“I was out on Sunday and there was a family that was so stylish: a little girl with the most adorable coat, a woman who was wearing a men’s black coat and her husband, who had long hair,” says Marie-France Cohen. “I don’t know who they were, but they were terribly inspiring.”

So begins a glimpse into a Paris filled with easy elegance and beauty on every boulevard. Born in Aix-en-Provence to an aristocratic family, Marie-France is an unabashed aesthete who has built an empire on her appreciation for such detail. After she and her late husband launched beloved children’s label Bonpoint in 1975, the pair became leading figures in Paris’ elite fashion and design circles. Their status was cemented when they went on to establish concept store Merci in the fashionable Marais di...