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Manoush Magic: This season's style forecast by the Gypsy Queenby Una Funk Midriffs, minis and maillots are this summer’s treats by Manoush, a boutique of designer clothes as eclectic and elegant as its namesake. Called “gypsy woman” for the magical figures that populated the wandering childhood of its creator, Frederica Trouroi, it is a line that opened 4 years ago in Paris and celebrated an October 2006 opening in Toulouse. Tucked in the twinkling Place de la Trinité, between Midica and an art shop, Manoush’s bright red and rose window display blooms like a flower within the vase of its verdant surroundings. Inside, silver embroidered hangers dangle their treasures – dresses, slips, and even the occasional handbag. Trouroi’s good friend, Isabelle Moia, serves as proprietor of this shop and shoe consultant to the line. “I wanted something that is different from the other four shops in Paris,” said Moia of her cozy, rose carpeted boutique, “Something that makes clients feel good and at ease when they come here.” She gestured to its oblong shape, “Here the configuration made me think of a caravan; we are cocooned here, welcomed to a universe of dressing.” The Manoush universe revolves around the bright ideas of Trouroi, who spent her childhood by firesides and in caravans throughout Europe and North Africa. In France, she met Moia working at Morgan de Toi, where the two formed a fast friendship and common aesthetic. When Trouroi discovered making handbags better rewarded her creativity, she founded her own company. Handbags, belts, and shoes were staples that soon blossomed into accoutrements for far more complex clothes. Trouroi hired Moia in fruition of their fashion dream: working together to advance an elegant yet whimsical style that “changes each woman who wears it, and is in turn, defined by the women who sport a particular piece,” Moia said. The average Manoush client is 30 to 50 years old and a professional. According to Moia, this woman “can wear Manoush to work and be different, she can wear it in the evening and be more different . . . she feels beautiful and different, sexy and classy.” A variety of styles, tweaked each season by Troiroi’s personal retrospection rather than trends, evidence this fun flexibility. For now, mod prints and color swirls take center stage. (See the navy-rose-gray dress of spinnaker-like panels in the window.) Flanked by florals (a cream suit garlanded with roses, and smocks laced with fleur-de-lys), mean that Manoush clients can always find the feminine. By inhaling the “breath of fresh summer air” in Manoush’s variety, clients discover that which is precious. . . where there are no stereotypes. The school of childhood leads,” said Moia, who believes one of the secrets to Manoush’s success is its sheer unpredictability. What is consistent to the line, however, is its commitment to excellence. Only organic materials are used and the cuts, both demure and dramatic, are always precise – running from an extra-small to an extra-large in size. Motifs such as owls, fawns, and dogs create a theme “adorable,” meticulously extended from clothes to jewelry. At the Toulouse boutique, Sadie Dreyfus, an employee and independent jewelry designer, offers some of her pieces on the sprawling countertop. Earrings and eccentric necklaces (some so delicious they feature but a single leather strawberry) are dangled on pegs and over a hand mirror magnifying the “precious and kitsch quality to the line,” Dreyfus said. “I was attracted to it (Manoush) for this reason. It complements my work. . . The desire to be original and to leap from the ordinary, this is the philosophy of the shop.” When asked how women can create their own style, Moia, who was dressed impeccably in black tunic, leggings, and patent-leather heels as if a stagehand to this chic scene answered, “Enter the boutique and let us guide you.” Dressing booths of thick, velvety curtains enhance the theatrical aspect of Moia’s “caravan-like” boutique. Clients seeking a unique fashion forecast by a personal “manoush” will be delighted to know that she thrives in the warm personality of this proprietor, as well as every ensemble.
About Isabelle Moia:
Address of Toulouse boutique – Manoush, 13 Place de la Trinité, Toulouse 31000
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