There is an interesting story about the Bernard Buffet painting of Carmen, shown here with the Balmain coworkers and my Mom (in the middle) made-up as characters from the painting. That year, in the Balmain boutique, nobody knew what to do about the Saint Catherine celebration theme. They had to come up with a different theme every year and wear a different costume. Madame Rameau had a friend who was the owner of the Nicolas Company of great wines. The cover of the catalogue that year was based on Georges Bizet's famous opera Carmen (my mother's favorite opera) being played at the Marseilles Opera Theater. The a painting was used as a prop at the opera and the cover of the catalogue. My mother got the idea after thumbing through the wine catalogue to dress up as coreadors and Carmen as in the painting. She explained that it would be very easy, because the women would only need to wear a shawl over their shoulders, wear Spanish style hair combs and have their face made up. Michele Girbaud (another friend and coworker) had a couple of friends who were studying art at the Beaux Arts. They were asked to come and paint the striking white faces on the Balmain's sales-women who were sitting at the counter with the mural just below them. A painting of two coreadors was added to the whole setting. It was impressive and different from anything else that had been done before. Once Saint Catherine's day was over, Madame Rameau asked what to do with those murals, nobody but my Mom was interested. She took them home and kept them in her kitchen, at rue d'Arcueil and the mural finally ended up in her house in Grosrouvre on the second floor in the hallway.