AW17 collection ahead of its launch date.

12 July 2017

"As all good things must come to an end, after twenty wonderful years, Colette should be closing its doors on December 20th of this year,"" reads a statement on Colette's website. Founded in 1997 by Colette Roussaux, the Parisian boutique has been under the charge of her daughter Sarah Andelman over the past few years.

Part of the concept store's closure has been linked to the impending retirement of Roussaux, ""and Colette cannot exist without Colette,"" added the statement. French fashion house Saint Laurent is already in negotiations with Colette to take over the three-storey 8,000 square foot building.

The announcement came as a blow to the industry early Wednesday morning, following news that the iconic concept store had teamed up with H&M Studio to create an exclusive collection for H&M Studio AW17.