The Paris ateliers
Couture
Twenty-six tailors and seamstresses work on every collection. A jacket passes through eleven pairs of hands and three fittings before it is finished, and every lining is sewn in by hand.
The Maison
A house built by hand
Maison Vaurel was founded in Paris in 1948 by Odile Vaurel, a seamstress who believed that a garment should be made once, and made to last. Seventy-eight years later, the house still works the same way.
Odile Vaurel, 1921 to 2009
Made once, made to last
Odile Vaurel opened her first atelier at 14 Rue de Varenne in the spring of 1948, with a waiting list of clients who had followed her from the great couture salons of the Avenue Montaigne.
She cut every pattern herself and refused to rush a fitting. Her rule, still painted above the door of the atelier, was simple: a garment is finished when it can no longer be improved, not when it is due.
I do not make clothes for a season. I make them for a life.
History
Seventy-eight years on the Left Bank
1948
The atelier opens
Odile Vaurel opens her atelier at 14 Rue de Varenne with three seamstresses, two sewing machines and a single fitting room.
1956
The Odile bag
Cut from a single box calfskin to carry her own patterns between fittings, the first Odile bag is copied by her clients within the month.
1962
A first fragrance
Composed in Grasse, Rue de Varenne becomes the scent of the house, worn by Odile herself until her last day in the atelier.
1971
Avenue Montaigne
The Maison opens its flagship on the Avenue Montaigne, with a private salon for fittings and a workshop on the floor above.
1989
London and New York
New Bond Street and Madison Avenue open the same autumn, followed by Cannes, Beverly Hills and Tokyo.
2014
The Normandy ateliers
Our leather ateliers move to a restored farmhouse near Bayeux, where one hundred and twenty artisans now work.
2026
Contre-Jour
The Autumn-Winter collection is shown in the original atelier on the Rue de Varenne, lit only by its tall windows.
Savoir-faire
Three ateliers, one way of working
Two hundred and fourteen artisans make every Vaurel piece, in Paris, in Normandy and in Grasse.
The Normandy ateliers
Leather
Each bag is made by a single artisan, from the choice of the hide to the last polish of the edges. Seams are saddle-stitched with two needles, so a broken thread never unravels.
The Grasse studio
Perfume
Our perfumer composes with growers who have supplied the Maison for three generations. Every formula is left to mature for weeks before it is bottled in heavy, refillable glass.
Commitments
Made to be kept
01
Repairs for life
Every piece we make can return to our ateliers. Leather goods are restored by the artisans who made them, for as long as you keep them.
02
Traceable materials
Our gold is recycled, our stones are traced to their source and our leathers come from tanneries we have worked with for decades.
03
Refill, never replace
Our fragrance bottles are made to be refilled in boutique. The glass is designed to last a lifetime, not a season.
Visit the Maison
Discover the collections in one of our boutiques, with a client advisor at your side.