Françoise Dumas, the spirit of couture

Just this once: This year, Françoise Dumas will not be attending the haute couture shows. A first in 40 years. “The Yves Saint Laurent collections were a ritual,” recalls the woman whose book Maîtresse de cérémonie (Grasset, 2022) bears witness to a passion for this profession, for which she invented the codes and conventions, with a client list ranging from royal families and luxury groups – LVMH foremost among them – to museums. A way of life that the agency she has run with Anne Roustang since 1980 has turned into a specialised form of public relations focused on organising receptions. Working with Georges Cravenne, she says,  brought her closer to “the job of her dreams. The projects I was in charge of allowed me to hone my organisational skills.”  “Never think of yourself as a guest’ is one of the golden rules. Dumas knows how to organise a dinner for 20 people with the same meticulousness as a major cultural event, a private tour and an exclusive dinner at the Grand Palais or the Metropolitan Museum in New York. “When I’m in any doubt, I consult the protocol…”  With emotion, she recalls Rostropovich’s 70th birthday and the 150th-anniversary celebration of Mouton Rothschild with Plácido Domingo. She experienced the golden age of these fashion shows, which were like rituals attended by Marie Hélène de Rothschild, Catherine Deneuve, Hélène Rochas and Nan Kempner. “The audience added an extra touch of elegance to the fashion show.” Whilst Dumas speaks to us of a time when fashion, art and hospitality celebrated their golden jubilee, she remains, at the age of 87, as committed as ever to projects driven by passion. “Paris is the fashion capital,” asserts the woman who recently organised a dinner at the Picasso Museum and is organising another, to mark the start of the new season, to coincide with the Mary Cassatt exhibition in the salons d’honneur of the Musée d’Orsay. “Manners are everything,” wrote Balzac, a maxim she likes to recall. “There’s a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes. What matters is not just organisation but also imagination, the rules of courtesy, discretion…” Dumas has kept all the thank-you letters she has received. “If there’s one topic to avoid, it’s the work you have to leave at the dining room door.” Any wishes for the new season? “I’d very much like to meet Mathieu Blazy and Jonathan Anderson. They both have a sparkle in their eyes.” 

L.B