Piaget celebrates Christmas at Galeries Lafayette Haussmann

Piaget celebrates Christmas at Galeries Lafayette Haussmann
By Pauline Castellani
Published

Tonight, actress Jessica Chastain, ambassador for the Swiss watchmaker-jeweler, will launch the Christmas festivities by lighting up the traditional Christmas tree in the Parisian department store.Piaget celebrates Christmas at Galeries Lafayette HaussmannPiaget celebrates Christmas at Galeries Lafayette Haussmann

Sacadot, Sadanse, Sasourit, Sapapillone… This evening, these funny-looking characters will come alive behind the windows and around the big Christmas tree at the Galeries Lafayette Haussmann in Paris. With feathers or sequins, on all fours or eight, whether they're playing hopscotch or leapfrog among the stars, they were all drawn by the children who won the Little Dreamers drawing competition and then modeled in 3D by the Kerascoët illustrator duo, formed by Marie Pommepuy and Sébastien Cosset.

It is therefore the imagination and poetry of children who are invading the department store this year through this "Dream Factory". Both outside, in the eleven showcases-paintings revisiting in turn the Advent calendar, Santa's village, the gift factory or the New Year's Eve dinner, as well as inside, under the large Art Nouveau dome, its painted stained glass windows and its ironwork lace, where the essential 35-meter-high fir tree will be erected, decorated with these burlesque characters made of wire structures.

"Every half hour, the lights in the dome will go out to give way to a fairly spectacular play of sounds and lights," promises Guillaume Houzé, image and communications director at Galeries Lafayette. Since 1912 and the first illuminations of the facade, these festivities have remained a very special moment. Both for the energy deployed internally - for this edition, seventy people worked on this titanic project - and in terms of turnover and attendance, since nearly 8 million people will pass in front of the windows throughout over this period and 100,000 will enter the store every day.”

Piaget celebrates Christmas at Galeries Lafayette Haussmann

Under the Christmas tree haloed by its constellation of stars, the gifts will be branded, this year, Piaget. On the strength of this incredible visibility, the Swiss brand hopes to attract customers who are both very local - many Parisians are traveling with their families on this occasion - and, of course, international. “This allows us to reach European tourists but also Korean, Chinese and Middle Eastern tourists who constitute a large part of our clientele today, insists Chabi Nouri, CEO of Piaget. For these visitors, Galeries Lafayette Haussmann remains an important place of French luxury and its know-how.”

A local and international clientele

The brand belonging to the Richemont group will also be present on the first floor with a pop-up store called Sunny Side of Life, also responsible for diffusing radiant energy and multicolored from the brand until February 28, 2019. The iconic Altiplano line and its ultra-thin calibres will be offered there; the women's timepieces Limelight Gala and Extremely Lady, but also pieces of jewelry, with the Rose Piaget ranges and, above all, Possession, the brand's latest big success with its rainbow of hard stones - lapis lazuli, onyx, turquoise, carnelian… “While we have developed watchmaking for a long time, our objective today is to accentuate the diversity of our offerings and establish our jewelry credibility,” continues the general manager. Notably through the high jewelry collections but also with the Possession creations, of which we are unveiling exclusive models here, like this pink gold bangle set with 20 brilliants and two malachite cabochons.”

Famous in the 1970s for its hammered gold cuffs whose dials in hard stones hid extra-flat mechanisms invented at La Côte-aux-Fées, Piaget has succeeded in a few years in rejuvenating its clientele - now in their thirties and independent - and to modernize its image, which has become more daring, and personified by Jessica Chastain since 2015. It is also the American who will light up the famous Christmas tree today at 5.30 p.m. before giving way to a mini-concert of Kids United. “I really believe in this Sunny Side of Life enacted by Piaget, these simple and precious moments shared with family or friends, admits the actress. I've always thought that the weeks leading up to Christmas remain a magical moment for children and adults alike. And particularly in Paris. We bet that the star will be able to illuminate it with her flamboyant beauty.


Chaumet at Bon Marché

Amethyst, citrine, peridot, aquamarine, rhodolite garnet… Until November 29, Chaumet brightens up the second floor of Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche with the electrifying tones of these stones fine pear-shaped pieces that clash with diamonds and pearls in joyful compositions. This place dedicated to the latest Joséphine Aigrette collection will therefore offer around twenty models - earrings sold individually, rings, necklaces, bracelets - designed to be worn in accumulation and taking up the V motif of the tiaras so dear to the Empress Joséphine, the inspiration behind this line. Note, a digital application, “Make It Yours”, to better create your combination of rings (from 3740 euros), but also an astonishing wall of tiaras to discover, all set with diamonds.