Les Fleurs en Les Jardins des Tuileries

One of my favourite things to do on a sunny day in Paris is stroll through the Jardin des Tuileries, the former gardens of the old Palais des Tuileries.

These formal gardens run parallel to the River Seine from the Louvre to the Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. The royal gardener Andre Le Notre, royal gardener to Louis XIV, who also created the gardens of Versailles, created the original landscaping design. An extensive renovation and replanting of the Tuileries in recent years incorporated a striking mix of contemporary and classical sculpture.

Photo credits: Ingrid Mida copyright 2009

I was quite taken with this little patch of brilliant purple irises. They brought to mind Van Gogh's magnificent iris paintings as well as Yves Saint Laurent's exquisite embroidered and beaded iris evening jacket (Tribute to Van Gogh, summer 1988 collection).

Photo by Francois Gandier in Lesage by Lydia Kamitsis, published by Assouline 1999


Photo from Yves Saint Laurent Style Published by Abrams, New York, 2008

According to the book on Lesage, Les Iris de Van Gogh jacket took 600 hours of work to complete and includes 250000 paillettes in 22 colours, 200000 beads and 250 metres of ribbon!!!

More about Lesage

Given all the questions and emails I received about yesterday's post, it seems obvious that I should have provided a little more information about Ecole Lesage.


Ecole Lesage, the embroidery school, is open to anyone. Classes for all levels, from beginner to professional, are offered throughout the year (except for August and the last week of December). Advance registration is required including a 30% deposit. The web-link to the school (which can be read in French, English or Japanese) provides more details about the courses available.

Instruction is available in both French and English. I sat at a table with a French instructor and was able to understand almost everything she said. When I had a question or problem that could not be solved with a demonstration, the English-speaking instructor intervened. (I understand French better than I can speak it.)

To see my flower brooch in more detail, please double-click on the photo in yesterday's post.

I can hardly wait to return to Ecole Lesage and would like to take the Silk ribbon Rococo pillow class or the Level 1 Flower Vase class. Next time I will also remember to pick up the two instructional books on embroidery that I somehow overlooked while I was at the school (the website does not indicate that the books can be shipped).

For those of you who have no interest in learning haute couture embroidery and would prefer to admire beautiful images of Lesage embroidery, there is an Assouline book by Lydia Kamitsis called "Lesage" published in 1999 and 2003.


This exquisite Balenciaga dress from 1961 is one of the photos in the book and is from the Lesage archives.

P.S. I counted 20 flowers on the front of this beautiful dress. Assuming the back has the same number of flowers, there would be approximately 40 flowers on the dress. If each flower takes between 3-6 hours to embroider, that is 120-240 hours of embroidery work!!! No wonder haute couture dresses are so expensive!

Ecole Lesage
1e rue de la Grange Bateliere
75009 Paris, France
01 44 79 00 88
Website: www.ecole-lesage-paris.com
Email: ecole-lesage@lesageparis.fr

Ecole Lesage

I have always wanted to learn to embroider and I decided to learn from the best. While in Paris, I spent a day at the Lesage atelier and ecole. (This over-the-top salute to embroidery was on the staircase outside the atelier.)

The Lesage atelier specializes in hand embroidery for haute couture and ready to wear garments. Now owned by Chanel, the atelier can trace its roots to the middle of the 19th century when Michonet embroidered for the house of Worth.

On a tour of the archives with the charming Monsieur Francois Lesage, I saw breathtakingly beautiful samples of embroidery from Vionnet, Yves Saint Laurent and other legendary designers. I wanted to clap when M. Lesage said "Embroidery is like a piece of art; you put yourself into it."

After seeing the dedication of his staff hunched over their worktables as they created wearable works of art, I could hardly wait for my lesson to begin at Ecole Lesage. Not long after sitting down to work, I realized how difficult this work is.

Although the instructors were highly skilled and extremely patient, I had to be shown some of the steps more than once and had to redo parts over. It was a painstaking 3 hour long effort to make an embroidered, beaded organza flower brooch.

I am now hooked on embroidery. The school offers an array of courses ranging in commitment from 3 to 150 hours. I want to go back!!

Ecole Lesage
13 rue de la Grange Bateliere
75009 Paris, France
01 44 79 00 88
www.ecole-lesage-paris.com
email: ecole-lesage@lesageparis.fr