Missed the Paris January sales but still want to shop for French things in the U.S.? French Wink offers French products from French artisans who want to break into the U.S. market.
Source: French Wink: An Online Co-Op with a Certain Je ne Sais Quoi – French Morning
French Wink = French Style.
French Wink is the brainchild of Claire Obry and Emilie Chassagne, two French women who wanted to help small French businesses break into the U.S. market.
One look at products featured on their website is enough to convince you of their products’ French authenticity: A pair of red shiny shoes (called “Sheen” by Laureymondie) is the first product you see, with the purr-fect “Stand out from the crowd” enticing you to look closer. While many women in Washington I know might be hesitant — God forbid they stand out in a crowd — a French woman knows that a few pricey, high quality, stand-out items elevate everything else in her wardrobe.
For $581.00, the red shiny shoes better. Though they are hand-made by the House of Lareymondie, whose philosophy is a quote by Vivienne Westwood: “Buy less, choose well, make it last.” This is the essence of French style.
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- Sheen by Lareymondie. $581.00
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- My Squirrel. Limited Edition Print. Small: $80.00; Large: $160.00
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- Love Moons. Stained glass mosaic with Italian millefiori glass beads. 6″ $295; 8″ $595
But French Wink sells more than pricey shoes or cashmere sweaters from Hector & Lola. They offer men’s furnishings and shoes, items for the home, works of art, furniture — they even offer an iPad app called “Experience Paris” that allows a user to interact with the city of Paris. Are you stuck in traffic and want to get away from it all? With this app, you can take the elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower, walk across Pont Alexandre III, or make it snow on Montmartre. See the app here.
French Wink offers Americans authentic French ware for those who love the French way of life but can’t jump on a plane just now to go on a shopping trip to Paris. I wonder if they still have those red shiny shoes in my size.
Au revoir!
Image of blonde woman winking by Marina Funtikov, Flickr, CCBY 2.0. All other images from FrenchWink.com.