Ajout rapide
MaisonCléo for Centre Commercial
Meeting with Marie Dewet, founder of the brand.
MaisonCléo is a made in France women's ready-to-wear brand. Each garment, made-to-order and to measure, is carefully brought to life by their seamstresses and knitresses in their North of France based atelier. Since 2017, the brand revives precious fabrics and yarns from French and Italian Couture Houses, designers and factories, in limited capacity or vintage. Now, MaisonCléo connects with Centre Commercial for an exclusive capsule dotted with red vichy, denim and tartan, inspired by its native countryside to cowgirls in search of fresh air.
When and where did it all start?
I created MaisonCléo at the end of my studies. During my internships in Paris and Bruxelles, I was able to experience the fashion industry from the inside. I didn’t like it because I naively thought that clothes were made the same way I was used to seeing it in my family, in an artisanal way. My great-grandmother owned a fashion house, my grandmother and my mother, they were all good seamstresses who handcrafted everything by themselves. I realized that big brands factories favor automated and faster systems. It was not the picture I had of fashion.
So, I decided to only wear French brands, that matched my vision of fashion. I didn’t find any because they were only luxury brands made in France. Being a French brand doesn’t mean your products are made in France. I couldn't find any, except expensive brands for which I didn't have the budget. So, I started to buy fabric and my mother, who has been a seamstress since she was thirteen years old, made my clothes for me. Meanwhile I posted what we were doing on Instagram. People started to like it and this is how MaisonCléo was born.
Why the name MaisonCléo ?
MaisonCléo ? “Maison” because all the women in my family were into sewing. “Cléo” simply refers to my mother’s nickname. We didn't go far to find it. Everyone calls her Cléo. So MaisonCléo.
What inspires you?
Materials inspire me the most. I worked for three years at Vestiaire Collective and every time I had, even just a shoe, I wanted to feel it, to touch it. It's the love of materials, it started from there. At MaisonCléo, we don’t make our fabrics, so it’s constant research to find the perfect gem, especially in Italy, among the surplus left by the Haute Couture houses. The inspiration comes from the fabrics I find and receive, and from there, I imagine what can be done. If you use wild silk or muslin silk for example, the piece will not look the same at all. It can make a lot of different pieces and from there other ideas come out. Everything starts with the fabric, since I can never know what I'm going to find ahead of time.
What is your creative process?
It’s a teamwork: I have basic ideas that I present to the rest of the team and then with the help of the knitters and seamstresses we think about what is doable or not. Sometimes I have ideas and I finally realize they are impossible to make with such fabric because the final piece would not be the desired one. So, the girls come up with solutions to match as much as possible with what I thought.
What materials do you work with the most? Does everything come from Italy?
The raw materials come from three different places. Those from Italy are my favorite because they are the ones from the luxury houses and the most beautiful, they are incredible. These are high fashion fabrics. The second place is in Paris, stocks of fabrics that have been produced in too large quantities by other designers. And the third place is in Belgium, these are the factories that produce with surplus for their customers. In Belgium, when factories produce for a customer, they always do a little more in case of a breakdown or to offer several possibilities to brands.
How many people work at MaisonCléo today?
We are thirteen. Ludivine and I work on the artistic direction, the brand image. There are three people knitting, three people sewing and the rest of the team oversees all the communication and marketing stuff: a person in charge of shipments and customer service, another person working on the website, and one on marketing & communications.
If you could choose, what would be your favorite piece among all those you have created?
It is the piece from the first fashion show we did in March 2022. It is a dress knitted in 100% cotton yarn. I think it took at least two weeks to complete. It's a simple dress on which the girls have added crochet seafood. I find it beautiful because it gives an interesting volume and structure to the dress. It was simple but at the same time, with all their little crochet details added, the seamstresses and knitters had to work on it until the day before the show. It's a piece I love.
What made you stand out from the crowd?
The brand took off in July 2017. When Leandra Medine, editor of the Man Repeller, placed an order. I didn't think it was the real one. She was my favorite blogger, very famous in US and it was indeed the real Leandra Medine. We had only 3000 followers on Instagram at the time. Nobody knew us, we had 10 orders a month and it was already incredible for my mom and me. It turns out that she wrote an article after receiving her order and from then on, every second we were gaining followers and in one minute we received forty orders. I had to shut down the website in a hurry, so that we would not be overwhelmed, because we were not able to produce large quantities. Thanks to Leandra's article, we have acquired many clients in the United States, while in France we were still unknown. This sudden exposure is a matter of luck and a bit of Instagram algorithm, because Leandra discovered us while scrolling her Instagram discovery, she has been drawn by our white Agnès blouse, which is still our bestseller today
What could we wish you, for the future?
It is very simple, the future of MaisonCléo I see it as it is now. I have no desire to get bigger, to become a multinational company. I want us to remain as we are: very simple, keep creating pieces and simply do what we like.
MaisonCléo
Ajout rapide
Ajout rapide
Ajout rapide
Ajout rapide
Ajout rapide
Ajout rapide
Ajout rapide
Ajout rapide
Ajout rapide