I expect you've already seen the Jean-Paul Goude retrospective at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs here in Paris. If you haven't, I suggest you go along as soon as you've finished reading this article. It's the most entertaining two hours you'll spend this month. Only those who can't stand the sight of another person's genius will come out of it depressed. Or perhaps those who think that perfume advertising was more daring in the past – which on this evidence it certainly was.
But I have my own reasons for liking Goude. As you're no doubt aware, he's the photographer behind the long-running Galeries Lafayette poster campaign. I first noticed the campaign when I moved to Paris in May 2000. I was struck by how cheerful, quirky and yet sharp it was. I assumed it would come to an end when Laetitia Casta moved on, but it trundled on unabated, like the métro with which it is so closely associated. Goude's images are an integral part of the store's image. The campaign is also part of my personal Paris, one of the things I miss when I'm away, like water running in the gutters and the sound of a tiny coffee cup chinking down on a saucer. Like Paris itself, the campaign is both past and present, nostalgic and relevant. Goude is a little like that too. When you're unique, you don't need to keep changing your style.
