haoris
Collection of vintage Haoris from Marie Chiffon
Marie Chiffon is a boutique specializing in antique textiles in Nice.
All his Haori collections came from Japan. Your haori will be sent directly by the store Marie Chiffon :
Marie Chiffon
26 rue Barillerie 06300 Nice (by appointment only)
She exhibits at the Cours Saleya antiques market in Nice every Monday.
This is how Marie told me about her journey
(I loved reading it so much that I’m transcribing it as is):
“I was raised by my grandmother until I was 10, she was a seamstress and I grew up surrounded by piles of fabric. She made all my dresses for me and she even took fabric from the sofa to make me a princess outfit.
And then my mother picked me up, she was an antique dealer and the first memory I have of her is when I cut the lace curtains in the living room to make a wedding dress.
At 16 I went to all the thrift stores in Nice to make crazy outfits. I did it to all my friends too.
At 23 I worked for a lawyer specializing in show business in Nice and I followed him when he moved to the United States. I stayed there for 3 years.
I was the “darling” of all the wives of his clients there because I gave them ideas for their decor and they came to hunt with me, in short they adored me (which suited my boss’s business well!)
And then I returned to Nice in 1989, my mother was still an antiques dealer, she wanted me to work with her but I didn't like furniture or objects...
One day she took me antiquing at Isle sur la Sorgue, it’s very famous for antiques and flea markets. There for the first time I saw two or three shops specializing in old textiles, not second-hand clothes as I knew but fabrics, curtains, lace, cashmere feathers, embroidery, pearl dresses... in short only treasures and wonders! On the way back I knew what I wanted to do!!!
It was a good thing, my mother had a friend to whom she had taught the trade, he had a huge warehouse where he stored, and he had accumulated all the “old rags” for several years in a corner.
He gave me everything... 2 tons of boxes... yes 2000 kilos!!
I lived in a two-room apartment filled from floor to ceiling with cardboard for a year, everything had to be taken out, sorted, washed, ironed...
I bought a small truck with which I went to markets, fairs...
I was already doing the Saleya market on Monday but it was complicated to load and unload in a garage in town, to have to bring all these fabrics up to wash them at 5It is floor where I lived...
I was looking for a place to store so I found an old stable converted into motorcycle storage and a cold room.
After 1 year of work I installed my washing, sewing and ironing machines there... Everyone loved the place, all the customers wanted me to be open all the time but it's not for me , open every day no no no no!!!
And above all, I really like traveling.
So I like to go to countries where there is a textile culture.
I traveled a lot in Turkey because I love their embroidery and especially their Kilims. I was fascinated by India and their cotton fabrics, their colors and their hand block print technique.
Then I went to Japan.
The kimonos and the food oh my!
During this 1is trip I brought back a few silk kimonos, 200 kimonos and 178 haoris.
It's very funny because it was the very first purchase I made in my life as a fabric seller, so I had collected these 2 tons of fabric and I didn't need to buy anything because I I had stock but I was going shopping with my mother in Avignon. And my very first purchase was a huge batch of men’s kimonos!
I didn't know at all when I went to Japan that there were so many varieties of different kimonos... And above all I was amazed at the wealth of varieties of different silks that you have in Japan.
It’s completely crazy, I saw some silks that I had never seen in my life.
The ones that particularly touch me are the shibori, when you know the work that goes into it...
Also I learned there that the ultimate for the Japanese when undressing a woman was to uncover layer after layer of all her kimonos (5 I think?) very slowly... and then I say wow because the only time I put on a kimono to look a little sexy and Jules literally threw himself at me and ripped it off.
Also I like the mix of prints, the fact of wearing an obi which apparently has nothing to do with the colors of the kimonos. It’s surprising and it’s sublime!