Today, American business and its brands are prominently aboveground on a
Champs-Élysées that has largely lost its distinctive character and has
become far less French
writes
Steven Erlanger in the International Herald Tribune.
In a movement that has only accelerated in recent years, a large part of
the broad street has become overrun with outlets for clothing brands
that most Americans would hardly consider haute couture or even
exclusive. Banana Republic has just opened a store, and Levi’s has a
massive new space, not far from the new H&M. They are joining, and
competing with, the Gap, Nike, Tommy Hilfiger and Abercrombie &
Fitch. At least Tiffany & Company is coming, replacing a burger
joint.
… The cool has faded amid the most recent mass-market invasion. Few
Parisians who do not work in the neighborhood go to the Champs-Élysées
anymore, regarding it as a place for suburbanites and tourists, many of
them rich Arabs who seek out the nightclubs.
… The Champs-Élysées — the name means the Elysian Fields, a reference to
its origins as fields and market gardens — has long played a central
role in France.
It began in the early 17th century, when the royal gardens of the
Tuileries were extended by an avenue of trees. By the late 18th century,
as Paris grew, it became a fashionable street, and the city took
control of it in 1828.
Connecting the Place de la Concorde, where Marie Antoinette and many
others died at the guillotine set up during the French Revolution, to
the Arc de Triomphe, which was inaugurated in 1836 to honor the dead of
the Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, the avenue became the site of
military parades by both French troops and their conquerors. That
included the Germans in both 1871 and 1940, and the Free French and the
Allies after World War II. In some sense, it remains the symbol of a
liberated France, for foreigners and the French themselves.
“In the 1950s and ’60s, the Champs-Élysées was the place to be,” said Jacques Hubert-Rodier, 58,
an editorial writer at Les Echos, which used to have its headquarters on the avenue.
But “it’s no longer a Parisian place,” he said, adding, a touch sadly, “It’s no longer a place for lovers.”
… Nearly 200,000 Parisians work largely white-collar jobs in the area.
They need to shop and eat, and many now seek fast food rather than
leisurely lunches, which helps explain the four big burger restaurants
(two McDonald’s and two Quicks), the sandwich shops and the chain
outlets like Pizza Pino, Léon de Bruxelles and Chez Clément.
… The avenue remains important for marketing — Banana Republic and
Abercrombie & Fitch have their only French stores there.
“We’re delighted to have them here,” [said Jean-Noël Reinhardt, the chairman of the
Comité Champs-Élysées, a merchants’ association], while noting
that for real luxury, there is the nearby Avenue Montaigne.
