Laetitia Trouillet happens to be the most famous personal shopper in Morocco, having guided everyone from Hollywood celebrity interior designers to fashion designers and editors from New York to style icons Sarah Jessica Parker and Gwyneth Paltrow through the maze-like souks and boutiques of Marrakesh. Trouillet, a French party planner and stylist, has cornered the market in Marrakesh shopping expertise, leading fashionistas to her favorite haunts of which her own shop Lalla (from Marrakesh with Love xxx) is one of them. She moved to Marrakesh in 2005 after her own ethnic chic designs of bags, accessories and vintage wares were first spotted at London’s Portobello Market, as well as Top Shop and Paul & Joe in London, and Bon Marche in Paris.
Lalla, which means madame in Arabic, carries Trouillet’s Moroccan made leather goods that include star studded purses- worn by Sarah Jessica Parker- one-off silk pouch evening clutches with tasseled zippers, canvas beach totes, scarves and handmade headbands. Fashioning charming bags with metallic embellishments, funky leather and 70’s Moroccan vintage fabric, Trouillet finds the North African/French influenced locale very inspiring and always surprising. From her initial days as a personal shopper, she now has two boutiques in the Medina, a showroom in the New Town, and sources/consults for the Four Seasons Hotel boutique. Marrakesh- which happens to be one of my personal faves- has changed considerably in the last five years having become more cosmopolitan and is now regarded quite international. The local craftsmen, whose workmanship traces back hundreds of years, are extremely talented and have taught Trouillet much during her eight years of residing with her two young children in this creative and exotic slice of the world. www.lalla.fr
