Jacquemus, from couturier to designer
In fourteen years, Simon Porte Jacquemus has revolutionized French fashion by opening it up to everyone. And “everyone” is not a word chosen by chance since he opened it up to young people through his style, his prices and his temporary pop-up store Jacquemus24/24, but also to older women as his grandmother is his first fan. He made it inclusive, remembering back to his Love Against Homophobia ad campaign. And he made it solar, a masterstroke in an often cold universe, for this native of the South who never ceases to dedicate to his roots his poetic collections which advocate freedom, like his idol Isabelle Adjani in L'Deadly summer. Whether his collections La Grande-Motte, in 2013, Le Papier, which paraded in a lavender field in the Camargue, or Le Raphia in 2022, the couturier has so much passion to share with us that he continues to add strings to his bow.
A desk that speaks volumes. We still remember the first time that fashion designer Simon Porte Jacquemus revealed the interior of his new offices in the 8th arrondissement of Paris on Instagram in 2021. A palette of beiges in pure lines and organic details playing on volumes highlighted in majesty its design collection. We discovered, room after room, the Mississippi sofa by Pierre Paulin (who foresaw the emergence of collectible design), the Camaleonda sofa by Mario Bellini (the latter contributed to the promotion of industrial design after war and created the first personal computer in history in 1965 for Olivetti, called the Divisumma 18/28 calculator), the round wooden and plaster speakers from Elipson (the oldest brand of its kind, founded in 1938), the Beosystem 5500 hi-fi system, briefcases by the Bouroullec Brothers (French design both aesthetically and technically), the Howard Meister chair (great American name), the Prima Duna desk table by Alessandro Mendini (who used colour to revive everyday objects) or even wooden statues by the artist Jean Touret (famous for his liturgical works). More than an office or a showroom, the space has been designed as an art gallery to contemplate with pieces that tell a story, and this story is that of the couturier. Because in addition to being a designer, Simon Porte Jacquemus, this esthete at heart, has just produced his first design collection.
Tribute to Gae Aulenti. A rare female voice has managed to make itself heard on the architectural scene of the 20th century, the avant-garde Gae Aulenti is a theoretician of post-war architecture who adhered to the ideas of Neoliberty, the Italian movement which promoted a return to ornamentation and personal stylistic expressiveness. We owe him the transformation of the former Gare d'Orsay into a museum dedicated to 19th century art, but also the famous Pipistrello lamp ("bat", in Italian) imagined in 1965 and which adorns the most beautiful apartments around the world, the marble coffee table Jumbo Table edited by Knoll or the table on wheels in the style of an industrial trolley, baptized T avolo con Ruoto. But above all, his work is marked by the realization of the Pinacoteca in Turin which evokes his friendship with the most elegant couple in Italy, Gianni and Marella Agnelli (Fiat automobile group) whose most beautiful interiors adorn the most prestigious coffee table books.
For them, the architect realized their house in the Brera district in Milan as well as the restoration of the Palazzo Grassi in Venice into an international exhibition centre before it was bought by Mr. François Pinault in 2005, and in turn transformed in contemporary art foundation. It is therefore not surprising that Jacquemus wanted to pay tribute to the talented Gae Aulenti with his “Objets” collection and his collaboration with the luxury furniture e-commerce site Exteta.
The story of a collaboration. For this first collection, the couturier traveled to Rio de Janeiro to La Maison des Canoas designed by Oscar Niemeyer where he staged his reissues of the iconic Locus Solus collection designed by Gae Aulenti in 1964, in collaboration with Exteta. Covered with a yellow, white and navy striped canvas on the Sgarsul armchair, a sun lounger more than two metres long and a white metal tube chair.
As he explains: “This collaboration with Exteta happened naturally and spontaneously. I've always dreamed of developing a line of furniture... I'm a big fan of designer chairs and I've been collecting Gae Aulenti's vintage chairs for many years, ever since I saw them in Jacques Deray's film La Piscine. I wanted to add a Jacquemus touch to the chair, with a striped yellow fabric inspired by 80's beach mattresses and umbrellas,” the designer explained in a statement. This outdoor furniture was one of a kind by the Italian architect. In addition to these three models, Simon Porte Jacquemus has imagined a collection of leather objects made up of a small dish like a ceramic, a tray with double handles, a clothespin loop, a plate, a cutlery key ring, a small vase, a bucket basket or even a handbag-style tray of strawberries, as well as laurel or flower hair sticks, to name but a few, as well coloured in lemon yellow, earth, strawberry and sometimes blue sky.
This capsule is embellished with a selection of original prints by photographer Lucien Clergue (native of Arles, Picasso amide and famous for his black and white nudes, who founded the beginnings of the Rencontres de la photographie d'Arles) and vintage books rare, selected by Simon to pay tribute to his favourite artists, such as David Hockney, Tarsila Do Amaral, René Burri, Luis Barragán, Claude Nori, Pablo Picasso... The designer testifies to the many influences that permeate his brand which, here, celebrates the Le Raphia collection through the prism of interior design, decoration and art. Jacquemus, this visionary, definitely has talent in his blood.
