A PERFECT MATCH

Searching for a getaway in Provence, fashion entrepreneurs Ruth and Tom Chapman found one with a storied pedigree – the former retreat of another stylish couple, Betty and François Catroux

- DAVID NETTO

WHEN RUTH AND TOM CHAPMAN bought the house in the Provence region of France, on these pages, it carried both the gifts—and the weight—of previous owners.

The gifts are obvious: the village of Lourmarin is one of the loveliest, quietest spots in Provence, and the building and its gardens are among the most widely admired visions of country life in that part of the world. The weight (if that is the right word) was that Les Ramades, as this property is known, had belonged for more than 30 years to one of the most stylish couples in the world, François and Betty Catroux. It had been photographed and rephotographed, published and celebrated, each time its rooms taking on a sense of inevitability that comes with legend. The question for Tom and Ruth was, how to make it theirs?

“Luxury is authenticity,” says Hubert Zandberg, the decorator they brought aboard to help sort through the legends and start a new story. “Our challenge was to respect the history—but come up with a design perspective that reflected Tom and Ruth as the new owners, authentic to them.” (In 1987, the Chapmans cofounded Matchesfashion, which grew from a single boutique in Wimbledon into a pioneer in e-commerce before the couple sold it in 2017; in 2022, Tom co-launched the online curated luxury furnishings retailer Abask.)