Interview

By the time I arrived at the ancient passage Vero-Dodat for the unveiling of Olympia Le Tan's "You Can't Judge a Book by its Cover" handbag and minaudière collection last night, the arcade's black and white check stone floor was wet with spilled champagne. Paris's literary crowd is notoriously hard drinking, but when fashion gets involved the plot thickens. What exactly is a minaudière, you ask? It's a small ornamental case for women's cosmetics. Pierre Le Tan (Olympia's papa) did the illustration for the invitation in his signature shaky pen and ink style and the whole soirée had an old fashioned 30s feeling to it as if Elsa Schiaparelli and the Surrealists were around and about. Le Tan has been collecting rare editions ever since she can remember so she took 21 of her favorites and turned them into fabric-covered box bags which she hand embroidered.   Each one, available in a limited edition of 16, is a gem, and as the interior label puts it: "Hand made with love in France." (OLYMPIA LE TAN, WITH BOOK. PHOTO BY REBECCA VOIGHT)
 
A droll cast of characters was on hand to celebrate: Camille Bidault-Waddington, Dior Jewelry's Victoire de Castellane, Vincent Darré of the design consortium Maison Darré and Fabrice Paineau, the new editor of Double, which is beginning to look like the most exciting new magazine Paris has seen in years. 

The cover of Paineau's first issue, which hits French newsstands today, was inspired, he says, by the recent Zac Effron cover of Interview. "I looked at that cover and it reminded me of François-Marie Banier's old portraits," he explains. Banier is the enigmatic French photographer and bon vivant recently taken to court by the daughter of Liliane Bettencourt (L'Oreal heiress and France's wealthiest lady) who charges that her elderly mother who has given him about a billion Euros (that's right!) over the past few years has been manipulated. So Paineau called Banier in to shoot the cover (pictured here) and interior spread. The experience has left an enduring impression on him too. "I can't get Banier out of my mind," says Paineau.  "He's very funny, and fascinating and he's someone you want to be around more and more." Liliane's sentiments exactly.