Episode 4 : Musée des Arts Décoratifs- Grand Magasins

The last exhibition we visited out of our 3 hours+ at the Musée was ‘The Birth of Department Stores. Fashion. Design. Toys. Advertising. 1852-1925.’

The curation of information, archives and artefacts for this exhibition was truly a work of art ..and commerce. My advertising, marketing friends would have loved it!

Jotting down some of my learnings from the exhibition:

Grand Magasins du Lourve was the epitome of Parisian department stores and the sense of scale of the business in the mid 1800s were evidence in the number of employees working for them – easily up to 3,000 people!
Typical of paternalism of the time, low salaries, long hours, gruelling work conditions were compensated in the form of employees being fed, housed and access to pensions, insurance and other community associations, such as nurseries, retirement homes etc
Aside from material supports, moral and value accumulators were also encouraged by the Directors such, as encouraging savings, shareholdings, outside work hobbies such as musical and social associations – needless to say Department stores at that time was truly a world of its own !
Department stores evolved from novelty shops – with the main aim to gather all brands and necessities for grooming under one roof
Necessities (mostly garments) bearing the store’s name echoed the trends shown in magazines ; which played a pivotal role in disseminating fashion trends and establishing the predominance in Paris
Advertising posters representation of ‘La Parisienne’ became the incarnation of the elegant, independent woman and fashion ambassador
The ‘La Parisienne’ – started trends , triggered mass production, established personal taste and embodied the femininty of Paris (I guess in today’s context – she’s an (print) influencer!)
The Department store business model was based on sales volume of mass-produced merchandise and to stimulate these sales – key activities were organised during special sales period and at the heart of this strategy was – advertising sales
The annual calendar was punctured with series of sales events in accordance to the seasons, off peak months and certain themes for ex: January – linens, February – gloves, March – new seasonal items etc
The rise of sales catalogues added a new dimension in response to the commercial system of heavy -volume sales and stock rotation. This new innovation assisted in expanding customers in the province and abroad and as we know – the primary tool of mail order sales
The publications became seasonal; richly illustrated products were classified by departments – and from an anthropological view point – these publications were also a testament of the onset of bourgeois lifestyle and evolution of the Parisienne society
Whilst the primary target of department stores were the bourgeois Parisienne, the next were mothers , for shops to sought access via their children by proposing increased occasions for giving toys – Christmas, needless to say, continued to be a major festivity for department stores