By IAN PHILLIPS / TRIPOD AGENCY
Photographer STEPHAN JULLIARD / TRIPOD AGENCY

Ann McGovern continued her love affair with Paris when she bought a pied-à-terre in the city’s 9th arrondissement. Haussmannian architecture, herringbone parquet floors and intricate mouldings make for the perfect backdrop to this lovely, feminine space

In Ann McGovern's sitting room in Paris is her most treasured possession-a 19th-century Davenport desk. "It was something I always wanted," she asserts. "I'd seen them when I was a teenager." She didn't wait long to acquire her own. With her first-ever salary, she went to Sotheby's and bought this very desk at auction. On top of it today stands a portrait of her maternal grandmother, a dressmaker called Isabella Dowd. McGovern's mother also taught crochet and crafts.

Both women no doubt greatly influenced McGovern's own career path: a professional life in fashion. She started out working with Stephen Marks, the man behind French Connection UK, who also helped to launch the brand of his former companion, Nicole Farhi. She then moved on to become an agent in London for labels like Alexander McQueen and was in charge of international development for Jean Paul Gaultier for nearly a decade.

Born in the small Irish town of Belturbet in County Cavan, McGovern has long been something of a world traveller. Although her main base today is Florence, she has been enamoured with Paris ever since she spent six months studying French at the Sorbonne in the early 1990s.

When she decided to invest in a pied-à-terre here, she started looking for a district in which she could have an authentic Parisian experience. She quickly set her sights on the 9th arrondissement, whose heyday was the 19th century when it was inhabited by the likes of Chopin, George Sand and Verlaine. In recent years, its hip status has been restored, with trendy young professionals moving in. For McGovern, one of its big pluses was its wonderful Haussmannian architecture. Many of the apartments have all those characteristics you immediately associate with Parisian living: parquet floors, marble fireplaces, high ceilings and elaborate mouldings.

"As soon as I came here, I didn't hesitate for a second," she remembers.

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當Ann McGovern買下這間巴黎住所後，便構思好如何把對巴黎的熱愛傾注到新居裝潢中，以及把Haussmannian建築、拼花地板和精緻板條的美感全都融合到這個優美的空間之內

在Ann McGovern家中的休息廳之內，擺放著一件她珍而重之的寶貝——製於19世紀的抽屜書桌。「這是我一直都很想擁有的東西。」她一臉歡欣的說：「我在年輕的時便曾經見過這類書桌。」自此她便對這款桌子念念不忘。她並沒有讓自己等得太久，就在領到人生第一份薪金之後，她便急不及待的前往蘇富比拍賣行，把這件令她夢寐以求的珍寶買下來，據為己有。來到今天，這張優雅的書桌上放有一幅她那位任職裁縫師的外祖母Isabella Dowd的照片，而McGovern的母親是一位製作鉤針編織和手工藝的導師。

這兩位親人在McGovern的工作方向上均有著舉足輕重的影響，最後她決定投身時裝界。她最初是跟French Connection UK的靈魂人物Stephen Marks工作，而Marks更曾協助他的前夥伴Nicole Farhi成立自家品牌；後來，McGovern轉換了工作環境和性質，成為倫敦其中一位出色的時裝經紀，服務的品牌包括Alexander McQueen，而她更曾經負責Jean Paul Gaultier的國際發展業務達10年之久，擁有非常豐富和成功的戰績。

她在愛爾蘭County Cavan的Belturbet內一個小城鎮出生，而這些年來她的另一個身份就是一位旅行家，現時雖然她主要的「基地」是在佛羅倫斯，但她自從於1990年代早期前往巴黎大學修讀法文6個月之後，她便深深迷上了這個醉人的城市。

於是，她決定在巴黎市內找一間合適的住所，而所在的地區要能讓她好好體驗最真正和最地道的巴黎生活。根據她對這個城市的了解，很快便鎖定了9th arrondissement作為居所的目標地段，這裡於19世紀時期曾經是一眾偉大人物的聚居之地，包括有「鋼琴詩人」美譽的蕭邦、小說家George Sand和詩人等Verlaine。近年，這個地區經過翻新後重拾朝氣，愈來愈多緊貼潮流的年輕專才搬來這裡。而9th arrondissement其中一樣最吸引McGovern的，是這兒的Haussmannian建築。大部份住宅也有著一些很精緻和漂亮的特色元素，會令人第一時間聯想到巴黎的生活：拼花地板、大理石壁爐、高高的天花板、精雕細琢的裝飾板條等，而這些元素又共組成一個優雅華美的生活空間，令身處其中的人也感受到那股迷人的氣息。

「當我踏進這間屋子後，我便一秒也沒遲疑過。」她回憶說。

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