France-Amérique: What inspired you to revisit the wrap dress? Diane von Fürstenberg: It all started with the wrap tops worn by ballerinas like tiny cardigans. I made it into a full top matched with a skirt and pants, and they sold like hotcakes. I then wondered how I could turn it into a dress, which is when the wrap dress came to mind. In French, it is called a robe portefeuille, or a “wallet dress.” Well, I can tell you, this dress certainly helped my wallet! How was it different from the wrap dresses designed by Charles James, Elsa Schiaparelli, and other couturiers in the 1930s? My dr ..read more

Every year during Fashion Week, as Carrie Bradshaw marvels, “the women of New York leave the past behind and look forward to the future.” The Sex and the City lead has a point; in 1943, the first edition of the renowned event was meant to break from French fashion and make way for American designers. In the early 20th century, Paris was the epicenter of fashion. As the birthplace of haute couture and runway shows, the French capital dictated trends while the American garment industry simply reproduced them in its workshops. “We were a nation of copiers,” says Tim Gunn, fashion expert and hos ..read more

Does anyone still remember Anny Blatt? Born into a Jewish family in 1910 in Mulhouse – the capital of the French textile industry which was then dominated by imperial Germany – she founded her own haute couture house in Paris, on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, when she was just 23. Her mother, Suzanne Blatt, was the studio director. Together, they made knitted woolen clothing their signature. Both chic and comfortable, their pieces allowed for freedom of movement without ever compromising on style. In support of female emancipation, Anny Blatt design sportswear for skiers and swimmers. A rare ..read more

On this particular Monday, some 15 students are bustling around the fourth floor of Parsons Paris, located in a former apartment building at 45 Rue Saint-Roch. Juliana, 19, is sporting a tartan skirt and red lipstick, and is scribbling drawings in her sketchbook. She’s practicing chiaroscuro, with a mind to use it in her textile designs. Ruben is sitting behind her. This science enthusiast is exploring the theme of black holes. Two large circles, one around the stomach and the other on the back, have been cut out of the fabric he is using to dress a mannequin. A little further on, another st ..read more

Grand couturier and master artisan Franck Sorbier – the only designer to hold both titles – is an endangered species. Behind his small glasses, this smiling man with daydreaming eyes is just as talented whether working with a needle, a sewing machine, a blowtorch, fabrics, or metal. Shifting from haute couture dresses to silver serving platters, he is an artisan, an artist, and the guardian of an exceptional skillset. Even as a child, he would stand astonished in front of works by dressmakers and cotton sheet weavers in his native Basque Country. Years later, he integrated Declercq trimmings ..read more

Jean-François Bardinon, the CEO of Chapal, welcomes us to a luxurious apartment on the Rue de Rivoli, in the heart of Paris. The home once owned by his grandparents is formed of a series of salons decorated with tall mirrors and thick rugs, and is now used as a showroom for the company founded eight generations ago. Leather and wool are showcased wherever you look. In a corner hangs a heavy leather aviator’s jacket, a replica of the ones produced by the brand for the French army during World War I. Across the room, a thick turtleneck sweater in fluorescent yellow wool, a modern take on the ..read more

The color – a shade of indigo – defines these garments more than their cuts. In fact, bleu de travail (literally, “work blue”) can refer to overalls, jumpsuits, and jackets. Traditionally made with moleskin, a brushed and tightly woven cotton fabric used to protect workers from sharp equipment and spatters of molten metal, this type of clothing generally features a zipper, or buttons, and large pockets – useful for carrying tools. As an outward sign of belonging to the working class, it almost assumes the role of a uniform. As Roland Barthes wrote in 1967: “The bleu de travail is used for wo ..read more

It all began with a fake Nike logo, a bagful of small, metallic swooshes unearthed in a store in Montreal. After returning home, the young woman attached some of these trinkets to the retainer she wore at night, took a photo – pink, full lips and a half-open mouth in the style of Brigitte Bardot – and posted it on Instagram. “Shortly after, Nike reached out to me to acquire the rights to use this image on two T-shirts,” she says. “Everything was turned on its head; the actual brand was interested in my photograph featuring a counterfeit logo out of context!” This was December 13, 2017. Gabri ..read more

Jeanne Damas never wanted to be famous. But 17 years after creating her first Tumblr account at the age of 13, the influencer, model, fashion designer, and art director is well and truly in the spotlight. Followed religiously by 1.5 million people on Instagram, she is celebrating the fifth anniversary of her ready-to-wear brand Rouje with a book – a photo album in French and English “produced like a film, a glamorous road movie, an inspiring, joyful scrapbook” – and is about to launch a new line of beauty products. Rouje, she says, “is about everyday feminine looks that draw inspiration from ..read more

“Paris chic by way of Planet Krypton” is how Vogue once described Thierry Mugler’s aesthetic. Thierry-Maxime Loriot, curator of the retrospective Thierry Mugler: Couturissime, calls the style “a kind of futurist version of the New Look with a touch of fantasy and fetishism.” Mugler amped up the hourglass silhouette favored by Dior and elicited the same feminist criticisms as his predecessor had half a century earlier. Like high heels, though, his fashions can be viewed both as restrictive and as empowering. The designer has argued for the latter: “In my work I’ve always tried to make people ..read more