A personality matching the brand.
The last few years, Jacquemus has experienced a boom and a quick progression in the fashion industry, going from a new and beginning brand to a staple of fashion. The passion of clothes, a different way of operating and creativity have shaped and participated in the success of the brand, but also the personality and behaviour of the designer have highly contributed to it. Let’s dig deeper, and explore more!
The story of the brand, as many, is related to the creator and designer’s one. Simon Porte Jacquemus, born in 1990 in the south of France, went to Paris in 2008 to study fashion. In fact, in 2010, he created his first “collection”, clothes worn by his friends and people he knew during events. That’s the creation and birth of the brand Jacquemus. A lot has happened since there. In 2012, he presented for the first time his collection during the Paris Fashion Week. In 2015, Simon was the winner of the special jury prize at an international fashion competition for young designers: the LVMH prize.
That’s mainly after 2015 that the brand was officially created and operating. Things became more serious and real for the designer and the brand.
So now that you had a quick overview of the brand and Simon, we can start talking and analysing a bit more about the strategy they adopted and the progress of the brand. First of all, we might admit that Jacquemus is a creative, disruptive and inspiring fashion brand. It aims to have a different approach to the industry and to do things differently than what has always been done.
Generally speaking and focusing on the collections, what is surprising is the simplicity of the creations. Jacquemus is not about over-showing or about being seen and extravagant. It is a good example of simple luxury and modest clothing. No big patterns or names written, simple shapes, colours, and designs. That is what makes the brand so well known and liked: the simplicity and its minimalistic aspect.
What is even more interesting is the way they use proportion and key designs to go viral and make the collection liked. For example, the “chiquitos” bags, or the big hat. Small or huge proportions, still in a simple shape and colours, but the size changes and makes it all. The brand makes it to be original and different by playing with aspects we would not think at first. These items became icon and signature pieces for Jacquemus.
On the other hand, the clothes and items Jacquemus offered are influenced by the designer’s life and origins. This participates to create a South of France identity and authentic trait to the brand. South of France is known for the summer, the beach, the warmth and lightness of the place and the people. It is a sort of a way of living and mantra. Simon has, for example, presented many collections in the South of France. He also included specific elements to the patterns of the fabrics or to the shape of the clothes, related and in honour of his region.
But limiting Jacquemus to a fashion and cloth brand would be lying and holding the truth. We have talked about creativity and disruption within the industry and how they process. In fact, the brand does not participate in every fashion week organised and has a more limited collection to drop every year. Most of all, they try to not limit themselves to fashion and to explore different universes. As a matter of fact, customers and fans are always waiting for the brand to open some pop up stores or corners with a brand new concept. They did it with flowers some time ago, but also used to open “fashion dispensers’ ‘. This last concept is about places where people can get in, choose an item as they would choose a can or a juice on a food dispenser, pay and then collect their item.
All of these are viral on social media and it allows the brand to keep this close, fun and positive image they already have. It is also a good way to humanise a brand that tends to be categorised as luxury through its prices. This way, anyone can access it, and that is a chance for anyone to meet Simon and to be actively engaged with the brand and the products. Communication and marketing is kind of mastered by Jacquemus, and this is visible on their social media. We tend to believe that their Instagram account participated to make the brand viral, iconic and that famous. The feed was smartly constructed and thought, as well as the stories. When looking at the account, it mostly sounds like we follow Simon, instead of the brand, which participates by reducing the borders between a non-physical entity and the human-being behind it. Giving attributes to the brand, humanising it and relating the brand to its creator and designer is smart, entertaining and sustainable.
Another concept related to the origins of Simon, the brand and fashion is the restaurant they opened “Le Citron”. As a fashion brand and designer, operating into the food industry was actually a good move to diversify its playground and keep the DNA of the South of France. Also, it contributes to the experience seeking from the customers and to being different and authentic, as a brand operating in the fashion industry. It helps feeling closer to it and relating to the brand in some ways.
Jacquemus partnered recently with Nike for the creation of a sneaker collection. They now extend into the footwear industry and try to always catch up with the customers expectations and to bring newness to their main activity. We have seen the design of the collection, and we believe that it will be an enormous success. Let’s wait and see!
Now you probably know a bit more about Jacquemus, Simon, their strategy and why we cannot qualify the brand as “classic”. We love their audacity and creativity and we only ask for more. We have never been disappointed so far, and we are looking forward to seeing what is coming next! We hope that you like as much as we do, Jacquemus.
