PARIS – Tamara Ralph is marking a new step for her eponymous couture label with the opening of a by-appointment salon on Rue François 1er, in the tony Avenue Montaigne area.
The 2,400-square-foot space with Haussmann-style architectural features offers a series of private areas for client appointments, including a large light-filled sitting room overlooking the Seine as well as space for its in-house atelier.
With Dior down the street and the likes of Zuhair Murad as neighbors, it serves as a tangible sign of Ralph’s attachment to the city she considers “the heart and soul of [her] work” and the center of luxury and couture globally, she told WWD in an interview.
It’s also a sign of the business’ evolution since it launched in 2023 with private backing. The label has staged two off-schedule couture shows for its spring and fall 2024 couture collections. It also unveiled a collaboration with watchmaker Audemars Piguet.
“We’re very happy with the growth and we’re growing [the company] sustainably,” she said. “We have a lot of exciting things coming up in the future. We’re very happy [with the] couture line itself, [as it] is growing very well.”
The entrance of the Tamara Ralph “maison” in Paris.
Courtesy of Tamara Ralph
While Ralph did not disclose sales figures for the brand, she noted that it had moved three times to larger premises within its current London building to accommodate a growing team that now counts around 45 people. Many are returnees from her previous business.
For now, there will be one permanent seamstress in Paris who can do pattern work, and Ralph is already looking at further growing the team on both sides of the Channel.
A beneficial side-effect of the Paris salon is also smoothing out post-Brexit constraints that have made exchanges between the U.K. and European block more complex for businesses.
“People do tend to do a little bit more shopping in France as well now,” she said. “So I think buying habits changed a little bit.”
Ralph described her clientele’s geographic footprint as quite broad. The U.S. is the brand’s fastest-growing market, with her formerly tailoring-heavy clientele increasingly reaching for evening looks.
The Middle East remains very big and Asia is growing as is Australia, she added. New luxury markets such as India are showing promise, as well.
That said, she’s not rushing into anything, be it ready-to-wear, accessories or retail.
While these remain in the long-term strategy, the current focus remains on the couture line and client experience for Ralph with collaborations as a way to explore further.
“From a business- and brand-development perspective, we want to keep it very niche and to partner with top people in luxury to roll out product categories I hadn’t designed in before to expand the brand slowly as a lifestyle brand,” Ralph said.
The next collaboration, with “a top French brand” she declined to name, will be coming in January alongside her spring 2025 couture collection.
