[softgrey]

Struggling to succeed in Paris
By Jennifer Joan Lee International Herald Tribune
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2005

PARIS
The fashion designer Masako Shiro always dreamed of launching her own prêt-à-porter label. So, two years ago, she came to Paris. This glamorous metropolis, after all, is the world's fashion capital, non?
*"Well, yes and no," Shiro says today. "I feel there are people here looking for new designers - you just have to meet the right person at the right time. But the question is how? And when? And where?"
*The 30-year-old native New Yorker, whose first two collections of androgynous and elegant womenswear were presented with little success, is not the only fashion designer here wondering when serendipity will strike.
*Despite the city's haute couture history, its enviable one-of-a-kind boutiques, and the recent brouhaha about specialist buyers hunting down new talent, few home-grown Parisian designers actually make the cut.
*"We've been losing our hold as the epicenter of fashion for some time now," said Nicolas Delarue, co-founder of At Large, a Paris-based public relations agency that specializes in promoting young fashion designers. "It's just like our wine industry. Other countries are producing more competitive stuff."
*The Paris concept store Colette, now considered a harbinger of chic and cool after making its name showcasing independent designers, has long replaced its little labels with international giants such as Prada, Marc Jacobs and Lanvin. Although a couple of new talents are making an in-store debut this season, none is Parisian.
*"We choose our stock based on love at first sight and we simply haven't fallen in love with anything coming from local designers recently," said Nadège Mézou, a spokesperson for Colette.

Meanwhile, of the nearly 80 young creators showcased during Fashion Week by Rendez-Vous, the designer salon promoted by At Large, only a fraction is based in Paris. The statistics are even more dismal at Showroom Romeo, a hip fashion marketing office located in the trendy Marais district. Every one of its featured designers this season hails from abroad.
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"Yes, buyers are getting tired of big brands and are looking for more unknown labels, but there are also fewer Parisian designers of good quality," said Romeo Oh Sungho, the showroom's eponymous founder. "Then again," he added, "they don't have the money to produce quality clothes."
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Or perhaps, the quality clothes they produce don't earn them enough money, as was the case with Eric Berg?re, an artisan who spent six years creating women's clothes and accessories for Herm?s before launching his own high-end label in 1988. Though his work was adored by the fashion pack, it ultimately could not keep him afloat. In 2002, after years battling to stay in business, Berg?re surrendered, shutting down his Paris boutique and atelier.
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"The money that you need is always more than the money you earn," he said. "By the end, I found myself spending most of my time seeking funds and paying bills instead of making clothes."
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Many independent designers in France find themselves scrounging for cash to fund each new collection. The vagaries of their industry prevent them from securing bank loans; yet, they are obliged to invest significant capital - for materials, manufacturing, and above all, marketing. Berg?re says the fees for models, showrooms and runway shows were costing him as much as 100,000, or about $120,000, a season. And that's not counting the cost of advertising or hiring public relations and business development staff, luxuries few can afford.
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Many, therefore, line their pockets by working for other brands. Pierre-Henri Mattout, a young designer with his own menswear label, devotes much of his time drawing up coats and suits for Dormeuil, a classic manufacturer of fabric and men's ready-to-wear. Though it's hardly Dior or Lacroix, the houses where he apprenticed, Mattout considers himself lucky.
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"Only a precious few of us become stars like Lagerfeld or Galliano," he said. "It's best not to even think about it."
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Daniel Jasiak long ago stopped entertaining such fantasies. Seven years after launching his own brand, the 40-year-old continues to squeeze out a living, running a business as pared down as his minimalist boutique, a stark, modern space in St. Germain-des-Pr?s dotted with a handful of imaginative one-off pieces.
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With the help of an assistant, Jasiak sketches, cuts and stitches every item tagged with his name, working sometimes 13 hours a day in a cloth-strewn atelier in the basement of his shop.
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"Every day I tell myself that I can't go on like this," said Jasiak. "But yet, I can't stop. It sounds ridiculous, but it's like I have a mission."
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His mission, perhaps, is to demonstrate that clothes do not have to sport a fancy label to be worthy. Jasiak still bristles at the unreturned phone calls to fashion magazines, the chilly reception from lofty fashion houses - when he showed his portfolio to one luxury conglomerate, they apparently laughed in his face - or the humiliation of his first runway event, when bigger players pushed his show to the end and only a handful of friends remained to view it.
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While Jasiak's multitextured pieces have since graced such shops as New York's Henri Bendel's, recognition remains elusive. Not that he claims to care anymore. "I make clothes to educate people, not to make money," he said.
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"The only future for designers in Paris is to sell to a big group or to work for one," summed up Berg?re. (His own attempt to take that strategy ended with a whimper, however, when he was turned down during an interview with LVMH in the '90s because "they were looking for a bombe," and he "wasn't scandalous enough.")
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Or perhaps, their future lies in making the kind of clothes that people can afford to wear, such as the boho-chic outfits created by Vanessa Bruno or Isabel Marant, two independent Parisian designers enjoying commercial success.
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"It's always difficult to launch a high-end brand when you are completely unknown," said Mina d'Ornano, an accessories designer who built up her Paris-based mina Poe label by focusing on exquisite, handmade pieces. "And the hardest part is to stay consistent in your vision, despite market attempts to make you compromise."

