Dreaming in English

Let’s start with where you both are from.

Eri Dubus: I was born in Osaka, Japan, but I’m Korean. My grandfather came to Japan during World War II for work. My father owned a shoe factory.

Romain Dubus: I am from Rouen in Normandy. I’m an architect. My father bought the castle I grew up in when it was in ruins. I grew up helping him rebuild castles and churches everywhere in France.

How did you meet at EF International in Redondo Beach?

RD: I came here to get my international license, but the school asked me to learn English because I did not speak a word. In January of 2008, I studied for three months at EF to learn English.

ED: I came to EF in April of 2008 to study for nine months. I came when Romain was leaving.
I always wanted to go to Los Angeles, but I loved Las Vegas. I figured out it was a party town and that I could live in Los Angeles and go to Las Vegas on weekends.

You were arriving and Romain was leaving. So what happened?

ED: I remember we met in a sitcom class and were watching How I Met Your Mother.

RD: For 15 days, we were in school together. We had a friend in common, then I had to go back to France for a month.

What was your first impression of Romain?

ED: He was just a French guy in a class. He told me he used to live in a castle, that he owned his first house at 14 and sold the house at 15, and had his own company when he was 17.
I didn’t know anyone like him, so I thought he was lying. My Korean friend at EF said, “He’s weird. It’s not true.”

Eri, did you speak French?

ED: No.

Romain, did you speak Japanese?

RD: No. We don’t speak each other’s languages. Only English.

When did you get married?

ED: We got married in 2013 in Las Vegas.

Where in Las Vegas?

ED: In the chapel.

RD: She picked it!

ED: Because Britney Spears got married there.

Around the time she shaved her head?

RD: Yes. But that was for publicity.

How did your business L’Armoire Des Reves come about?

ED: When I lived in Japan, I always found that I wanted to buy things here.

RD: I always knew I would start a business—not in fashion. I had been working in the restaurant business at Crème de la Crepe when I was a student at EF and in Redondo, and ended up managing the restaurant in Hermosa, then in Long Beach. After that, I opened the Crème de la Crepe in Pasadena, then Manhattan Beach, then Culver City. I opened the fashion business for Eri.

Did you know how to open a business?

RD: It’s easy. I researched online and filled out paperwork. We had a student visa and needed to get an investor visa, which requires you to invest a minimum of $100,000 per person. That was the hard part. I had to work like crazy to make the money.

You are really brave.

RD: It’s fun. I don’t like to be bored.

How did you decide on the name L’Armoire Des Reves?

ED: I was thinking about a dream closet.

RD: And I was thinking in French.

ED: I liked the letters.

RD: The lawyer told us we had to pick a name, that day.

What’s your favorite part of the business?

ED: Researching the brands and going to shows in New York, Las Vegas, Paris or Italy. We carry over 100 brands.

Romain, what’s fun for you?

RD: Architecture. I keep buying new houses in France, then fixing them and selling them.

Like the French Property Brothers?

RD: Yes. Right now I have six houses. Everything was old, fixer-uppers. One is wood; the rest are stone. Five are in Normandy, and one is in Brittany.

Where are you both living?

ED: We are renting a house in Torrance.

RD: I have also been doing houses in Palos Verdes. My current customer is a lawyer in Rancho Palos Verdes who bought a $6 million house and tore it town. It was fun. I was the architect and hired the contractors. I will build a house in Palos Verdes. Business first, then house.

Do you own a house in Japan?

ED: Someday.

What about Las Vegas?

RD: We go every month and stay at a different hotel and just forget about the world.