Charvet, the shirtmaker on the place Vendôme since 1838

Charvet, the shirtmaker on the place Vendôme, was founded in 1838 by Christofle Charvet, son of the keeper of Napoleon’s wardrobe. On the rue de Richelieu he opened the first shirt shop in Paris, where measuring, choosing the cloth and making the shirt were all done on the premises.

By 1839 Charvet was shirtmaker to the Jockey Club. The future Edward VII, a customer for forty years, granted him his royal warrant in 1869. The house reached the place Vendôme in 1877. In 1903 a caricature by Sem has Robert de Montesquiou call Charvet the greatest artist of creation; General de Gaulle was long among its customers.

Édouard Charvet succeeded his father in 1868. In 1965, when an American buyer came forward, Denis Colban, the house’s main supplier, bought it himself and kept it to a single shop. Charvet moved to number 28 in 1982. Since Denis Colban’s death in 1994, his children Anne-Marie and Jean-Claude have run it.

At 28 place Vendôme, in the 1st arrondissement, the oldest shop on the square offers bespoke and ready-to-wear shirts, ties, pyjamas and suits for men and women. John F. Kennedy, Catherine Deneuve and Yves Saint Laurent have been among its customers.