An ARNYS PARIS ‘Forestière’ jacket, estimated to date from around the 1990s.
A truly special piece has arrived.
We had been searching for one for a long time, and at last it has come to us: a piece from the legendary maison ARNYS PARIS, a house that no longer exists.
Beginning with its signature model, the "Forestière Jacket", ARNYS offers a sense of design rarely encountered elsewhere, and many people are surely still searching for its pieces with great determination.
Once spoken of as ‘Hermès on the Right Bank, ARNYS on the Left’, it was one of the great names of the Left Bank of the Seine.
Where the Right Bank leaned towards the aristocratic and the conservative, the Left Bank, so it is said, had a more popular, innovative and artistic character.
Through changes of distributor and an acquisition, ARNYS gradually disappeared.
In June 2012 the LVMH group bought all of its shares and folded it into Berluti, so ARNYS no longer exists as a brand in its own right...
It was mentioned in the same breath as Hermès, and its tailoring is first-rate in every piece.
The house even used different workshops depending on the item, such was its devotion to making things well, and you can feel that quality.
The piece we present here is the celebrated "Forestière".
It is also known as the ‘keeper of the woods’ jacket.
It is probably the most popular ARNYS model, and the one most people are searching for.
Most Forestières on the market carry their label at the neck, but this one has the older label seen in the 1990s, attached to the chest pocket: an exceptionally rare example, seldom seen even among Forestières.
This Forestière, so the story goes, came about through the famous master of modern architectural theory who defined the twentieth century, Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret), who placed an order with "Léon Grimbert", the second head of ARNYS.
"A jacket in which I can raise my arm easily when writing on a blackboard is what I want," he is said to have asked.
Its inspiration was the gamekeeper's jacket.
In other words, a hunting jacket.
With armholes cut generously for freedom of movement, it has a casual air, yet at the same time something elegant and refined about it.
It also has the easy wearability of a French vintage coverall.
This piece is a Forestière tailored in medium-wide wale brown corduroy.
Even the elbow patches are in leather, a touch of real luxury.
It lacks the distinctive ARNYS colour combinations, but for anyone who wants a classic Forestière, it may be exactly the right piece.
A single-colour Forestière like this, which you can wear for years regardless of trends, is in fact something you rarely come across.
Beautiful. There is nothing more to say.
Naturally, every button is an original ARNYS button.
Marked size "48"
Large marked sizes of "50" and above make up most of what is out there, so a Forestière in this size almost never reaches the market.
A small miracle.
We think it is an ideal size that most Japanese builds can wear without difficulty.
The catalogues also show it worn large, with dropped shoulders, so it will look good on a smaller frame too.
It is in very good condition; the previous owner had probably barely worn it, and there are no noticeable marks or damage. Superb, mint condition.
Naturally, there is no significant damage that would affect wear, so it has plenty of life left in it.
This is not something money alone can buy, and we cannot promise that another will come our way.
It is a piece of value not only for the wardrobe but also as a collector's item and as a source of design reference.
Whatever the era or model, "ARNYS PARIS" rarely appears on the vintage market.
Tailored jackets surface now and then, but a casual jacket like this, one you can wear about town, is almost unheard of.
All the more so for the celebrated Forestière.
A piece said to have been born for Le Corbusier.
For anyone who loves architecture, or works in the field, it is a piece worth securing.
The brand has recently been receiving renewed attention, with features in magazines and elsewhere, and given that it no longer exists, prices are certain to keep climbing; if you have been looking, we suggest acting soon.
