Fred Paris – Designer

Fred Paris ranks among the premier jewelry houses globally. Its boutiques, situated in prestigious districts of major cities worldwide, cater to an exclusive clientele that frequently includes celebrities and the ultra-wealthy. This narrative explores the brand’s history, marked by both significant triumphs and dramatic shifts.

Fred Samuel, who would later establish the renowned French jewelry house, was born in 1908 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, over ten thousand kilometers from Paris. His family had relocated there in the 1870s after fleeing Alsace, which had been annexed by Germany. A jeweler by trade, his father nurtured in Fred a deep appreciation for craftsmanship, complementing the young man’s innate aesthetic sensibility and adventurous spirit. At the age of ten, the family settled in Paris.

The Fred brand was founded in 1936, originally under the name Fred Samuel. At twenty-eight, Samuel opened his inaugural boutique in Paris, strategically located on Rue Royale near the Place de la Liberté.

The shop quickly became a fashionable destination in Paris. Its rise to prominence, however, was largely driven not by local patrons but by Hollywood icons such as Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and Marlene Dietrich, the latter being a defining style icon of the twentieth century. Dietrich frequently visited the establishment at number six Rue Royale, where she purchased exquisite pearl jewelry of unprecedented quality. Samuel meticulously experimented with pearl hues, developing a distinctive creamy pink tone that became known as “Fred’s color,” a shade still regarded as highly refined today.

Beyond pearls, Samuel held a profound passion for colored gemstones, particularly sapphires, which had ceded popularity to diamonds in the early twentieth century. Fred Samuel played a pivotal role in revitalizing interest in these stones among the European elite.