Today, Princess Marie was back in her native France today to open the new Galeries Lafayette store on the Champs-Elysées.
The Galeries Lafayette are very famous luxury department stores in France and they already have several stores in Paris. They are owned by the Houzé family. Their biggest one is on Boulevard Haussman and this new store is ten times smaller than the Haussman one but it still still the largest one on the Champs-Elysées. The building was designed by Bjarke Ingels, a Danish architect, hence why Princess Marie was present at the official opening. Bjarke Ingels said he designed the building as a “place of life not as just a place where you shop”.
Philippe Houzé, the CEO of the Galeries Lafayette Group said: “By opening a store on the Champs-Élysées, our group will write a new chapter in its entrepreneurial and family history but also realize the dream of its founder.” The project was led by his son, Nicolas Houzé who is the general manager of the group. His great-great-great grandfather Theophile Bader co-created the group and in 1927, he wanted to open a store on the Champs-Elysées. He had to give up the project because of the 1929 economical crisis.The concept store expect between 10000 and 15000 visitors each day.
The store officially opened at noon by Princess Marie and Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris. After the ribbon was cut, the first customers were allowed to enter and to start shopping. Nadia Dhouib, the manager of the store, said: “The store offers a range of 650 brands, from food to snickers through hair pins, carefully selected to meet the expectations of our customers.”
Chanel is the biggest brand of the store but they also present smaller, local brands. An important thing to note is that the shops are mixed in order to erase the traditional boundaries of the genre. The brands’s shops are set up by styles and trends. The store also offers 300 personal stylists that were hired and trained by the group.
After the opening, Princess Marie gave an interview to Point de Vue magazine. The magazine says the interview will be out in their next issue, next Wednesday.
Princess Marie wore her Miu Miu belted coat today (first worn in 2015) with a new dress by Velvet By Graham & Spencer. It is the Pomena dress in purple. It is the first time that Marie has worn this brand to our knowledge.
She also wore her Jimmy Choo ‘Romy‘ nude suede pumps with a new bag by Yves Saint Laurent. It is the ‘Sunset Wallet‘ in Green Leather.
For the jewels, Marie chose to wear her ufo earrings with her Christine Hvelplund alphabet necklace. She debuted a new necklace from the brand, the Universe necklace. She also wore her Légion d’Honneur pin.
©Christine Hvelplund 
© Christine Hvelplund
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Princess Marie's Closet 
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