Maison Louis Marie’s new Los Angeles flagship is a full-circle moment for founder Marie du Petit Thouars: Located in the bustling Sunset Junction area of Silver Lake, it’s just steps from the small studio in which she launched the indie fragrance brand 13 years ago.
“When we saw this space was available, we jumped on it because I love Silver Lake,” du Petit Thouars tells Fashionista. Originally from France, she also lived in the neighborhood at the time (but has since decamped to Pasadena). “I think it’s very special and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a place so creative, such a mix of people.”
Photo: Pablo Enriquez/Courtesy of Maison Louis Marie
The pristine-yet-cozy shop is the fragrance label’s largest location to date, representing a full expression of Maison Louis Marie, which began as a candle brand and has since expanded to comprise perfume oils, eau de parfums and a wide breadth of body products. Designed in collaboration with Via Clover (also behind recent interiors for Alaïa, Dries Van Noten and Chloé), the Silver Lake space is meant to feel more like an apartment than a retail environment. Blending French and Californian aesthetics, it boasts clean, plastered arches and walls with travertine, oak, tile, steel and concrete details and custom furnishings.
“I want [customers] to be on a little journey where it’s calm, comfortable and peaceful and they can discover the whole collection,” du Petit Thouars says. “Our website, you can’t smell it. A lot of stores carry our product, but not all of them.”
Stocked everywhere from Sephora to Bluemercury to Goop, the brand remains fully independent with no outside investors, which is noteworthy in an increasingly crowded space dominated by large conglomerates. Du Petit Thouars attributes the brand’s success to authenticity and staying true to its DNA: It was inspired by (and named after) the founder’s great-grandfather Louis Marie Aubert du Petit Thouars, an 18th-century French botanist who helped inform the modern study of plant life; a book of his sits on a coffee table centering the store.
“Our history is so different compared to other brands,” she explains. “When I started the brand, the DNA was very important and it was really around my history and my family. And as we evolve, we always stayed the same and we don’t try to chase trends.”
Take a closer look inside the beautifully designed space — open now at 3920 Sunset Blvd., in the video above and images below.
Photo: Pablo Enriquez/Courtesy of Maison Louis Marie
Photo: Pablo Enriquez/Courtesy of Maison Louis Marie
Photo: Pablo Enriquez/Courtesy of Maison Louis Marie
Photo: Pablo Enriquez/Courtesy of Maison Louis Marie
Photo: Pablo Enriquez/Courtesy of Maison Louis Marie
Photo: Pablo Enriquez/Courtesy of Maison Louis Marie
Photo: Pablo Enriquez/Courtesy of Maison Louis Marie
