Why it belongs in ORBIS
Charvet is a Paris shirtmaker founded in 1838 and long associated with Place Vendôme, specializing in bespoke and ready-to-wear shirts, ties and accessories. Chanel acquired the house in July 2026, adding a major ownership change to an otherwise unusually continuous tailoring history.
Charvet has made shirts since 1838 and is generally recognized as the world's oldest French shirtmaker — founded by Christofle Charvet, whose father had charge of Napoleon's wardrobe, and installed for over a century at 28 Place Vendôme, where it remains the square's last shirtmaker. The client book is its own history: Proust wrote about the house, Churchill and Kennedy wore its collars, and the bespoke floors upstairs still cut shirts to individual paper patterns from an inventory of thousands of fabrics, including the one-piece collar for which connoisseurs make the trip. The shirts are made in Saint-Gaultier, France. In July 2026 the house was acquired by Chanel, placing it within a group committed to preserving métiers. This is not e-commerce territory: the point is the appointment, the fabric wall, and a shirt cut for no one else.
Book the bespoke appointment ahead and allow time at the fabric wall — choosing among the thousands of shirtings is the visit's actual luxury.