Origins and background story: Simon Porte, the young French designer behind Jacquemus, came under the fashion spotlight following a slightly unorthodox path. Quitting fashion school after only two months, her worked as an assistant in a creative director’s office until 2010, the year when he founded his own brand. A strong proponent of spontaneity, freedom and informality, he started to draw his own line out of his apartments, often sketching ideas while riding the Métro. Yet since debuting his first collection in the spring of 2013, the clothes have stood out and some of the coolest chicks of the Parisian fashion scene have been spotted wearing his creations, while Dover Street Market and Opening Ceremony, the world’s most sought-after stores, started carrying his collections.
Trademark: One of the key features of Jacquemus’ approach to designing is spontaneity. Simone Porte states: “I don’t like to intellectualise fashion. It’s something very instinctive. Like a child deciding to do something just because they want to. Those circles are like a child drawing something but very badly.” In fact, his clothes are characterized by oversized lines, bold texture and geometric motifs, among which oversized tops and graphic-inspired wear stands out across a couple of collections. Other than his clothes, Jacquemus is also recognized by his way of shaking-up the Parisian fashion week scene with his unorthodox runway style: for his AW 2014 show, he asked all the guests to wear customized hospital scrubs, each having a circular disc stitched onto the torso, while last fall’s presentation was staged at a public swimming pool, where plastic foot-bags were dispensed so that editors wouldn’t sully their shoes.
Collections: Jacquemus’ AW 2014 collection started off with white neoprene looks, where one could recognize Porte’s experimental flair. The first piece, an oversized shirt-dress with a rounded back was followed up by overalls worked over a cropped vest and black pants, with oversized details in the form of rounded shoulders and geometric bottoms. Known for his love of the colour blue, the designer proffered three shades of the hue. There were also several pieces in canary yellow and vivid orange – as well as red and striped accents, which contributed to the collection’s screwy theme.
