Le Bon Marché is a gorgeous, luxurious and iconic department store on Paris’s Left Bank that still attracts a crowd, especially on the weekends. On Sundays, the storied building is packed with tourists and locals alike, especially on the harder-to-reach top floor, which features a funky bookstore and an awe-inspiring kids section.

At once glamorous and accessible, the impossibly cute children’s department is teeming with designer duds for the tiniest of humans. Gucci diaper bags, Bonpoint dresses and miniature Moncler puffers are all on display. 

All that high-fashion further solidifies the section as some kind of wonderland, especially when serving as a backdrop for the real show-stealer: the toys! The department is stuffed to the brim with artful displays of wooden toys, adorable plushies, collectible bobbleheads, ride-on animals, and themed gifts. The selection is curated from all over the world, and it’s almost all impossibly cute.

And none of it is just for show: children try on Burberry raincoats impatiently, wishing they were just playing in a faux-classic car instead. They play a tiny piano as other tots look on. They beg for stuff they don’t need, and sometimes, they get it. 

When we returned to the store later in the day, the department had gone from pristine to, well, a noisy, chaotic playground. But in a good way. After all, all happy children make a mess, even if they’re decked out in Dior.