Photos of Château Gabriel @Marianne Haas. All other images @Christie’s

The dismantling of a collection of objects amassed with care and love over a lifetime can be a rather somber affair. Especially when it belongs to the dearly departed Yves Saint Laurent. Yet after the very serious, very lucrative auction this past February of the masterpieces he and his partner Pierre Bergé collected, the upcoming second YSL sale at Christie’s France has a lighthearted, uplifting air about it.

You see, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé had a much different aesthetic in mind for their weekend home in Deauville than they did for their museum-like Parisian pad. Created with the help of French decorator Jacques Grange, their ocean-side oasis was a Proust and Visconti-inspired pastiche of 19th century decadence.

Filled to the brim with ornate, rococo furnishings, fleur-de-lys quilted couches, oversized cushions, chinoiserie vases, Indian-patterned carpets and knick-knacks galore, the abode was a cornucopia for the senses. Exactly what a vacation home should be!

Next week’s sale at Christie’s France will give admirers and collectors the chance to take home a memento of this lesser-know, far more playful side of the designer’s style. Of the 1200 objects to reach the auction block over the four-day sale (whose proceeds will go to fight AIDS) the majority come from Château Gabriel, the three-storey manor that YSL and Bergé purchased in the early 1980s.

“The atmosphere they created was incredibly loaded. We are very far from minimalism, which is why there is such a profusion of objects,” says Simon de Monicault, furniture specialist at Christie’s France.

Wildly eclectic in terms of period, provenance and style, each piece packs a different decorative punch (an element Grange undoubtedly used to achieve such spectacular flair).

Unlike the first sale with its multi-million-Euro lots, this one is far from elitist. Some pieces are estimated at only a few hundred Euros, while the highest, a gothic revival salon set (est. €80,000-120,000) is pittance compared to the €32 million Matisse fetched in February.

“It’s not the very grand things, but it’s everything else, including lots of conversation pieces,” says Jonathan Rendell, deputy head of Christie’s America.

While there are no celebrity objects in the lots, there are countless charmers and enough stuff to fill a few dozen homes. So if you’re looking to turn a ho-hum living room into one that pops, consider an enamel and rock crystal reliquary (€1,000-1,500), an elk antler chandelier (est. €6,000-7,000) or a pair of 19th century stools created for a Queen Hortense ball (est. €7,000-€9,000).

The rest of the sale consists of personal bits and bobs from YSL’s Parisian apartment and office, including his 14-piece French Bulldog statuette set, his Hermès crocodile luggage and a treasured collection of eponymous jewels that he kept on his bed-side table.

All in all, the sale offers YSL admirers a final snapshot of his intimate world through the objects he collected and loved. Those who don’t get to go home with a souvenir can at least leave with a smile.

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Auction Preview: November 12th-16th at Christie’s France,  75008 Paris (10am-6pm)
Auction Dates: November 17th-20th at Théâtre Marigny,  75008 Paris (10am-4pm)
Catalog: Click here to browse e-catalog.

Stylish, understated accessorizing—there are few things the French do better. Especially the men, and especially when it comes to their scarves. After a decade of careful observation I’m convinced that the entire French male population has been genetically perfected to give good scarf. Believe me, if I had a dollar for ever time a visiting American guy friend asked me to give him a French echarpe tutorial, I’d be a rich lady.

But the next time someone asks I’ll give my neck a rest and introduce Meilleur Ami instead. Launched in November 2008, Meilleur Ami is a new niche Paris-based men’s accessories brand whose name is its promise—to create designs that behave like best friends.

So strict is founder Fabien Larchez’ criteria for best friend status that there are only two designs in the collection: the perfect bag and the perfect scarf.

“A good accessory can very quickly become your best friend,” says Larchez while modeling his ingenious “080″ scarf. A zero-shaped infinity loop made from a sumptuous slice of fabric, the scarf is then twisted in the center to form a number eight and then thrown over the neck for instant style and coverage. (How friggen awesome is that?)

Larchez, above, uses his inside fashion connections (he worked in the biz as designer, PR and merchandising director for 20 years before launching Meilleur Ami) to source the finest fabrics for his scarves, which are fabricated in a small textile atelier in the outskirts of Paris. They’re all produced in limited series (3-6 scarves per fabric) and come in a smorgasbord of patterns and textures to suit every climate and occasion (silk, cotton and linen for summer, cashmere, wool and even leather for winter).

“The men in my family always wore silk scarves and ties, but I looked ridiculous when I tried to do the same. So I turned and twisted for years until I came up with the right dimensions to add a touch of color, texture or pattern to an outfit without looking stiff.”

Larchez applied the same philosophy of function and style to the second half of his collection: the Meilleur Ami bag. Made in the Picardie region of France by a textile factory that supplies to the French army, the bag is a godsend, plain and simple. Ample enough to hold a weekend’s worth of stuff, classy enough to take to a meeting, and light enough to sling around your neck for a day of biking around Paris, it’s the modern man’s secret weapon to practical chic. Plus it can be worn three ways: by hand, across the chest or on the shoulder.

