Our Story
Why XANADUPARIS?
I
Rome
I discovered the word Xanadu in Rome, during my two years of master's studies. It was in the middle of Covid: no more tourists, almost no one in the streets, and this city, already like an immense open-air museum, had suddenly become silent, almost unreal.
The word struck me straight away. To me it evoked something beautiful, almost imaginary, a place somewhere between the real and the unreal. And it strangely matched what I was living: Rome was very real, yet the situation was so exceptional that it sometimes felt like being in another world.
I also loved the word itself, its sound, its writing, its aesthetic. And in a way, it holds something very personal, linked to my first name and to my mother's, with whom I share a very strong bond. All of this made me want to make it the name of my world.
Xue Di (Cloé), founder
II
The word
Xanadu was first Shangdu, the summer capital of Kublai Khan, described by Marco Polo on his return from his travels. Over time, it became in the Western imagination the symbol of an ideal place, almost mythical.
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree
Xanadu n.
“a place of great beauty, luxury and contentment.”
III
Xanadu World
Today, I don't think Xanadu is necessarily one single place. Everyone can have their own Xanadu, and it can change with the seasons of life. Back then, mine was perhaps Rome. Today, it could be Tibet, a desert, a completely isolated place, or simply a place, real or imaginary, where we find a form of beauty, freedom, silence or escape.
That is what I would like to build with XANADUPARIS: not only a fashion brand, but, step by step, a true Xanadu World. Giving shape to this imaginary world through clothes, images, places and experiences. Something about beauty, dreams, refinement, freedom, and the idea of an almost ideal world.
XANADUPARIS is where that imaginary world meets Paris.
IV
The House
XANADUPARIS was founded in 2020 by Xue Di (Cloé), a designer trained at ESMOD Paris and at the Accademia di Costume e di Moda in Rome: a meeting of Parisian elegance and Italian craftsmanship. Bridal gowns, cocktail and evening dresses, eco-friendly fur, and made-to-measure creations to bring the dress of your dreams to life.
Since November 2022, the house has welcomed its brides in its boutique in the heart of the Marais, in Paris, for private fittings and to design made-to-measure pieces with Cloé.
