Lancel unfurls a scarlet wave across Paris to mark its 150th anniversary

“Lancel is more than a business. When a house spans the centuries, it is about emotion and culture,” said Marco Palmieri on Tuesday evening, as the setting sun gave way to clouds in the gardens of Pavillon Ledoyen. Marking the brand’s 150th anniversary, he spoke in English of his pride in steering the future of the venerable French house since 2018. That year, the Italian group Piquadro took the French brand over from Richemont.

“We chose this date to celebrate because we took over the brand on June 2. For me, Lancel is also 150 years of women’s emancipation and of history. With a brand like this, you don’t think about the next quarter but the next 10 years,” the CEO said, before symbolically cutting an immense red, 15-tier pièce montée. Indeed, Lancel bathed Paris in red with a wave that swept the city this week. The brand, which had rolled out a vast red carpet to welcome its guests, reinterpreted the atmosphere of the historic restaurant set in the Champs-Élysées gardens (helmed by chef Yannick Alléno) with red drapes and monochrome floral arrangements to host some 200 personalities, artists, actresses (Virginie Ledoyen, Kelly Rutherford), journalists, and ambassadors of the house. Each sported a touch of red.

But Lancel also added its crimson touch elsewhere in Paris. The brand showcased its Place de l’Opéra flagship with a monumental installation on its façade, while its windows were reimagined for the occasion. An impressive giant bucket bag also takes pride of place on the store’s ground floor. The store, which usually highlights the house’s signature models such as the Swann and Ninon bags and the Croisette mini-bag, is currently displaying a handsome book published with Rizzoli, with an all-red cover, celebrating the brand’s history. Lancel is also presenting 15 exclusive editions of its iconic Premier Flirt model, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

“I chose Premier Flirt, the iconic bucket bag with the asymmetrical pocket. I conceived it as a unique bag capable of interpreting 15 personalities, 15 moments in life, 15 ways of being. Because the same bag can transcend generations, keeping the same shape for different spirits. Special materials, artisanal techniques, details inspired by the archives yet irresistibly contemporary. And then there is Lancel red, our common thread, a colour that vibrates, changes, and transforms, just like us. This capsule collection is my way of celebrating 150 years of functional elegance, savoir-faire, and creativity. An intimate gesture. A gesture of love. Made with irony, respect, and infinite passion,” explains Valeria Vigorelli, the studio’s director, in a press release.

Above all, the brand retraces its history, which began in 1876, through a captivating exhibition titled Lancel Toujours. The scenography spotlights the first functional products developed from 1876 by Angèle and Alphonse Lancel, beginning with the pipes produced in the factory at 20 rue des Petites-Écuries, and continuing through to bags and suitcases brimming with practical, original and fascinating details shaped by the trends and needs of their time.

This presentation, open until December 23, is a journey through time and space, featuring a cabinet of curiosities, an inventions workshop, and an evocation of the brand’s geographical expansion- it was among the first to open shops wherever its customers travelled in France- as well as innovations in its trunks in the 1920s. And, finally, the growing allure of the desire that a bag can, almost magically, spark through its style, materials, or proportions.

From history to commercial reality is only a short step. And Lancel is complementing its celebration with a coordinated initiative in France with Galeries Lafayette. Premier Flirt is spotlighted in the windows of the Haussmann flagship until June 23, for which the brand has created a unique iteration of the model. The project is also being rolled out with distinctive regional scenography in the windows of Galeries Lafayette stores in Metz, Strasbourg, Luxembourg, Toulouse, Nantes, Cap 3000, and Nice Masséna. For the brand, this initiative is intended to amplify strong trading momentum, with turnover rebounding in 2024-25 to almost €69 million and continuing to grow over the first nine months of its 2025–26 financial year, up nearly 8% and approaching €59 million. Lancel has 66 stores worldwide, mainly in France.