Paris’s Chicest ‘Shop’ Stop

• Daughter of the Marquis and Marquise de Ganay, Anne-Marie grew up around the family home, the Chateau de Courance. Dating from 1630, the moated castle is surrounded by plantings and acclaimed as one of the loveliest gardens in France.

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  Image: CC/Puce576/Flickr

  

• An accomplished interior decorator known throughout the city for her personal flair, Anne-Marie is the divorced mother of two handsome sons. A former gift buyer for Nina Ricci gift, she ran her own shop near the Trocadero for more than 20 years. Treasures on display are scattered around the living room and dining room – on armchairs, side tables, ottomans, portable racks – making the flat a virtual treasure trove of tempting merchandise such as the strawberry needlework bag slung over Anne-Marie's shoulder. Back behind her is a basketful of zip-shut woven leather bags.

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  Courtesy of Sharon Hoge

  

• Now ensconced in her flat in the 7th arrondissement near the tony Rue du Bac, she shops around the world – in Italy, India, the French countryside – for chic, unique clothing, jewelry and home accessories.

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  Courtesy of Sharon Hoge

  

• Known for her fashionable combinations of saris and India-influenced garments, Anne-Marie designs versatile shirts and tunics in colorful India hues, which she recommends wearing as dresses, evening wear, beach wraps.

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  Courtesy of Sharon Hoge

  

• Giant dragonfly pins, rhinestone flowers and feathers, multi-strand pearls bound with Chanel-like camellias, long gold necklaces embellished with little medallions picturing gods and goddesses of India are displayed on pillows, trays and boxes.

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  Courtesy of Sharon Hoge

  

• In the floral upholstered dining room, the table is laden with inventive accessories while clothing hangs from the sconces and drapes over chairs.

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  Courtesy of Sharon Hoge

  

• Porcelain teacups trimmed in gold, a giant head-of-lettuce terrine and a grassy runner top the table along with a woven silver lamé evening clutch.

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  Courtesy of Sharon Hoge

  

• Charming stuffed bunnies resist nibbling on the papier-mâché radishes. Priced at six for 55 euro, the paper vegetables are meant to function as knife rests in inventive table settings.

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  Courtesy of Sharon Hoge

  

• Just visible hanging over the picture frame behind the nestling rabbits and a basket of family photos is a selection of signature novelty chains. Each around eight inches long and anchored with metal snaphooks, they're strung with carved pigs, rabbits, bulldogs and monkeys, along with bows, gothic-print medallions, beads, attached to snaphooks. Anne-Marie wears them dangling from her lapels and purses or uses them as keychains.

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  Courtesy of Sharon Hoge

  

• Scattered on a living-room side table, shoppers find ribbon-clasped multi-strand pearls, long pearl necklaces bound with Chanel-like camellias, a ruched black satin evening bag with a perky, shocking pink bow, gilt-trimmed porcelain beverage cups.

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  Courtesy of Sharon Hoge

  

• Part of the experience is the chance to view Anne-Marie's own collectibles on the cabinets and pictures hanging on the red upholstered walls, giving shoppers a chance to glimpse an elegant French way of life. Shoppers are invited to make appointments or to attend annual cocktail shopping parties when browsers sip champagne. Anne-Marie Ganay can be reached via deganay@wanadoo.fr.

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  Courtesy of Sharon Hoge

  

In a city renowned for fashionable stores and boutiques, one of the chicest places to shop isn’t a store at all, but the apartment of a French aristocrat. A member of the family that owns famous Courances, Anne-Marie de Ganay resides in a hotel particular in Paris, and part of her second-floor flat overlooking a garden and one of the city’s secret courtyards has been taken over by the items in “Just Mauve,” unique and attractive bibelots she sells at home.

Editor’s Note: Sharon King Hoge specializes in consumer and travel journalism both in print and on radio and television. The former Consumer Reporter at WBZ-TV and producer/host of “The Sharon King Show” in Boston, she reported on ABC network news, hosted “The Cookbook Kitchen” on the Food Channel and participated in the launch of CNBC. A Contributing Editor at Condé Nast Traveler and Global Traveler magazines, her writing has appeared in Forbes FYI and Forbes Executive Woman, SELF, Ladies Home Journal, National Review. A former columnist for both AOL and the New York Daily News, she was Calendar Editor for the Martha Stewart Living website and is Editor at Large of the three regional Cottages and Gardens shelter magazines