For most people, moving homes is something to be avoided at all costs. Settling down is the goal, even if it means sometimes having to settle. But for Parisian fashion designer Amlie Dian, its an exciting quest for the bestand an excuse to visit the flea market in Saint-Ouen. She has moved more than 15 times over the past couple of decades. I changed lives several times, thats why, she says.Creative projects are her vocation: She co-founded the rock n rollinfused brand Zadig & Voltaire in the late 90s before stints at Kenzo and Comptoir des Cotonniers, as well as consulting projects for LVMH. Recently she succeeded the late Lucien Pellat-Finet at his eponymous cashmere brand (her first collection appears this fall).MATHIEU SALVAINGThe living room of a Paris apartment renovated by Amlie Dian and interior architect and designer Louis Denavaut.She is the type of effortlessly chic French woman who runs around in relaxed jeans and a sharply tailored jacket, with spotless Celine sneakers and perfectly mussed blond hair. She is equally adept at snagging the best seat at the corner caf as at spotting the best pieces at the auction house Drouot.So when she walked into an 18th-century building in the genteel 7th Arrondissement in 2023, she knew she had found something extraordinary. Behind heavy, chipped wooden doors was a cobblestone courtyard and a crumbling but sweeping staircase; it climbed to a small apartment on the second floor. The petite entrance belied what lay behind: a grand double-height salon with huge windows overlooking a jasmine-filled garden.Matthieu SalvaingFashion designer Amlie Dian in the living room, where the curtains are in a Nobilis fabric and the parquet flooring is original. I thought, Wow, you are in the middle of Paris, and its like youre in the country, she says. The salon was filled with books from the family that had occupied the apartment for nearly a century. She had been looking for an expressive outlet (her main residence, where she lives with her husband and two teens, is nearby), and after months of coaxing she was able to persuade the heirs to sell her the apartment.I thought, wow, you are in the middle of Paris, and it's like you're in the country.From the start Dian knew she wanted to preserve the spaces sense of history while injecting it with some vibrant new energy. She tapped Louis Denavaut, a rising French interior architect and designer known more for his 1970s take on contemporary life than the 1770s. (His projects include striking pink and black offices for fashion executive Youssef Marquis and a bronze-filled store for the ready-to-wear brand Hartford.)Denavaut immediately fell for the richly layered space, which reminded him of Serge Gainsbourgs legendarily louche apartment nearby.But at first what Denavaut proposed doing was something of a departure, much more geometric, with much more wood, he says. Dian pushed back, wanting to focus on the distinctly Parisian characteristics of the space. At first I had some hesitation, Denavaut admits. He was wary of falling into pastiche, but he was convinced, in part, by the deceptively simple fabrics Dian sourced from European textile houses, such as the Dedar linen she found for the furnishings and the Nobilis material she discovered for the curtains.Tour this Chic Paris ApartmentWorking with another creative mind is like ping-pong, Denavaut says. I really like it. You have someone who can understand you.Together Dian and Denavaut decided to remain faithful to the salons rich oxblood-red ceiling, though it was repainted. They also restored parquet de Versailles wood flooring in the salon that looks convincingly original. In addition they installed chteau-worthy pierre de Bourgogne tiles in the entry, kitchen, and three bathrooms, punctuated with small black cabochons (another nod to Gainsbourg, whose living room featured a similar tiling pattern).As a counterpoint to all the tradition, Denavaut injected a bit of electricity into the space with sleek banquettes for the hall and kitchen, as well as an oversize minimalist sofa for the salon facing the gardens. Dian, who has long collected art, did her part by amassing several abstract pieces, installing a painting by the 20th-century Korean artist Kim Yong-ik over the seating area facing a work by French contemporary artist Jean Charles Blais. A self-described design junkie, Dian visited favorites like Galerie Kreo and Galerie Stphane Olivier, as well as combing through auction houses like Christies and Drouot and tapping Spanish antiques dealer Serge Castella. All this legwork turned up such finds as a small Cy Twombly painting, a 19th-century walnut sideboard, and a Giacometti-inspired coffee table.I was really lucky, because she has great taste, Denavaut says. With some clients it can be tricky.Matthieu SalvaingThe primary bedrooms Louis XVI desk was found in a chteau in the South of France. Together they conceived of the primary bedroom as a cocooning hotel room, with every inch measured to allow for paneled closets and a generous marble tub in the en suite bathroom. In the summer months, a trail of jasmine spills over the bedroom windowsill, just as Dian envisioned when she first glimpsed the space. Denavaut says, Its my first cozy project. My projects are usually much more minimalist.Now that its finished, and a family has leased the home from Dian, she is already on the hunt for the next project to tackle with Denavaut.We created a story, with a vision, Dian says. So now were ready to start again.This story originally appeared in the April 2025 issue of Elle Decor. SUBSCRIBE