Take a Walk with Richard Boch to Tom Sachs' 31 Rue Cambon

Take a Walk to 31 Rue Cambon at 245 Centre Street in New York City and check out artist Tom Sachs’ mythically luxe CHANEL fantasy homage. It’s real and it’s faux and it’s a total take on what we might covet regardless of whether we are able—or unable—to afford. Whether this presentation of not quite off-the-rack tweeds and beads and buttons, constructed using plywood, paint, cardboard and assorted miscellany, is a statement on fashion, art or the conspicuous consumption of the one or one-plus percent crowd, it is by all accounts a curiously visual feast. 

Tom Sachs is a contemporary American artist and a uniquely skilled craftsman whose work has been shown in galleries and museums around the world—notably the Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Guggenheim Bilbao and The Whitney Museum of American Art. Renowned as a sculptor and for his ability to use, manipulate and re-purpose found objects and other less traditional mediums, Sachs has an uncanny knack for envisioning, transforming and expanding the language of the visual arts in ways that offer both personal and social commentary.

The attention to detail that Sachs puts into each piece at 31 Rue Cambon would hopefully make Coco Chanel and possibly even Karl Lagerfeld proud, or at least slightly amused. The fabrication and the tweedy mimicking right down to the occasional fringy hems are masterful as both craft and their ingenious trompe l’œil effect. I thought of the 1961 proto-Pop of Claes Oldenburg’s The Store in all its funky, cartoonish soft-sculpture glory as a point of reference though 31 Rue Cambon takes things both referentially and curatorially to a new and next level. 

Sachs has his sights set and has memorably reached these levels of the physical and visually immersive before when he first riffed on Chanel at the Centre Pompidou in 1998. He later found himself creating a miniature McDonald’s-ish environment while commenting on the fast food world with Nutsy’s (2001) as well as the ongoing and life-sized Space Program (2007-present) with its lunar modules and Mars rovers. Sachs’ mix of admiration with his sly sense of visual discourse even took aim at Prada, Hermes and Tiffany. His Hello Kitty Nativity (1994) which is searchable online (at your own risk) garnered publicity along with much public outcry.

Getting back to Sachs’ latest and current project 31 Rue Cambon—curated by the fashion historian Colby Mugrabi—it’s a perfect and spot-on connection between the workings of a downtown New York City artist’s studio and the original CHANEL boutique, haute-couture salon and the gilded, mirrored and antique filled second-floor apartment of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel.

Walking through New York’s SoHo neighborhood and crossing Broadway you’ll find yourself on the edges of Little Italy—a long way from The Ritz-adjacent original CHANEL location in the historic and royal heart of Paris’ 1st arrondissement. Stepping inside this jewel box version of 31 Rue Cambon you’ll find yourself presented not only with a love of fashion, but most importantly a love of craft, history and a unique interpretation of what is art. 

*** 

Tom Sachs’ 31 Rue Cambon

Through October 10, 2026 

Thursdays and Fridays, 6-8pm

Saturdays, 1-6pm

245 Centre Street, NYC

*** 

Photography courtesy of Tom Sachs Studio

Richard Boch is the author of The Mudd Club Book. He is a regular contributor to both Stories and Take A Walk.