![]() Le Bon Marché’s affiliation with the Left Bank struck me as something different because this is the first time I have come across a department store that not only encourages a certain lifestyle (which is directly related to consumption), but rather a way of thinking. Barney’s may tell you what the latests trends are, but it doesn’t necessarily tell you how to approach your life from an intellectual and cultural standpoint. A la frontière des 6e et 7e arrondissements, caressant Saint-Germain-des-Prés, un quartier dont les arts et les lettres font l’honneur, Le Bon Marché reflète à lui seul cet esprit Rive Gauche: une ouverture sur le monde, un goût pour la culture, une tradition sans cesse revisitée… Ici, pas d’explosion de l’offre, pas de frénésie de consommation.” – This quote stresses the importance of location – it’s this connection with the Rive Gauche that sets them apart, fuels their identity, and allows for the merging of high culture and consumption. “On murmure que la Rive Gauche serait le profil chic de la Seine… C’est bien plus encore: une façon d’être, un art de vivre, un esprit.Un esprit délicat et visionnaire, tissant tradition et enthousiasme du moment.“ – The store describes its vision as subtle, sombre, and sophisticated – it’s a delicate spirit that is visionary, weaving tradition with an enthusiasm for the moment. Sa vision distille la quintessence d’un air du temps subtil, sobre et sophistiqué. “ Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche se distingue par la force et la singularité de ses partis pris.It shies away from stacking products high and generating consumer frenzy.” The store tries to differentiate itself from other centres of consumption by suggesting that it a mecca for high culture and all things cosmopolitan. “Le Bon Marché is itself a reflection of this unique Rive Gauche way of thinking: an international outlook a penchant for all things cultural and constantly renewed traditions.Below are several quotes from the store’s website that describe Le Bon Marché’s relationship with the Rive Gauche: When I began my research on Le Bon Marché, I found that a major part of the store’s branding and image revolved around it’s Left Bank identity. Consequently, I found myself immersed in the Rive Gauche way of thinking this approach to life that was both artistic and intellectual and extremely progressive. My apartment was right off rue de Seine, which is a tiny street full of art galleries. ![]() I was familiar with this idea of the Left Bank as I lived there this year. This image of Paris was depicted in literature of the time (Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Stein etc.) and it still exists today (although it has evolved in the sense that the word “bohemian” has taken on new meaning) as a hub for creativity and all that is avant-garde. ![]() ![]() During this time in Paris, the Left Bank community was referred to as “the crowd” – with it’s bars, literary cafés, salons, studios, and bohemian way of life the Left Bank conjured images of the medieval marketplace with its dancing, drinking, music, feasting, its rejection of conformity, its relatedness to transition, metamorphosis and renewal, and its peculiar interrelation between reality and fiction. The Rive Gauche established itself as an avant-garde space during the 1920’s. Rive Gauche can be translated into “Left Bank” in English and it refers to the geographical area of Paris that is south of the Seine river. The addition of “Rive Gauche” is extremely important because the store’s current identity has been built on the foundation of a Rive Gauche way of thinking. As you can see from the photo I took above, the name has evolved even further to become: Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche. As I mentioned in the timeline I created, Le Bon Marché used to be called “Au Bon Marché”. ![]()
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