Maison Lemarié

Feathers and fabric flowers Lemarié is one of the last plumassiers, or feather workers, in Paris. Palmyre Coyette founded it in 1880 to supply feathers to milliners, and her grandson André Lemarié, who took over in 1946, turned it into a couture workshop trusted by Balenciaga, Dior and Givenchy; Yves Saint Laurent ordered a white ostrich-feather evening coat from it. Its best-known product is Chanel's camellia, assembled petal by petal from silk, organza, tweed, leather and more, at a rate of about 20,000 flowers a year. Chanel bought the house in 1996, which is a large part of why a trade this small still has a workshop at all.