THE HOUSE JACQUEMUS BUILT

HOW IT ALL STARTED

Simon spent his days playing barefoot in his family’s apple fields somewhere between Marseille and Avignon, in Mallemort.  Mallemort is an agricultural town consisting of nearly a hundred inhabitants.  Simon’s parents were farmers; his mother specialized in carrots whereas his father exhibited expertise in spinach.  On the weekends, he’d accompany his grandparents to sell fruits and vegetables alongside the road and would wait for tourists visiting from Paris to sell his lavender to them.  For Simon, his childhood was replete with art.

“My mother was a true artist, and so was my father. He wrote poems. He would sing every week on local stages and at the village community centers. He was obsessed with music, a big fan of Serge Gainsbourg. I can remember him wearing these red thigh-high boots with fur on them, singing rock-and-roll at the Fête de la Musique with his friends… [And my mother] was always redecorating our house, an old farmhouse, not very pretty but with a giant wisteria. It was her Southern side; except we didn’t have any money. The house would change completely every week. Once, she hung these dry branches on the walls – really simple ideas, often inexpensive, but for me they were marvelous, as good as the stuff the fancy decorators were doing. So, between my father and my mother, I never ever felt like the misunderstood artist of the family…  Even the village mailman knew I was going to become an artist, somehow.”

HIS FIRST OBSESSION

Paris.

“…when I was a boy, someone told me: ‘If you become famous in Paris, you’re going to be famous all around the world.’ That was my dream.”

THE BEGINNING OF JACQUEMUS

Simon enrolled in the École supérieure des arts et techniques de la mode (ESMOD) when he was 18 to fulfill his dream of living in Paris.  The building with its characteristic Parisian architecture housed numerous ambitious creatives; however, reality soon took hold of Simon.

“I was so shocked when I moved to Paris. My mother was about to sell her car to pay for my school. It was so expensive to come to Paris. The flat was so expensive! I had to cry to my grandparents to force and convince everyone. So, I arrived in Paris, at this school, and no one was passionate. In my classroom, on the first day, I remember I went to see my teacher and I was like, what are we doing here? They are not passionate. She said, ‘Simon calm down, you’re too pretentious,’ and I was like: ‘No, I am not pretentious. But this has been my dream since I was nine. Even the postman in Mallemort knows that I’m going to do this in my life.’ I was so disappointed. I thought I’d arrive in Paris and people would be colorful, poetic, inspired, jumping and dancing in the streets, happy to be in Paris. Happy to create something. I was astonished to see all these saturated people. One month after arriving in Paris I lost my mother, for no reason. Her death changed my path radically: I knew life could stop now. I knew you don’t get a second chance. I didn’t want to waste time, so I decided to do Jacquemus. I launched my own brand. I was 19. I left that fashion-school two months later. I wasn’t learning anything there anyway.”

HIS BREAKTHROUGH

It was Simon’s third collection that solidified his reputation as a designer.  The collection consisted solely of dark boiled wool with minimal detail and color.  Broad shouldered coats cinched in at the waist lacked pockets or any other notable embellishments; however, it was this lack of detail that displayed Simon’s aptitude as a designer. Upon seeing the collection at a showroom in Tokyo, Rei Kawakubo, founder of Comme des Garçons, noted that “for a young designer at the age of 21 to do a collection this precise, you have to be an extremely strong designer” which Simon evidently was. 

“I had a Comme des Garçons sweater, but I knew nothing about Rei Kawakubo. So, I went over [to the boutique, and] saw they were looking for a salesman. [Which was how I met] Adrian Joffe.  It was kind of funny - we talked about lots of stuff and got along really well. Then I said, “Actually, I do really need a job!”
I had to push a little to get it. Years later, he said to me, ‘I really didn't want to give you that job at the boutique because for me you were an artist, you wouldn't know how to sell.’ On the contrary, I was actually a really good salesman. In order to create my clothing line, I needed to earn a living, so I was one of the most motivated salesmen at the Comme des Garçons boutique. And we stayed quite close. He put me forward at Dover Street, and he told a lot of people about me. But it was a weird time. I was doing my runway shows, and then the next day I would be at the boutique. It was crazy.”

HIS COLLECTIONS

Jacquemus’ initial minimalism was propagated primarily out of necessity.  Simon sourced his fabrics from marché Saint Pierre and had a seamstress from a curtain shop sew his pieces.  Pockets and buttons were an additional cost, thus his earlier collections relied heavily on draping and distinct cuts thereby resulting in pieces with the brutal minimalism of his third collection. However, Jacquemus’ collections have always served as a powerful and intimate form of expression for Simon. 

“I realize, with a little distance, that each of my collections has been autobiographical. It can be about vacations, my mother, something sad I experienced. But it's always very personal. I used to say to my mother, ‘I'm going to write my autobiography.’ And she would make fun of me: ‘But darling, you haven't lived yet. You've been going to school for eight years. You haven't done anything yet.’

Following his third collection, Simon staged numerous outlandish shows taking place either in public swimming pools or endless stretches of lavender fields.  His collections embody a playful French spirit that relishes in the countryside and its sunshine and consist of pieces that display his artistry without being alienating. 

“I had this image in my mind of what I would be in fashion when I saw Jean Paul Gaultier on television. He was on several different shows, on different channels. He was everywhere. Even my uncle the plumber said, ‘Damn, this guy is cool!’ And I said to myself, ‘I could be a designer without necessarily being a snob.’ You don't have to believe you're among the elite. It may not be much, but that has a lot to do with who I am today. I want to communicate with people.”

THE JACQUEMUS GIRL

The Jacquemus girl maintains the dichotomy between brutality and sensibility.  Masculine and feminine. She is complex and multifaceted.  A Charlotte Gainsbourg of sorts- or better yet, Valérie Jacquemus herself.

“For me, she is always the same woman: she is the basis for everything, and she is like my mother, a naive person, a child-woman. After that, there are different stories that bring her to life; it's a puzzle I follow little by little through that life.”

THE FUTURE

“Having millions and many shops, that’s nothing in life. Stay happy and listen to yourself. I’m not afraid of anything. I can stop Jacquemus tomorrow and become a farmer. To cultivate the earth is very noble. I am happy…The important thing is to stay happy.”

JACQUEMUS