French Flavours and Italian Design – Ladurée Meets Pucci.

 

Ladurée, the famous French patisserie, regularly joins forces with fashion designers, Christian Louboutin in 2009, and later the same year, with Marni, for spring 2015 it’s the turn of the grand Italian fashion house, Pucci.

 

 

What a stunning combination, the pale pastel hues against the baroque background of Ladurée and the bold, flashy colours of avant-garde Pucci.

 

 

Just what is it about Ladurée that makes it so alluring?

It seems that everyone wants a taste, especially of the iconic macarons, I know I do!

 When my daughter brought me a box of Ladurée Macarons from Paris, I felt so mean not wanting to offer them around, I wanted to devour them all myself!

 

 

 

Ladurée is the best known macaron maker in the world, and fifteen thousand of them fly off the shelves every day, the queues to buy them are legend.

 Are they so superior to other macarons?

 I don’t think so, yes, they are delicious, but so are ones that I have had from Athens.

 The macarons from Athens hadn’t been featured in the film Marie Antoinette, directed by Sophia Coppola, though, nor had they been served at the wedding of Prince Albert of Monaco.

Neither do I know of any other patisserie collaborating with famous fashion houses.

 

 

 

All this publicity has certainly helped Ladurée but what about before this relatively recent obsession with the name?

 The luxury French patisserie was created on the Rue Royale, Paris in 1862 by Louis- Ernest Ladurée and the interior designed by Jules Cheret, who chose the distinctive celadon colour, a pale, jade-green, or eau-de-nil, used throughout, both inside and out.

 

 

Jules Cherte painted chubby little cherubs, dressed as chefs, on the ceilings, which became the company’s logo.

 

 

The décor has stayed the same, making it instantly recognizable, and the opulent surroundings give one the feeling of being pampered, so, it’s not just the macarons, with their delicate jasmine or rose petal flavours, introduced in 1930, that give Ladurée its prestige, it’s the whole luxurious package, all wrapped up in that cool, classy celadon!

 

 

 

 What a contrast then, to the conservative celadon of Ladurée, are the vibrant bright colours and diverse designs of Pucci.

 

 

Eight rose and lemon flavoured Ladurée macarons have been teamed up in magnificent boxes, using as decoration, the famous Pucci Capri print, in shades of blue and in shades of pink.

 

 

 

 

 

Each box costs twenty euros, would I pay that for eight macarons?

 Yes!

 

 

 They are not just any macarons, they’re Ladurée, and in a Pucci print box to boot.

 

 

 

Window displays at Ladurée in Paris, with Pucci print boxes.

Pucci was at the height of its fame from the mid sixties to mid seventies, with the distinctive Pucci prints, worn by Jackie Onassis and Sophia Loren, Marilyn Monroe was buried in a Pucci dress.

 

 

The company was created by Emilio Pucci (1914- 1992), who was born into one of Florence’s oldest noble families, after his death, his daughter, Laudomia Pucci carried on, using the same swirly, colourful designs.

 

 

 Emilio Pucci clothes and accessories are still sold, worldwide, in high-end boutiques.

 

 

Laduree and Pucci, two old established companies, both recognizable by colours, recipes and patterns that have not changed, but stayed the same down the years, it can be nothing but a success, is that their secret, never changing their image?

 Keep the status quo, why fix something that’s not Broken?

 Unfortunately, Ladurée do not post macarons to Greece, I checked, so, there’ll be no scrumptious macarons in a posh Pucci box for me.

 Anyone going to Paris?

 

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