No. I
I
Ivoire Plissé
Silk-gazar opera gown with pleated fan bodice and gilt embroidery.
Prix€ 14,800
ParisEst. MCMXXVIIIAppointment Only
VELOUR MAISON
— Opulence is a discipline —
La Nouvelle Collection
VELOUR
MaisonParisMCMXXVIII
— Par le maître Etienne Velour —
An atelier of couture, jewellery and quietly immoderate commissions, founded in the ninth arrondissement in the golden year of 1928.
Les quatre pièces maîtresses de la saison
Collection No. I
THE FAN COLLECTION
— Printemps-Été MMXXVI —
Four ceremonial works rendered in silk-gazar, gilt thread and emerald. Each piece is numbered and signed by the Directrice Couture.
No. II
II
Émeraude Sautoir
Emerald cabochon sautoir on articulated gold chain, signed Velour 1931.
Prix€ 38,400
No. III
III
Palais Cape
Velvet opera cape with gold bullion sunburst shoulder plaque.
Prix€ 11,250
No. IV
IV
Minaudière Or
Hand-engraved gilded minaudière with onyx clasp and silk interior.
Prix€ 6,980
Manifesto · II
GILDED HOURS
In the winter of nineteen-hundred and twenty-eight, in a fourth-floor apartment overlooking the rue Lafayette, Etienne Velour cut his first gown from a bolt of silk-gazar he had carried back from the Lyon mills. The bodice was pleated in the manner of a hand-held fan, the hem embroidered with twenty-three threads of gilt. He sent it by taxi to the Princesse de Polignac and took the rest of the afternoon to himself.
From that first gown came a discipline: that opulence is not indulgence but control — the refusal of one bead too many, one stitch too hurried, one compliment too warmly received. The Velour method demands that every pleat answer to geometry, every cabochon to ceremony, every seam to the hand that will carry it.
Today the Maison is directed by his grand-daughter, Madame Héloïse Velour, who has preserved the atelier in the original petits-maîtres workroom at 28 rue Cambon. She accepts twelve commissions each season, and politely declines the rest. The waiting list is kept on hand-numbered cards in a lacquered box. New entries are added by appointment, in ink, in French.
— L'opulence est une discipline. —
Éditorial · III
MIDNIGHT MANIFESTO
— Photographed at the Palais Atelier —
01
Soirée — The Fan Collection
02
Midnight Manifesto — Atelier Sitting
03
Gilded Hours — Edition 04
H. Velour
Atelier Spotlight
MADAME HÉLOÏSE
VELOUR
Directrice Couture, depuis MMXI
"I was taught to cut cloth the way a pianist is taught to hold silence — with reverence and an absolute refusal of sentiment. The atelier is a small room; the hours inside it are long; what leaves the room must be beyond reproach."
Signs each piece by hand
Accepts twelve commissions per season
École des Beaux-Arts · 2008
Salon · IV
PALAIS ATELIER · SALON EVENTS
VII · V · MMXXVI
Palais Atelier Preview
Paris
A private unveiling of the Palais Atelier collection at 28 rue Cambon.
XIV · VI · MMXXVI
Madison Salon
New York
Couture appointments by invitation at The Carlyle, by the hour.
XXI · IX · MMXXVI
Ginza Commission
Tokyo
Two weeks of commissioned fittings at our Ginza maison-de-repos.
In the Press
CORRESPONDENCE & COMMENTARY
Spring Couture
MMXXVI
La Nuit Dorée
MMXXV
The Art Deco Revival
MMXXV
Atelier Profiles
MMXXIV
Houses & Heirlooms
MMXXIV
— as featured in the capitals of the world —
Private Membership
THE VELOUR CIRCLE
A private membership of thirty-six patrons, renewed by invitation each spring. Members receive first refusal on atelier commissions, a numbered edition of the annual press book, and access to the Palais Atelier salon hours at 28 rue Cambon.
I
Precedence
First refusal on each season's twelve commissions.
II
Correspondence
A numbered, hand-bound press book delivered by courier each December.
III
Salon Hours
Thursday evening entry to the Palais Atelier, champagne at nine.
— By invitation of Madame Velour —
Correspondence
THE GILDED LETTER
A slow correspondence — six letters each year, on atelier news, new commissions and the occasional reverie on cloth. Delivered to your inbox, or, by preference, to your concierge.
By subscribing, you join the correspondence of 4,128 readers worldwide.