...but politicians are people too, or so they say, and despite the efforts of certain politicos to denigrate all human decency (let alone sartorial elegance) by their behaviour, occasionally a charming note of style pops up and raises a smile.
From the Financial Times (London)
Ici M Fillon dans son Arnys (with his chum Nicolas - who knows how to dress)
François Fillon’s taste in bespoke suits draws criticism.
François Fillon says France must cut its cloth — even as the cut of his own cloth obsesses the nation.
The embattled French presidential hopeful on Monday promised to deliver a “shock treatment” of austerity and deregulation if elected, sticking to a free-market economic platform that has evoked comparisons with Margaret Thatcher...
But Mr Fillon’s expensive taste in suits has become the latest problem for his presidential campaign, which has been sent off-course by allegations that have cast doubt over his ethics...
Drawing attention to potential conflicts of interest, the Journal du Dimanche newspaper revealed on Sunday that an unnamed friend of the candidate had written a €13,000 cheque last month “at Mr Fillon’s request” to buy him two bespoke suits from a boutique in Paris’s expensive Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighbourhood.
The Saint-Germain tailor that has dressed philosophers and presidents
François Fillon was named one of the 20 best dressed Frenchmen in 2016 by men’s magazine GQ — notably ahead of Emmanuel Macron, his rival to become the next president of France.
The accolade may have something to do with his choice of outfitter, Arnys, a smart Parisian tailor now owned by luxury conglomerate LVMH, which has dressed the likes of Andy Warhol and Jean-Paul Sartre, writes Harriet Agnew in Paris.
It emerged this week that Mr Fillon was given €13,000 from an unnamed friend to procure two bespoke Arnys suits...
Arnys has been frequented by politicians from left and right for years. President François Mitterrand bought his trademark black felt hat from Arnys in the 1980s on the advice of Pierre Bergé, longtime business partner of late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent. It was marked with his initials and went on to inspire a novel called “The Hat of Mitterrand” by Antoine Laurain, according to Le Parisien newspaper.
The brand was created by the Grimberts, a family of Jewish merchants who arrived in France at the end of the 19th century. In 1933 the firm changed its name to Arnys and moved from Place de l’Opéra on the right bank to 14 Rue de Sèvres in the Saint-Germain-des Près district that was at the time the heart of the city’s bohemian culture.
The store’s signature Forestière jacket boasts turn-back cuffs, open patch pockets and a lapel-free cut, inspired by the traditional jacket worn by gamekeepers in the Sologne region.
It was designed with Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier in the 1940s when he sought a flexible city jacket that allowed him to work. Mr Fillon himself opted for the Forestière jacket on a visit to then president Nicolas Sarkozy’s residence at Brégançon in 2010.
Clients can choose between three thousand different fabrics and each individual piece takes about 70 hours of work and costs around €6000.
In 2012 Arnys was acquired by LVMH, the largest luxury group in the world by revenues. The brand was then combined with menswear group Berluti, whose chief executive Antoine Arnault is the son of Bernard Arnault, LVMH chairman and chief executive.
- and likely better, or at least more discreet funding sources.
