PARIS — Johanna Ortiz is bringing a taste of Colombia to Paris.
Known for her luxurious resortwear and swim designs, the designer is set to unveil a four-month pop-up space at Le Bon Marché on Saturday, laying the groundwork for a more permanent presence in the French capital, where she’s presented her collections since 2017.
Located on the second floor, the 2,370-square-foot “La Plaza Johanna Ortiz” activation is inspired by the markets of the coastal city of Cartagena and the colorful architecture of the coffee-producing region of Quindío, Ortiz told WWD.
“It’s a little mixture of magical realism and of Colombia through our eyes,” she said via video conference from Key Biscayne, Fla. “I’m really excited about it, because it’s a huge opportunity to show a little bit of my world through a Le Bon Marché experience.”
Her ready-to-wear brand has been carried exclusively in Paris at the department store for almost four years, but this will be her first opportunity to showcase other categories such as homewares.
“Johanna Ortiz is more like a lifestyle, in the sense that we always want to show what happens around it with artisans, with our heritage,” she explained. “When it’s only a rack in a space with five or six dresses, we cannot really show everything that we work on.”
A dress from Johanna Ortiz’s capsule collection for Le Bon Marché.
Courtesy of Le Bon Marché
The space will carry an exclusive 250-piece capsule collection of Caribbean-inspired clothing and accessories, with items ranging from a coral palm-printed sun dress to a leopard-print bikini, Lurex swimsuits, a colorful printed robe and a selection of shawls.
Collaborations on offer include candles made with French perfumer Bon Parfumeur; eyewear with Italian specialist L.G.R., and pickleball paddles with U.S. brand Recess.
They will sit alongside ceramic tableware crafted and hand-painted in Carmen de Viboral, as well as products from her collaboration with Litoral, an organization dedicated to preserving and teaching ancestral crafts like werregue weaving. An artisan will be on hand to demonstrate the basket-making technique.
“We wanted to show the end product, but also how it’s done and how women and communities are supported through this basket,” Ortiz said. “There has to be an experience and there has to be a connection when you’re buying something.”
There will be a tiny café corner with two seats, and visitors can buy a selection of Colombian products including Vast chocolate and Café Quindío coffee.
Ortiz, who runs the company with her sister Paula Ortiz, said her business has seen “nice, steady growth” at Le Bon Marché and she hopes to have a standalone store in Paris “in the hopefully near future,” after opening her first overseas boutique in New York City last year.
The logo of “La Plaza Johanna Ortiz” at Le Bon Marché.
Courtesy of Le Bon Marché
She was in Florida for a personal appearance at Bal Harbour Shops, where her seasonal store has been prolonged to a full-year lease, and a trunk show with Moda Operandi in Palm Beach.
Ortiz plans to bring her traveling “Caravan” concept to Madrid at the end of May, to be followed by the Hamptons and a third, as-yet-undisclosed, location this summer.
Having dressed celebrities including Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, former First Lady Michelle Obama and Amal Clooney, she remains committed to the U.S. market despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s introduction of a new 10 percent tariff on imports from Colombia, where more than 90 percent of her pieces are made.
“We want to still keep on producing in Colombia,” she said, noting that her workshop employs 460 people and has its own training school. “At this moment, we need to accept whatever they [the Trump administration] are doing, and we need to make things work with the conditions. I am worried.”
Though the brand sources fabrics from Italy and France, its higher price point should serve as a buffer, the designer said.
“Being in the luxury segment, it separates us from the fast fashion and other producers that are more massive producers,” Ortiz said. “We’re standing in, I just want to call it a ‘safe’ — more than ‘comfortable’ — zone at this moment.”
A swimsuit from Johanna Ortiz’s capsule collection for Le Bon Marché.
Courtesy of Le Bon Marché