Galeries Lafayette Christmas Tree 2025: Glittering ribbons and cosmic stars

Galeries Lafayette Christmas Tree 2025: From Fluffy Ribbons to Cosmic Stars

The Galeries Lafayette Christmas Tree 2025: How One Tree Grew into a Parisian Tradition
When the Galeries Lafayette Christmas tree lights up under the dome, it feels like all of Paris flips into party mode at once, and I’m right there in the middle of it. This year, with the warm red ribbons, purple accents, star globes, and thousands of lights, it’s honestly the most beautiful Galeries Lafayette Christmas tree I’ve seen so far.

Why is the Galeries Lafayette Christmas tree so important

Since the 1920s, a grand Christmas tree has been part of Galeries Lafayette; they organized an annual internal Christmas party for employees and their kids, with a show and tree under the dome by the grand staircase.

Since the 1970s, it has hung under the same Art Nouveau dome on Boulevard Haussmann. Each year, a new designer gets free rein, making the Galeries Lafayette Christmas tree both a steadfast tradition and a temporary artwork that lasts just one season.

For me, it’s a December anchor. I visit every year, often during setup when the scaffolding is still up and ribbons are attached one by one to the frame, and again once it’s officially unveiled. When I look at photos from past years, I think about my life that year, like 2020 a colorful travel tree by Tom Schamp; 2021 a playful toy tree with astronaut Santa; 2022 a green “Planète Sapin” with cardboard and planets; 2023 a dreamy fashion tree by Charles de Vilmorin; 2024 a futuristic light tree by Germanier.

What is the Theme of the 2025 Galeries Lafayette Christmas Tree?

The theme “The Best Gift of All” is about the idea that the best gift isn’t in a box, but in the moments you share. That’s why the tree feels more like a story than decor to me: the characters return in the window displays, animations, and on the tree itself, turning the whole department store into a Detallante universe for a bit.

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How does the Galeries Lafayette Christmas tree 2025 look

The Galeries Lafayette Christmas tree 2025 is 16 meters tall and fully wrapped in ribbons and lights: about 560 kilos of red ribbons, 300 kilos of material, and around 8 kilometers of LEDs spiraling upward. The red shade is deep and almost velvety, combined with purple and gold to give the whole tree a soft, theatrical glow. The ribbons are statically fixed but draped to look like they’re waving in the wind, giving the tree a lightness despite its size.

Detallante’s dreamy characters

You see Detallante’s figures everywhere among the ribbons: toys, little helpers, animals, and dreamy characters that only stand out if you linger. New this year are the star globes around the top, which seem to softly float and add an almost cosmic layer – like warmth and hope literally swirling around the tree.
Under that poetic exterior hides serious construction: a steel frame anchored in the atrium’s heart, carrying all that ribbon, material, and light, in the tradition of hanging trees since the 1970s. Teams work on it for weeks, first the frame, then the big ribbon volumes, then the smaller figures, and finally the light show, so the tree can hang as a temporary artwork under the dome from mid-November to early January.

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Who is Jeanne Detallante and what do you see of her in the tree

Jeanne Detallante is a French illustrator and visual artist, much in demand by fashion houses like Prada and Miu Miu, and magazines like Vogue and The New Yorker.
Her work plays with fairy tales, myths, and fashion imagery in colorful, sometimes lightly surreal worlds. In the Galeries Lafayette Christmas tree 2025, you recognize the same touch: toy-like figures, little helpers, and dreamy faces you could clip right out of her editorials and campaigns, but here as three-dimensional ornaments and prints on the ribbons.

How to truly experience the Galeries Lafayette Christmas tree?

When I walk in, it feels like the tree embraces me more than tries to impress. Everything hits at once: height, glass, light, sound. Then I automatically zoom in on details and out to the whole , a print on a ribbon, a figure halfway up, a star globe catching the light differently, then the full shape from another floor.
It’s not a “quick photo and go” moment, even though I love sharing pics with you; it’s more like a short pause in a busy department store. The Galeries Lafayette Christmas tree invites you to pause, reflect on the year, and feel what all that color and light does to you. If you’ve been there before, you know that feeling: you don’t need convincing it’s beautiful anymore; you can focus on what it does to you.

How to best view the Galeries Lafayette Christmas tree

• Early in the morning. Around the Galeries Lafayette Christmas tree, it’s almost always crowded; people line up thick at the railings. I try to go as early as possible when the store just opens, so you can try different floors without too much pushing.
• The cafes along the galleries are ideal for lingering: with a coffee, lunch, or glass of wine, you see the light show cycle multiple times, turning the tree into a performance you keep returning to.
• Under the tree, in the perfume section. If you look up from under the “skirt,” you see the full height of the tree in a straight line and the dome above – for me, the moment when architecture, art installation, and Christmas tradition all come together.

Why you should see the Galeries Lafayette Christmas tree 2025

For me, the Galeries Lafayette Christmas tree 2025 is exactly that: not just a simple decor piece, but an annual returning artwork that marks my December. A tree that shows tradition doesn’t have to be boring, that color and light can be a subtle form of hope, and that in a crowded city, you’ll always find spots to marvel and grab a small moment of introspection.

Practical information for visiting the Christmas market Marché Tuilleries

Dates: November 15, 2025 – January 4, 2026
Admission: Free

Hours:
The store is open daily from 10 AM to 9 PM (11 AM to 9 PM on Sundays), with the Christmas tree visible from November 12 to December 31, 2025, best lit up after dark for the full light show effect

Address:
Galeries Lafayette Haussmann, 40 Boulevard Haussmann, 75009 Paris

How to get at Galeries Lafayette Haussmann
Take Metro lines 3, 7, 8 or 9 to Opéra station (5-minute walk), line 9 to Chaussée d’Antin–La Fayette (2-minute walk), or RER A to Auber (7-minute walk); buses 20, 24, 32, 42, 45, 68 stop nearby at Opéra or Chaussée d’Antin