ANNA BARR

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What has made you happy recently?
Walking through the forest experiencing the autumn colors. For Halloween I painted several pumpkins inspired by Yayoi Kusuma which now have found new life as pumpkin pies, butter, and bread. I didn’t grow up cooking and I’m not confident in the kitchen, so going from a fun art project to food to share with family and friends made a happy surprise.


How long have you been living in France?
I’ve called France home for the past fifteen years. It wasn’t initially that fashion brought me here as I had been working in fashion in London and Tokyo prior, but it was the French values. I was always a bit of a Francophile after I fell in love with the country, I fell in love with a man. I called the Butte Montmarte home for nearly a decade before moving to Chantilly. I longed for a garden and wanted a village with a strong identity that didn’t feel like a suburb but within a commutable distance of Paris. The whole time I lived in Paris, I never once visited Chantilly, but only knew the name for the cream and lace. Honestly, I was really worried about moving to a small town and the risk of it being closed-minded, but it was very diverse, with many ex-Parisians just like me along with an international horse community. I visited the Château and saw Raphaël’s Three Graces, at that moment I knew the town as a real hidden gem.




Paris or the world at the end of this year. What do you think is currently most "in" and worth paying attention to?
If you are visiting Paris, don’t miss the Arte Povera exhibition at the Pinault Collection along with the Dover Sreet Market Paris that opened up last summer. Additionally, I never miss an exhibition at Fondation Louis Vuitton, they have a Pop Art exhibition running until February with a retrospective on Tom Wesselmann which is a fun pendulum swing after Arte Povera. In many ways I feel that fashion and consumerism is reaching the tipping point, so many products no longer have meaning, thus the art world is having a moment while people are reflecting on what holds meaning to them.


What do you like to do in the lead-up to Christmas?
This is my calming period before the Men’s Fashion Week rush in January. I enjoy making decorations from hands from foraging in the forest for pieces to make wreaths from to cutting out snowflakes to hang from my ceiling. I usually listen to electronic music, but this time of year I listen to lots of choral music, I must have inherited that from my mom who sang in many chamber choirs. Since moving to Chantilly, I go to the Grandes Écuries for their Christmas show on horses, full of music, dressage, and fanciful costumes. I also eat way too much Chantilly Cream this time of year! The Grand Palais was under refurbishment for several years, thus I’m excited to return this Christmas when they open up their ice-skating rink.


Holiday gift recommendations from Anna Barr?
The Pigmentarium incense holder is such a beautiful object on its own, this season it will make a great gift with SAFFRON ABSHERON sticks. My mom always made loaves of Saffron bread as a holiday gift, I didn’t inherit her baking skills, but the smell of Saffron during the holidays makes the best gift.





I just got back from covering Pairs Photo, so I have a long list of photography books on my wish list including The Last Safe Abortion by Carmen Winant, Grace Wales Bonner: Dream the Dream, Girl Pictures by Justine Kurland, and every year I get the new Daniel Gebhart de Koekkoek calendar for friends.




What scents are you currently wearing, and what fragrance fills your home, office, city, and favorite place?
On sunny days, I wear Paradiso, it puts me in the mood to go outside even if it's not warm. With days becoming shorter, and moving to the layering season, I wear Erotikon to feel sexy and moody underneath all those sweaters. My garden gave me so much this summer, so instead of bouquets of flowers, I always have a beautiful bouquet of herbs, rosemary, thyme, mint, and lavender, it smells amazing but also looks quite wild, something unexpected.