Supple, resistant and good-looking, the bags are produced in limited series using the finest skins and fabrics from Europe. The combos and colors change each season, and can be customized on demand (for extra, bien sûr). One shop even commissioned a special series of leather bags tattooed with the whimsical animal illustrations of Flo Kim (above, right).

Larchez tests each model for its weight and resistance to the elements, including his own arm hair. “I use the same zipper supplier as Chanel because their zippers are sturdy and don’t catch the hairs on your arm. It’s a little detail, but it can make all of the difference.”

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Prices: Bags (450-600€) Scarves (50-75€)
Distributors: OFR (Paris), Bergdorf Goodman (New York), Lane Crawford (Hong Kong)
Scoop: There’s a private Meilleur Ami sale this Friday and Saturday in Paris. E-mail me for details.

Not all appointments are planned in advance. This is the first in a series of posts about appointments that made a surprise splash in my schedule.

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Appointment with: Frédéric Malle, founder of Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle
Meeting place: Café de Flore, Paris
Date: April 30th, 2009
Time: 8:30am
On the menu: Coffee and Dalloyau Croissants
Purpose: Interview for Monocle magazine

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Last month my editor at Monocle called to see if I’d be free to do a last-minute interview with fragrance maestro Frédéric Malle for a rubric in the mag called My Last Meal. The concept of the column is brilliant: each month a non-food professional is asked to describe their proverbial last meal (where they’d have it, with whom they share it and what, of course, would be on the menu).

Back in my early days as a beauty editor at Dutch magazine I did a brief interview with Malle at the opening of his first boutique, a salon-style shop where customers are invited to “experience” his perfumes by sticking their faces into giant smelling columns that look like they walked off the set of a 1930s sci-fi flick. Since then he’s opened a smattering of intimate outposts elsewhere in the city and around the word (if you can’t make it to the flagship, Barneys New York also has the cool sniffing towers I’m told).

Malle now lives in New York and comes back to Paris only occasionally. Almost ten years since our last meeting, I’m psyched to see him again and get to know him through a different lens. Instead of fragrance—top notes, base notes, inspiration, bottle design, blah, blah, blah—we get to talk about, um, well, death, not in a creepy way, but as the final celebratory frame of his life.

For the setting of his final meal Malle chose the Café de Flore, one of Paris’s most touristy Left Bank cafés. I have to admit, I wasn’t impressed. Why would someone choose a place that serves mediocre, overpriced children’s food for their last chowfest? What was the deal? Was it the lure of the café’s famous past patrons? Was he the owner? Had he met his first love there? Were his kids conceived in the bathroom?

Within seconds of his arrival it all started making sense. Malle, an icon of St Germain elegance in a light grey gabardine suit, shiny brown loafers and slicked back salt-n-pepper hair, walked in greeting every waiter by their first name. After he caught up with Marie Hélène at the till and said hello to the early-morning regulars, he settled into his favorite seat on the corner of the terrace with a perfect sidewalk view. This image of Paris, the warm welcome, the beautiful setting, the elegance and poise.…ah, the atmosphere was almost cinematic.

Raised nearby, Malle has been coming to the Flore all his life. For him it was only natural to end where it all began.

“I like the simplicity of having breakfast and having just a very, very good croissant and having my last day as if it were a beginning,” explains Malle, while enjoying a simple pot de café and a rich, eggy Dalloyau croissant.

From this familiar perch, Malle is simulating a scene from his life as plain as it is profound. The routine, etched in his DNA, is about the pleasure of the familiar, the perfection of simplicity, and the peacefulness of home. There’s something about the whole thing, admits Malle, that reminds him of a scene that took place here in Le Feu Follet (The Fire Within), his favorite of his uncle’s films.

“Whose you’re uncle?” I ask, never thinking for it instant it was, no…could it be…OMG Louis Malle!! “Yes,” he says shyly, “I hardly ever talk about him, many people don’t make the connection.”

Once I get my wits about me, Malle goes on to explain the film’s narrative. It’s about a troubled man who lives in St Germain in the 60s (“a central figure in the neighborhood”) and the things he does on the day that will turn out to be his last. “Wow,” I say, with wild eyes, “does the character know he’s going to die?” (Aka dude, do you see the similarities here, is there something I should be aware of?)

“I don’t know if he wakes up in the morning thinking he’s going to kill himself but it’s quite likely,” says Malle, reassuring me that he’s not at all in that frame of mind, but that he’s always had a strong connection to the film, it’s setting (the Paris of his youth) and the struggles the character faces. “There is a certain attitude and look about this St Germain Left Bank world. I think that in a modest way this is really where I come from. You don’t really escape that.”

For the complete interview, pick up a copy of Monocle’s June issue.