Maria Luisa Poumaillou was one of the first Paris stockists, in her Mont-Thabor temples to cutting-edge fashion, of up-and-coming icons like Alexander McQueen, Helmut Lang, John Galliano, Ann Demeulemeester, Martin Margiela, Nicolas Ghesquiére, Olivier Theyskens, Rick Owens, Riccardo Tisci or Christopher Kane. During Fashion Week, Printemps department store launched her boutique within the International Designers section of their radically overhauled fashion department. The space gives expression to a strong graphic universe based on an optical play of black-and-white stripes and checks. Since being taken over in 2006 by the Italian Boretti group, the Printemps has been reinventing itself as ‘the benchmark department store dedicated to fashion and luxury’ and, quite frankly, is starting to look like a Right Bank Bon Marché…
