Named after the contraction of the French words for Day and Born, and meaning Daytime, Jour/né is a young Paris-based brand with a strong position. Lou, Lea and Jerry gave birth to what they consider their precious newborn a few months ago, but the baby seems a grown up already. Their first collection for Spring-Summer 2015 focuses on the different occasions of a daytime: beautifully crafted pieces from quality materials, made in Europe and styled to live with, form an original but yet easy and versatile daily wardrobe. METAL met the trio for an informal discussion about their project.
Where do you guys come from?
We are on our early twenties, and we are from Paris. Lou graduated from the reference styling classes at Studio Berçot three years ago and worked at Marc Jacobs’ studio. Lea studied fashion and business and worked on various missions for LVMH brands such as Berlutti, Givenchy and Chanel. Jerry has a degree on fashion business and management, he worked on the development of brands such as Nike and Valentino.
What do you like, what moves you the most?
We all love travels. We traveled a lot, either together for holidays or by ourselves. We’ve lived abroad as well. This is an important point when talking about our inspirations. Then, Lou has those strong inspirations coming from streetwear, as she has been a dancer for many years and is always looking for comfortable clothes. Her vintage and sneakers collection is impressive. Lea has a keen interest in art, especially in the surrealist and the new realism movements. Jerry is passionate about automobile and watchmaking, so he is the one who sees all the details in a very functional way. We have very different backgrounds and universes, but we are complementary.
How did you meet each other?
Lea and Jerry through friends they had in common, Lea and Lou through their boyfriends. Separately, we used to talk about fashion all the time, and the idea of founding a brand was growing bigger and bigger... So, we just needed to gather the puzzle's pieces. Lea made Lou and Jerry meet as well, and in one single evening, it matched.
So, even if you had some abstract willings before, the Jour/né project itself went on very quickly once the team once set up, didn’t it?
Yes. Everything went quite fast. Jour/né was born last January. We all had this wish to create a brand, and, despite our differences, we all had the same vision. The Jour/né concept came up naturally as well. We had the same opinions and immediately agreed on investing a quotidian wardrobe.
Building up a brand is a lot of work, I feel like you have to be crazy or unconscious to plunge into such a project, or you really need a strong click, right?
We all love our jobs in the fashion industry, but we wanted to blossom in our work even more, so a way to do it was to invest our creativity in a very special project, a personal project. We were looking for freedom and independence, in a way. But we probably wouldn’t have done it alone. Once we met, everything just fell into place.
How do you organize the different parts of your work at Jour/né?
We all took the reins of Jour/né's global direction: name, logo, concept. Then, drawing the collection and working on matters is mainly Lou and Lea's part, but Jerry always brings his eye and bright ideas for details. When the collection plan is established, we take each piece separately and question them: which occasion is it intended for - which function and use - what are the details…? And then we add our special answers: a magnetic opening, a secret pocket, a wiper for glasses slipped in a seam… This is probably what forms Jour/né's DNA. And even if we kept other activities, we meet or call each other everyday. All our free time is for Jour/ne. It became much more than a working issue, it is a part of our lives, a way of life.
Making daily wear, putting clothes and reality together is an interesting position, as everyday life and fashion are not necessarily linked anymore…
Indeed. We love strong pieces, but generally, people cannot wear their designer clothes everyday, either because of functional or special care purposes. We wanted to revive the essence of ready-to-wear. Nowadays, most ready-to-wear collections are closer to couture than to something easy to live with. Jour/né's clothes are ready to wear, and ready to live too. We think about us, about what we would like to wear in all sorts of occasions, about whatever we cannot find on the market today. For example, all the pieces are pre-washed, they won't change after the first use, we want them to last and stay beautiful.
The images of your first campaign are fun and strong at the same time. Can you tell us a bit more about them?
It is important for us to work with people we admire, and to make our different inspirations match. The campaign was shot by Marwane Pallas, a young photographer with an artistic background. We had never done fashion before, but we wanted to work with him anyway, he is very talented. It was a real collaboration, as we wanted to feel his universe in the pictures, as well as ours.
How do you prepare and imagine Jour/né's future?
The collection will be launched next February. In Paris, Jour/né will be sold exclusively at Colette and Le Bon Marché. You will find us at Penelope in Italy, and in some Japanese concept stores. Our website is going to grow and an e-commerce platform will be added by February too.
We love collaborating with young artists too. We really want to work with people and to be in a back and forth creative interaction. Seeing how other people can interpret our clothes, in pictures for example, is amazing for us. Talking of which, we have some special secret collaboration projects to come… The years to come will be particularly exciting as we have new ideas everyday, even crazy ones, and we want to grow more and more. Jour/né's journey has just began…
We love collaborating with young artists too. We really want to work with people and to be in a back and forth creative interaction. Seeing how other people can interpret our clothes, in pictures for example, is amazing for us. Talking of which, we have some special secret collaboration projects to come… The years to come will be particularly exciting as we have new ideas everyday, even crazy ones, and we want to grow more and more. Jour/né's journey has just began…
