Bode Celebrates Its Paris Boutique Opening With a Family Affair—and Fly Fishing
The opening of Bode’s Paris emporium was, by all accounts, a family affair. The beloved American fashion brand by Emily Adams Bode Aujla and Aaron Aujla has launched its first overseas outpost, sitting steps from the Palais-Royal. And on Friday evening, it was where they welcomed friends of the brand to toast the opening of the 2,000 square foot space. There were pewter framed family photos in pride of place on a center console, and Aaron wore Emily’s father Bruce’s vintage Brooks Brothers jeans.
GQ’s Sam Hine chatted with Aaron’s brother and Bode CEO Dev Aujla who was holding his toddler daughter—conveniently jetlagged and by all acounts ready for a late night. Rickie de Sole and Rory Satran struck up conversation about family vacations, and Eva Chen offered a Vogue editor consulting on New York City’s private schools. The embrace of home and family was woven throughout the evening. Yet despite being on the Place de Valois which features heavily in that Netflix series, this Emily was not, in fact, in Paris: She heeded advice from her doctor about traveling during the third trimester. (The couple are expecting their second child later this spring.)
“We have a lot of family photos,” explains Emily over the phone from New York. She describes the importance of making the spaces feel personal, even in a city they do not call home: “It’s this idea of having a really intimate experience when you go into a Bode store; the emotional experience you get from going into someone’s home.” Indeed, the gnawed wicker dog bed of their Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Monday, is nestled under one of the display tables which was deaccessioned from the Bank of France. Smell also factors into the theme of memory: The couple worked with close friends Ramdane Touhami and Victoire de Taillac, founders of cult apothecary Officine Universelle Buly, on a bergamot and cedar scent for the store. (Aaron stayed in the couple’s guest room during construction of the store.)
At the party, guests looked skyward to the vintage fly fishing baskets decorating the top shelves and the burl wood trout display hooks for the 1930’s hand-carved bamboo fishing rods. “The identity of this store falls very deep into the identity of somebody who is Parisian, but that’s spent time in America and was inspired by America,” explains Emily. This manifested in an homage to heritage recreational sports that spoke to both French and American interests. When the Bode Aujlas purchased a home in Northwestern Connecticut in 2021, they dove deep into research about the former owner and cultivated an interest in fly-fishing–a fishing vest featuring Emily and Aaron’s first fishing ties hangs in one of the eight storefront windows facing the Ministry of Culture.
They visited over 100 spaces, but the Palais Royal neighborhood is one Emily has frequented for over two decades, long before her fictional name-twin played by Lily Collins was selfie-ing in the area. An antique postcard shop in the neighboring Galerie Vivienne has been a favorite since college, and more recently, since the birth of her toddler daughter, she’s become a regular at Si Tu Veux toy store—not to mention the beloved brasserie Chez Georges.
Emily has long felt connected to France, and Paris specifically. Not only has she shown on the Paris calendar, but many of her first vintage and antique textile purchases were found in French flea markets. From Nice and Saint Paul de Vence, to the Vanves and Clignancourt flea markets of Paris, from which she and her team would return home with a dozen suitcases stuffed with fabric.
