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Colombia Comes to Colette
Palm trees, parakeets and brightly colored salsa skirts are rarely seen in the heart of Paris.
But the exotic sights, sounds and tastes of Colombia are coming to the First Arrondissement this month, with the high-fashion emporium Colette set to host a flamboyant 12-day fiesta in celebration of that country’s culture and craftsmanship.
The event, beginning July 10, was the idea of the Paris-based, Bogotá-born designer Esteban Cortazar. After he learned that 2017 would be the Year of Colombia in France (each year the public industrial and commercial organization Institut Français chooses a country to highlight as a way of strengthening bilateral relations), Mr. Cortazar decided to approach Sarah Andelman, Colette’s creative director, about using retail to redefine the country’s image.
“For a long time, people’s view of Colombia was tainted by its dark history or by easy stereotypes,” Mr. Cortazar, 32, said last week, sitting at a cafe near the store. “That has all started to change now that the country has become more peaceful and economically stable. Now they are slowly discovering just how much it has to offer.”
“Cartagena has become a vacation hot spot, and there has been a flurry of Colombian brands arriving on the international fashion scene,” he said. “All share a real sense of fun and festivity, with the added cachet of still being relatively undiscovered. I wanted to really shine a spotlight on and celebrate that.”
ProColombia, a governmental agency that promotes exports, and Marca País Colombia, which supports the country’s brand internationally, also are sponsoring the event.
The first thing shoppers will see is a life-size re-creation of a tiendita in the window (think a New York bodega) stuffed floor to ceiling with kitschy knickknacks made in Colombia, kaleidoscopic Bon Bon Bum candies alongside typical products of Colombians’ daily life such as dishwashing soap; the Colombian sodas Colombiana and Postobon; hair dye; and TVs playing old Miss Colombia pageants, soccer matches and soap operas.
The store also will showcase colorful woven chairs from Ramón Laserna and Alexandra Larsen ; lighters by Hunting Season; fashion magazines, and coffee table books.
Mr. Cortazar has provided the salsa-infused ready-to-wear creations; Nancy Gonzalez, the exotic handbags brand, a trio of fruit-inspired straw handbags.
And next to accessories from the Wayuu and Kuna indigenous communities will be the circular jewelry of Paula Mendoza, Mercedes Salazar’s wild earrings, and graphic clutches by Mola Sasa.
OndadeMar swim shorts and neon pink hoodies designed by the Colombian music sensation J Balvin also will be on display.
Downstairs in the store’s Water Bar, chefs from the restaurant Candelaria, in the Third Arrondissement, will serve Colombian tapas.
Ms. Andelman said, “This was a perfect project for us, as it is both traditional and avant-garde.”
Indeed, it’s already changed at least one mind about the country. “I’m now very eager to go and visit Colombia for myself,” she said.
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