For Vanessa Seward, vintage shopping is more than just a hobby — it’s a love language. 

When the fashion designer and her husband, French musician Bertrand Burgalat, want to celebrate a special occasion, they often gift each other vintage clothes. Their flair for glamorous finds has ranked them among the best-dressed couples in Paris.

Known for her singular brand of ‘70s-flavored chic, Seward keeps a dedicated studio for her archive, which includes some 400 pieces of clothing. 

“I have things I designed myself, and then things I collected,” says the Argentine-born designer, who worked for brands including Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent and Azzaro before launching her own label. “I never really threw away anything.”

These days, shopping for pre-loved pieces has never been more convenient, with resale platforms and online auctions offering access to everything from last season’s Prada sneakers to a rare John Galliano gown.

“I like that the very young generation sometimes turn to vintage rather than fast fashion,” says Seward. “The sustainable element is good and also, many times, you get much nicer fabrics, and it’s better made.”

But for her, nothing beats hunting for treasure in person, and she says there are still bargains to be found if you look beyond blue-chip brands. “You have really good labels which haven’t blown up like that, and really wonderful designers which you can still find at affordable prices — and sometimes also things which have no designer, but which are really great,” she says.

As creative director of Scottish cashmere brand Begg x Co, Seward is always seeking inspiration for her knitwear designs — but mostly, she’s shopping for herself. “I have a very visceral relationship with clothes, so I like to be able to wear them,” she explains. 

She gravitates toward vintage specialists with a design background themselves. Among her longtime favorites are Stéphane, a part-time shoemaker with a following of local dandies, and Olivier Chatenet, who graciously opened the doors of his brand-new vintage store ahead of its official launch during Paris Couture Week.

An institution in local fashion circles, Chatenet recommended we also pay a visit to Moji Farhat, a couture collector who dresses celebrities including Madonna, Zendaya and Taylor Russell.

The Fashion Archivist

When we arrive at Insitu, Chatenet’s courtyard boutique located in a former art gallery in the trendy Marais district, he’s still putting the finishing touches to the light-filled space, where racks of clothes are loosely sorted by color.

Chatenet began his career working alongside Azzedine Alaïa and Thierry Mugler in the 1980s, but is best known for E2, the reworked vintage label he launched in 2000 with his then-wife Michèle Meunier, and whose fans included Gwyneth Paltrow. 

By 2020, he had amassed 4,000 pieces of vintage Saint Laurent, which he sold back to the house for its archive. Chatenet continues to track down rare pieces for his clientele of private buyers, museums, designers and fashion labels.

“The vintage market is exploding, but it’s a blessing in disguise, because it pushes us to try harder and always look for fresh, unexpected pieces,” he says. “That’s our edge: we have a deep knowledge of 20th-century fashion history.”

He proudly shows off his latest find: a Sonia Rykiel dress from the ‘70s with a Jil Sander tag sewn inside. “I found it with this extra label, which indicates that Jil Sander was reselling clothes at the time,” he says. “That’s the kind of historical tidbit I love to learn.”

Seward marvels over a cream Zoran jacket, and tries on a khaki wool cape designed by Gianni Versace for Italian label Callaghan in the early ‘80s. She ends up buying an effortlessly chic ‘70s ivory silk skirt by Karl Lagerfeld for Chloé.

Chatenet is happy to make alterations but luckily, it’s a perfect fit. Seward is his dream customer. “I love her sincerity and the joy she has in coming here,” he says. “Her presence, her style, what she loves, the way she talks about it — everything about Vanessa flows naturally.”

The Couture Edit

Our next stop is Moji Farhat Vintage, a showroom open since 2018 which operates by appointment only from a second-floor apartment not far from the Paris Opera.

An entrance corridor is lined with mannequins dressed in museum-grade designs by Martin Margiela, Comme des Garçons and Noir Kei Ninomiya. Inside is an Ali Baba’s cave of couture, where you might find a saucer-like Philip Treacy hat, once worn by Lady Gaga, a book of antique fabric swatches, or ’50s-era fetish boots.

A graduate of the now-closed Rose Bertin vocational high school for fashion design, the soft-spoken owner has a technical background and a taste for statement pieces. “It could be a 19^th century jacket or something more recent,” he says. “There really are no rules.”

While he works with a lot of red carpet stylists, including Law Roach, Farhat is strict: no photos, and no loans. “We’ve had too many bad experiences,” he says.

He loves to steer celebrities toward his favorite designers, memorably convincing Zendaya to try on a Jean-Charles de Castelbajac romper suit during her “Challengers” press tour.

Seward makes a beeline for a 2013 Castelbajac T-shirt dress with a Surrealist portrait print. “It’s funny because I now paint portraits too, and Jean-Charles is a friend,” she tells Farhat.

The two bond over their shared love of ‘70s-era Louis Féraud by Per Spook. “I found several haute couture dresses from that period with archive photos, which I sold to a collector. Those were my favorite pieces last year,” he shares.

The Dandy Whisperer

Seward’s old neighborhood of Batignolles is a little more off the beaten track. We regroup there on a different day to visit Stéphane, whose eponymous store has been a magnet for menswear cognoscenti for more than four decades. 

Now surrounded by trendy cafés selling matcha lattes, his boutique is filled to the brim with hunting jackets, tuxedos, dress shoes and tweed caps. Stéphane is so publicity-shy, he won’t reveal his last name. “For a long time, people found me through word of mouth,” he says.

His list of former clients includes Ralph Lauren and jewelry designer Elie Top. “Stéphane is truly the very well-kept secret of all the elegant men I have met in my life, obviously starting with Bertrand,” Seward says.  

A walking encyclopedia of menswear design, he can identify a jacket just by looking at the lapel. His current stock ranges from a tab-collared Forestière from Arnys to a bespoke suit by Parisian tailor Claude Rousseau.

At his bootmaking station in the back of the store, he whips up custom shoes when the inspiration strikes. He also makes clothes in small batches, using fabric roll ends from top houses. 

Seward tries on one of his safari jackets, based on a 1948 British army uniform, but Stéphane frowns at the fit. “If I do another run, I’ll make you one in your size,” he promises. 

A snappy dresser himself, his ideal clients are fellow enthusiasts. “If I’d started selling online, even just 15 years ago, it would’ve burned me out,” he says. “My clients are all connoisseurs. They come here, they don’t ask questions – and when you find your people, it’s pure joy.” 

Insitu
13 rue Chapon, 75003 Paris
Opening times: Wednesday through Saturday, 2 to 7 p.m.
insitu-clothing.com

Moji Farhat Vintage
9 rue Saint-Augustin, 75002 Paris
By appointment

Stéphane
65 place du Dr Félix Lobligeois, 75017 Paris