Lanvin is the oldest continuously running house in France, but images of its founder, Jeanne Lanvin, are surprisingly rare. As such, the recent discovery of this black-and-white film footage must have been akin to unearthing the lost city of Pompeii.

It’s unclear what year the footage dates back to, but the location is certainly Lanvin’s office at 22 Faubourg Saint Honoré, furnished by the famed interior designer Eugène Printz and remaining untouched to this day. Among scores of seamstresses, embroiderers and the like, Madame is shown touching up models during the launch of the Sorbier, Tubéreuse, and Azalée dresses…

Careful of the sudden volume change at :26…