Mr. Perrin hails from a long line of European artisans. His great-grandfather founded the family business, a leather-glove-making company, in 1893. Ever gregarious, Michel obliges his wife and swans across his living room's tapis, a specially made carpet in a marble pattern that complements the 1940s marble-topped table Sally is wobbling on. This tastefully gilded apartment is the Perrins' boîte à bijoux, as she calls it, using the French term for "jewel box," and it serves as the L.A.-based couple's Quai Voltaire home away from home.
Turns out this sort of thing—Sally dancing on tables—is how the couple met when they were both living in Seattle, where she was working as a model and he was at Microsoft, in 1986. "He was the crazy man on the dance floor who took me for a spin, and that was it!" says Sally. Michel recalls his pick-up line: "I asked, 'Do you want to learn French?' And she said, 'What kind of French are you talking about?'"
But it's their business that the Perrins devote a lot of time to now. Three generations later, Michel has added handbags to the Perrin Paris company repertoire. And Sally's perspective has helped shape the nascent bag line. "We work best as a team, and I began to provide input: what I would wear and what I wouldn't," she explains.
"I told him he could use a little help as far as knowing what a woman wants to wear in a handbag," she says. Michel agrees but reasons, "At least she knew I was straight when she saw my purse ideas."
