Here to report on what we saw in holiday retail abroad! With only 24 hours in Paris (so cold and wet and dark too, boo) we had to stick to the big stores, but we had a little more time feel the holiday spirit in London.
Paris stores: Le Bon Marche, Galeries Lafayette, Printemps, Le Samaritaine, Merci, Mariage Freres, Dover Street, Lemaire, Il Buly Universelle, Cire Trudon, & Other Stories
London stores: Selfridges, Harrod’s, Liberty, John Lewis, Fortnum and Mason, Daunt Bookstore, Assouline bookstore, Alex Eagle and lots of high street shops
Big Themes
Fairytales and Folklore- many stay in the traditional space with the woodland creature cuteness, but what really stood out to us was the activation at Samaritaine with Thoiry Lumieres Sauvages, which is an actual experience outside Paris. Samaritaine called it an enchanted winter garden and it was woven throughout the store. Truly enchanting.
Food & Fashion- one my personal faves, as it feels so celebratory, generous, and unpretentious. Maybe it’s because I see so many food creators doing things in the fashion space, but this thematic mashup is one I love.
Top Trends We Kept Seeing:
Creamy Cocoons
Winter Florals
Bows
Wicked, Wicked, Wicked
Pops of Color Combos: Tomato Red & Neutrals; Robins Egg Blue and Red, Green & Blue
Lots of sheer and tulle
Giant plush

Conscious Consumer Shout-Out:
Resale at Galeries and Printemps both continue to be big statements. I thought there could be more overt gifting assortments here.
Selfridges featured H&M Adorables which was super… adorable.
Bon Marche had an organic cashmere statement with KUJTEN
• • Kujten had a collab with Smiley at Galeries… a very different vibe!
Ganni had a great activation called Ganni Lab where it featured its bags and highlighted the sustainable materials that went into it.
PH5 was a new brand I hadn’t seen that was super fun and sexy, and they’re planting trees.
Liberty had a Rothy’s pop-up, which we saw zero people interested in.
Collaborations We Saw:
HarperCollective x MCM & Barbour- very cool sustainable luggage (recycles fishing line in its construction!) that had great brand collabs. Loved this.
The Met x Anthro- nice way to elevate a holiday collection.
V&A x Prestat "Magical Garden Selection"… another museum!
Astier de Villatte and Sacai- gave me hope about my broken plates.
Merci and Max Mara- Max Mara took over their little pop-up shop space on the corner.
Peanuts and Merci- cuteness!
Paraboot and Agnes B
Wizard of Oz and Marc Jacobs (weird)
Ottolenghi for Serax- cute!
Veja and Make My Lemonade- cute!
Wales Bonner and Adidas looked so good in person.
Skims and Dolce- exactly what you would expect.
What We Discussed a Lot:
The amazing wellness floors at Galeries and Printemps… but Galeries Lafayette in particular, the wellness floor was spectacular. We loved the investment they made into making it a true all-day destination. You can take exercise classes, get spa treatments, the latest facial magic, a cafe, nails, cute workout gear… and all the clean beauty. So good. They will need to work hard to build awareness and make it a destination, particularly as so many visitors are tourists who probably aren’t thinking yoga at Galeries.
Store Experience- why do some stores fill you with light and energy and others suck it right out? We talked a lot about how Galeries Lafayette and Selfridges were both super clean and beautifully lit. Lighting, folks.
The transformational power of great styling. Selfridges mannequins were en fuego. The styling was just so spot on, with a great mix of brands.
The expanding universe of fragrance. We were enchanted by the products at Cire Trudon and Il Buly, and so interesting to see fragrance brands expanding into different formats and products (hair combs to home fragrance).

Best and Worst of the Department Stores
Le Samaritaine’s windows, done with Thoiry Lumieres Sauvages were just spectacular and unexpected. Overall Samaritaine felt way more exciting than the last time we visited.. the merchandising was awesome. The ground floor Loulou shop was super fun to explore.
It made us wonder if they had poached talent from Le Bon Marche because that experience was just tragic. LBM is usually one of our favorites and it was the first store we ran to once we landed in Paris. What we found was a stale, sad shadow of a department store, recycling the same old ideas and with some pretty horrendous holiday decor that just felt so cheesy. Super disappointing.
Selfridges did not disappoint. They partnered with artist Andrew Logan on the windows and like Le Samaritaine, it was unexpected. While Samaritaine leaned more into magic and wonder, Selfridges leaned hard into festive and youthful… the use of tinsel and glitter could easily go super young but you know, they keep it chic.
Liberty really went big with Wicked. Everybody now knows that Wicked is everywhere, but Liberty had the actual OZ head hanging in the middle of the store, and we would say they had the most tasteful assortment, it felt connected to the overall holiday vibe.
Galeries Lafayette had the best portfolio of it brands. It felt so fun to shop the floor…each brand really brought their brand DNA to life, but in such a way that it all felt harmonious. Jacquemus, Lemaire, Toteme, Frankie Shop, Ganni…
Loro Piana went big with Harrod’s this year for their 100th anniversary and focused on craft. Our favorite part was that they had craftspeople in the windows making things, and were hosting craft events in the windows, which was really lovely. For some reason we only have one super terrible picture of said windows, so better to check out this cute Tik Tok.
Brands We Saw that We’re Now Following:
Surprise (Knits)
Circle (running)
Yuj Paris (activewear)
Bloch (ballerina gear)
Wouf (affordable accessories/utility)
Rouje- this is the French influencer
Momoni- pretty
Leon and Harper (remade)
Extreme Cashmere X
Noo lingerie/loungewear
Typology (as Nadine said, like Glossier but in neutral)
Colorush- knits.
Barbour x Alexa- “the edit” at Liberty
This year, we stayed at the Kensington Hotel and would recommend it because it’s classic, quiet, and has a really exceptional bar. I had the Tuxedo #2 martini and was very happy. It’s also very close to the V&A, our must-visit every time. We saw the Naomi exhibit and it was incredible to see her iconic looks in person.