No doubt estimates of between €300 and €6,000 will be far exceeded. The dresses, suits and ensembles all bear witness to the owner’s unique relationship with fashion. “The dresses are mine for life. I'm not afraid to part with them. What saddens me is feeling disconnected from the fashion world. Before, customers were cultured, they knew how to slip into dresses. Nowadays, girls come to try on wedding dresses wearing jeans or chunky shoes. I feel like I'm living on another planet. Haute Couture was an art of living. I was lucky enough to rub shoulders with people who were passionate about fashion.”
Didier Ludot remembers Azzedine Alaïa buying him dresses; Nicole Kidman “sinking” into sheaths under the absolute gaze of Tom Cruise; and Hubert de Givenchy, who regularly stopped by with Philippe Venet. “Hubert de Givenchy was a little jealous of his sublime double-sided coats that Jackie ordered for all her residences.” He recalls: “I started in 1971; I was a window dresser at the Compagnie de l'Orient et de la Chine. I used to go to the Aligre flea market and sell silver capes and floral dresses to some girls. It was the beginning of retro. It was the start of a small business. In 1974, I opened a boutique in the Palais Royal, and very quickly, the ladies were bringing me bags. And that's how it all began.”
The passion remains intact: “Yves Saint Laurent is a magical name. I remember babysitting to save money and buy his shirts...” Ludot can talk endlessly about this emblematic shoulder, about these pieces that each tell the story of a personality, a look. And he goes on to say, “Balenciaga for the line; Dior for the taste for femininity; Chanel for the sensuality of the silk linings. In a garment, the most important thing is the weight, the fit, the touch.”
Ludot remembers a customer who brought him a Dior dress embroidered by Rébé (1956): “I felt the weight of couture, of unique know-how. I learned everything on the job,” he says. He remembers his childhood in the provinces, between dressing up and fittings for a mother who had her own dressmaker. “When my father died, she had all his suits altered to make straight dresses.”
What did Gabrielle Chanel's last suit, “the one she designed but never saw on the catwalk” (she died on 10 January 1971) have in common with this “little” dress by Grès with a completely exposed back? Between this evening gown in gradient tulle by Jean Dessès (1952), and this leather and astrakhan coat by Fendi, by Karl Lagerfeld (2006)? Life, style and taste. The present era, which he doesn't identify with, is also one that now preserves know-how, through acquisitions by museums and fashion Houses. “The advantage of vintage fashion is that now, when an old lady dies, people go and rummage through her cupboards. Before, we tended to throw everything away.”
This interview has been lightly edited.
