Curating Colette
Everyone knows sarah from colette, the omnipresent creative director behind the famed retail Mecca in Paris.
If you're having trouble placing a face to the name however, don't worry. Both sarah and her mother (after whom the store is named) intended it that way. Back in 2003 when I worked for the store as an�international PR, both of them strictly insisted on�being quoted on a first name basis only with mandatory lower case, like the �c' in colette.
Such attention to detail is par for the course when operating one of the most influential retail concepts in the world however. Having opened the doors to 213 Rue Street Honor� in 1997, the mantra � much like the two blue circles painted on its window � has remained relatively the same: �style, art, design, food'. Admittedly, that's nothing avant-garde amid the retail scene today, but the very idea of a store offering a curated assortment of street wear, ready-to-wear, hi-tech objects, beauty, music, art and even a restaurant marketed as � wait for it � �a water bar stocking over 100 varieties of H20' was ground-breaking in its day.
For that we can thank sarah. She's a front row fixture at fashion shows, but within an international art fair setting you can really glimpse the essence of what makes her tick. Curiosity runs parallel with her passion you see, and art is a major player in her psyche. That said, not surprisingly, the second-floor gallery space at colette has become a bona fide sanctuary for international talent. It's often said when sarah acknowledges your work, you are subsequently green-lit into a pop-culture stratosphere. Her approval matters.
�Perhaps each artist who exhibits at colette is a favourite of hers,� says Jos� Parl� (Parl� Fr�res, September 2012). �The gallery space is a collective of stages: what is current or what is about to become...� he adds.
Whilst maintaining a left-of-centre approach to that of her favourite galleries around the world � Galerie Perrotin, Gagosian Gallery, OHWOW, Half Gallery and Naoshima � sarah champions select talent based on one single pre-requisite. Coup de foudre translates as �love at first sight' and this reaction within her seals the deal in deciding which artists will exhibit at colette.
�We like to alternate photography, graphic design, street art, contemporary art, illustration etc.� she reveals. That said: each year it's a line-up of 12 artists exhibited monthly and each show is confirmed sometimes up to three months only ahead of schedule. When I diplomatically nudge sarah to name-drop a few highlights from the gallery schedule since 1997, she pauses.
�It's difficult to name favourites,� she politely points out, �but let's say Lisa Eisner (2000), Yoshimoto Nara (2001), Ruben Toledo (2005), Darcel (2012), Terry Richardson (2011) and The Neistat Brothers (2005).�
�She just wanted it to be great,� recalls Casey Neistat (The Neistat Brothers, September 2005), who together with his brother Van treated guests to a tap�dancing performance at the show opening.
Interestingly, there are no guidelines within the gallery parameters and� Subscribe to read this article in full