**seems like designers everywhere struggle with similar issues...


iht.com

[Johnny]

thanks softie, interesting article.

[The Baron]

I think you're right about designers everywhere struggling with these issues, but at the same time I think some of these people are aggravating their own struggle by moving to Paris.

It's like moving to New York to become an actor - sure, there are lots of work opportunities to be had, but there's also an immense amount of competition for those opportunities.

One could also liken it to all those bands who moved to Seattle after grunge had become the next big thing. They were too late...trying to ride the coattails of a coat that had already left the building.

Paris is old, established, and difficult to penetrate. I think a lot of these designers would have an easier time looking for a place that has a culture of art and artisanship, but doesn't have such a mature fashion infrastructure.

Look at what the Belgians have built up in Antwerp over the years...there are at least a dozen other cities that have the same conditions in which an indie fashion culture could flourish.

If I were an indie desgner looking to conquer the world, I'd build a strong base somewhere like that before setting out to storm the fashion beaches of Milan or Paris.

[softgrey]

the only dsgr in the article who came from somewhere else was the first one baron...
the article is primarily about designers who are actually FRENCH...

...

i know it's a long article...
seems like you didn't get all the way through it......

[The Baron]

I read it all. I was doing my best to be concise, so my wording didn't cover every scenario mentioned in the article.

Anyway, the logic still applies whether you're a local or an immigrant. The obstacles are the same even if you're a native local, and in fact it seems from some of the quotes in the article that the environment in Paris might harbor some subtle hostility toward native Parisians.

If I were a young native Parisian designer, I'd still move somewhere else to build my empire.

[softgrey]

hmmm...interesting...
i if were a designer...i'd try to get a job working for someone else...

[The Baron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by softgrey hmmm...interesting... i if were a designer...i'd try to get a job working for someone else...

Hahaha, touche!

That does seem to be one of the best ways to go about things. Witness Nicolas Ghesquiere getting bumped up to the lead position at Balenciaga, Tao and Junya getting their own lines at Comme des Garcons, etc. The promotion from within can be very lucrative if you're lucky enough to be the recipient.

[softgrey]

also stefano pilati......

[Scott]

I dunno,I can list at least 5 names on the top of my head that are genuinely really good. It just seems appalling there's nothing that's worthy of their money or their time. Or perhaps,it's because they have so much expectation for their talents to be the next YSL or Gaultier condumdrum,that they lose interest?

[Mutterlein]

Quote:

Originally Posted by softgrey hmmm...interesting... i if were a designer...i'd try to get a job working for someone else...

That's my goal. I actually hope to study in paris and work there. The idea of starting my own label is a bit daunting. I wouldn't mind working for someone else. I don't consider it setttling either but just learning to pace yourself and be smart.

[nqth]

Thanks, softgrey:-) I think it might be not enough to be just good. One has to be good in ten years, and let's see. :-)

Galliano also had finnacial prob. before he started at Dior, if I remember right.

[liberty33r1b]

interesting, really interesting article!
thanks for posting.

[zamb]

thanks softgrey,
i felt like i was reading about myself. its nice to know i am not in the struggle alone but at the same time its kinda hard to be in a business where your success is largely based on chance than on your abilities...

[softgrey]

i'm glad you liked the article zam...
i was actually thinking of you when i posted it...

*you are not alone...it is a hard road...

[Fashion Puss]

I tried to set myself up in Paris, but its really tough. I took a job as a researcher at L'Oreal in the end.

To at least make a start you have to be minted. Most of my friends there were working in bars and cafes to make ends meet.