Parisian Pénélope Blanckaert has launched the first auction house specializing in fashion. An itinerary of a passionate woman.
BY CORA DELACROIX. PHOTOS D.R.
At the far end of the courtyard of a building on a busy street in Paris’s ninth arrondissement is a marvellous Ali Baba’s cave. Here, the racks are bursting at the seams with designer handbags and shoes: Dries van Noten, Maison Margiela, Louis Vuitton, Chanel… We’re not in a vintage clothing and accessories boutique whose address is kept secret, but on the premises of Penelope’s, an auction house dedicated to the “arts of fashion”. Welcome to Penelope’s,” smiles Pénélope Blanckaert.
Last autumn, this charismatic Parisian launched Penelope’s, an auction house specializing in fashion. The idea? To offer ready-to-wear pieces, accessories and fashion-related objects twice a month. Like the sale of rare Prada and Miu Miu pieces in November, shortly after the launch.
“With us, sales last ten days,” explains Pénélope Blanckaert in her office filled with books tracing the history of fashion and the great designers. To access them, all you have to do is visit Drouot’s online platform.
Everyone can raise the stakes. The buyer then receives his piece, or can pick it up here if he’s in the capital.
