A northern breeze of fashion is sweeping through Paris as the year draws to a close. Contemporary Scandinavian fashion has long enjoyed a love affair with the French capital. Case in point: Swedish house Acne Studios has just opened an elegant new Parisian headquarters after a decade in the Marais, underscoring its upmarket positioning. It’s a trend evident in most of the latest shop openings by Scandinavian labels.

The colours of Marimekko in the Marais

Finnish brand Marimekko opened its first Parisian boutique on October 24. Renowned for its iconic graphic prints and optimistic world, the design label founded in 1951 by Armi Ratia has taken 140 square metres at 120, rue Vieille du Temple in the Marais. The brand had already tested its potential in Paris with pop-ups at Le Bon Marché and Galeries Lafayette.

This French flagship marks a further step forward, showcasing the brand’s full lifestyle universe, from ready-to-wear to bags and accessories through to home décor and a comprehensive tableware offering, complete with a staged family dining room. The brand, which boasts a network of 170 points of sale worldwide, already has flagships in Helsinki, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Sydney, Copenhagen, and Stockholm. For its Paris debut, the brand offered gifts to its first customers and partnered with florist Castor. A few metres away, the menswear label Les Deux has also just opened its first boutique outside Scandinavia at 32, rue de Poitou — a milestone for its international profile. Marimekko’s attractive façade and colourful windows adjoin the boutique of another Scandinavian brand, Ganni.

Ganni moves further upmarket on Rue François Ier

The Danish label has long since succumbed to Parisian charms. The brand, founded by Frans Truelsen in 2000 and acquired nine years later by Ditte and Nicolaj Reffstrup, has had shops in Paris since 2022. The label has also established a creative and design team in the French capital. Although it stages its shows in its home city of Copenhagen, in September it presented its vision in a spectacular space. Ditte Reffstrup indulged in a series of creative experiments, referencing her childhood in the Danish countryside and showcasing them with subtlety and poetry during Fashion Week. A sign of the brand’s continued move upmarket — L Catterton remains among its shareholders — its contemporary style is being elevated with these creative touches across its commercial collections.

This increasingly premium positioning — which also sees its bags and leather goods offer gather momentum with the launch of new models in spring — is about to find a fitting setting in an upmarket district. The brand will set up shop at 17 rue François Ier, in a space vacated following the travails of the high-end Italian multi-brand retailer Modes. By opening a stone’s throw from the iconic Avenue Montaigne, the brand is moving closer to the clientele of the luxury houses to which it aims to offer an alternative.

Toteme chooses Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré

The approach seems similar for Toteme. The Swedish label founded by Elin Kling and Karl Lindman in 2014 opened on November 7 at 27 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, spanning 222 square metres over two levels.

Toteme presents its offering of classic pieces with precise cuts and refined materials in a pared-back, mineral ambience. Outside, the light grey waxed-concrete façade, with the brand name tone-on-tone, sets off the bright windows where coats are simply displayed. Inside, the brand asserts its “Swedish soul”: grey marble designer furniture sets the stage for the elegantly arranged collection, like works of art. Upstairs, a large cream sofa welcomes customers and showcases the shop’s wide selection of bags.

The brand, which showed its spring-summer 2026 collection in New York, recently opened a second London shop on Sloane Street after its first on Mount Street. It also has boutiques in Copenhagen and, of course, Stockholm in Europe. The brand is strong in the US market — where its founding couple began their project more than 10 years ago — with six shops. In Asia, the brand has boutiques in China, Japan, and South Korea. After announcing in the US press that it had surpassed the US$100 million revenue mark in 2023, the brand was targeting US$150 million in 2024.

& Other Stories sets up shop opposite Paris department stores

The H&M Group brand, which already has two shops in Paris at 35, rue Montmartre and 76, rue Vieille du Temple, opens the doors of its third shop in the French capital this Friday at 43, boulevard Haussmann.

The brand introduced a new creative chapter in September under the leadership of Jonathan Saunders, drawing on codes from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1990s. This mood is set to be expressed in the new 340-square-metre shop. A new, more pared-back logo — echoing an ambition to play with more luxurious codes — is on display. Launched in 2013, the brand also has a long-standing connection with Paris, the City of Light being home to one of its three ateliers, the other two located in Stockholm and Los Angeles.

The Swedish group is also strengthening the presence of another of its banners. The multi-brand retailer Weekday is taking over the Monki boutique (also owned by the group) on Rue de Rivoli. The retailer already had shops at 121, rue Vieille du Temple in the Marais and 8, rue de Marseille in the 10th arrondissement.

And the Scandinavian craze is set to continue. Swedish label Our Legacy, backed by L Catterton, has created a subsidiary in France, and rumour has it that the label, which has just opened a corner at Printemps, is looking for a flagship in the capital. Samsøe & Samsøe, which has just signed a pop-up and a collaboration with Merci, has also moved upmarket in recent seasons and plans to open a new flagship in a prime neighbourhood in the coming months. Velkomst!