Inside Paris’ Most Fashionable Pilates Studio

Before he ever picked up a camera, DeMarcus Allen was playing ball.

A former college football player-turned-fashion photographer, his unlikely trajectory — from parole officer to shooting for the world’s leading magazines — has culminated in Dream Seven, a light-filled Paris wellness studio where sculpture, sound, scent and sport meet.

Dream Seven is just steps from Paris’s grand hotels in the 16th arrondissement, including The Peninsula, Plaza Athénée and Shangri-La, and Allen is determined to add another luxury address to the neighborhood with his 4,700-square-foot space.

Allen’s path to this moment is anything but linear. Raised in Virginia, he was a wide receiver at the University of Kentucky with early ambitions of going pro. But an injury cut those career dreams short, setting off a series of personal reinventions — first as a prison worker and parole officer, then as a graduate student in Paris studying international relations, and eventually, almost accidentally, as a fashion photographer.

“I literally just bought a camera with my stimulus check for $400 at a liquidation sale,” he says. “It sat in the box in my closet for about four months, because there were so many buttons on it I didn’t know how to use it.”

That was just before moving to Paris, where he began walking around after class taking photos of the city. He later met another American in Paris in photographer Ernest Collins, who became his mentor.

What began as a way to document the city soon evolved into a career. Over the past decade, Allen has shot for Elle, L’Officiel and Harper’s Bazaar, as well as commercial projects for major department stores and brands such as Sonia Rykiel. His work is defined by an emphasis on movement, often set against dramatic landscapes or architectural backdrops.

“Coming to Paris, it kind of transformed into a love for creating an otherworldly view on luxury and fashion,” he says.

His passions for sport and image, alongside movement and aesthetics, led to the creation of Dream Seven.

The idea for the studio emerged during a difficult time following a personal loss. In 2019, Allen’s mother died suddenly, prompting both an emotional and physical shift. He gained more than 30 pounds before a trip to Los Angeles led to another plot twist. Encouraged by a friend, the skeptical former football player tried a Pilates class.

“Immediately after that class, I told the instructor, ‘I’m going to open a studio in Paris,’” he says.

What followed was a slow build. During the pandemic, Allen began researching the business of wellness while continuing to develop his photography.

In 2021, he self-published a 260-page photography book, released in a limited edition of 402 copies — a symbolic number referencing 402 years since the arrival of the first slave ships in Virginia — featuring Black models in high-fashion imagery shot across nine countries.

A subsequent role leading PR and communications for the VIP experience at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games added another layer of understanding about luxury’s shift toward experiential, high-end hospitality.

The result is a studio that blends the best of both worlds. “Parisian style, American smile,” Allen says, describing the combination of the city’s aesthetic precision with a warmer approach to customer service.

From the outset, Dream Seven was conceived as a fully immersive environment. Scent plays a central role. The hallway leading into the studio carries notes of a version of “Santal Calling,” developed in partnership with Ex Nihilo, with a second fragrance, “Lust in Paradise,” diffused in other spaces. Sound is equally considered through a collaboration with Bang & Olufsen, ensuring each room — whether for Pilates, yoga or meditation — has its own curated acoustic environment.

Allen had originally envisioned a smaller space, but when he found the former multibrand showroom, he knew it was the right fit.

Visually, the space leans toward maximalism-meets-minimalism, preserving original French details such as crown molding, ceiling roses and marble fireplaces, while drenching them in crisp cloud white.

The rooms are punctuated by sculptural works from Lionel Auvergne. The six pieces, depicting the human body in motion, were a gift following a previous collaboration between the two, reinforcing the studio’s central theme of movement.

That philosophy extends to the programming. Alongside mat and reformer Pilates, the studio offers a range of yoga disciplines, including vinyasa, ashtanga and yin, as well as hybrid classes.

One forthcoming concept, “L’Absense: The Class About Nothing,” departs from traditional formats altogether. Participants sit in a room with 4K projections of landscapes from African plains to Australian beaches accompanied by soundscapes, with no instruction beyond disengaging from digital life.

“The goal is not to meditate or practice, but to let the brain run wild after being tied to our phones for so many hours,” he says.

The teaching roster further strengthens its fashion industry ties. Many instructors are models signed with agencies including Marilyn and Mademoiselle, alongside professional ballet dancers.

If the aesthetic and experiential elements draw heavily from art and luxury, the studio’s foundation remains rooted in sport. Allen’s former teammate Champ Kelly, now assistant general manager of the Miami Dolphins, provided some seed investment, though the bulk is self-funded.

Even the reformer machines carry personal significance: each one has the moniker of Allen’s mother and her nine sisters, who helped raise him, etched on gold plates and can be booked on a first-name basis.

The personal stories are central to Dream Seven’s positioning. Unlike many recent entrants into the Parisian fitness space, often driven by private equity or franchise models featuring nightclub lighting and boom-boom beats, Allen frames his project as an extension of the emotional importance of healing rather than a purely commercial venture.

That distinction may prove significant as luxury’s relationship with wellness evolves. While major groups have built extensive portfolios across fashion, beauty and hospitality, wellness is increasingly seen as the next opportunity, particularly among younger consumers who view health as integral to lifestyle.

For Allen, however, the ambition is as much about impact as scale. An accident in late 2023, which required reconstructive surgery, reinforced the role that movement — particularly yoga and meditation — would play in the studio’s offering.

“These are the things that saved my life,” he says.

The studio will also introduce massage therapy, including athletic performance, lymphatic drainage, deep tissue and cupping. Treatments will start at 120 euros, an accessible price point that is integral to Allen’s personal philosophy.

“I don’t want to neglect people from care and from feeling good. It’s not because you earn a certain amount that you’re allowed to feel good,” he says.

Looking ahead, Allen sees Dream Seven as the foundation for a global wellness concept that extends beyond Paris. Rather than a single-location studio, his ambition is to scale the model into other key fashion capitals, building what he describes as a movement rooted in community, experience and a more inclusive vision of luxury.

“This isn’t just about opening studios,” he explained. “It’s about creating something people can be a part of.”