OLD FRENCH LABEL COMES TO TOWN
Moynat, once a favorite of elite Parisians, was revived quietly in 2011. The brand now makes a quiet entry into Beijing. Chen Jie reports.
Two years ago, a 17-year-old French girl visited Paris. She stood in front of the window of the Moynat store at Rue Saint Hon ore and was fascinated by the bags there. So, she entered the boutique and asked for a job.
Ramesh Nair, Moynat’s creative director, spoke to her on the phone and asked her what her qualifications were.
The girl said: “I have not had any training in bag-making but if you teach me I will learn.”
The answer impressed Nair and also reminded him of Pauline Moynat, the founder of the brand, one of the earliest makers of women’s bags in history.
Moynat moved to Paris at age 16 and was captivated by the local crafts and lifestyle of the city.
She founded the brand in 1849, four years before French trunk and leather goods brand Goyard and five years ahead of Louis Vuitton. Nair said yes to the girl. “For me, I did not want 15 years experience. Young people have passion and a very fresh eye, and they are hungry to learn. Now, after two years of training, the girl can make simple bags herself,” Nair tells China Daily in Beijing.
The Indian-born designer was in the Chinese capital recently to mark the opening of the brand’s first store in the city.
When Moynat started off, she would make made-to-measure trunks and leather travel accessories.
She was later inspired by her muse, the ballerina Gabrielle Rejane, to design the first line of women’s handbags, thus pioneering a modern approach to travel for women at the end of the 19th century.
For the next 100 years, the Moynat brand went through a series of ups and downs. It was once very popular among the Parisian elite for its quality, but closed shop in 1976.
It was revived in 2010 when the founder of European multinational luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, Bernard Arnault, decided to give it a second chance to “preserve French luxury heritage”.
Arnault then picked Nair, who had worked for 10 years with Hermes under Martin Margiela and Jean Paul Gaultier as creative director, and named Guillaume Davin as CEO. Davin was the CEO of Louis Vuitton in Japan earlier.
After a year of preparation, the new Moynat store in Paris opened in December 2011, without any promotional events.
Vogue wrote that Moynat’s reopening was “like a beautiful woman slipping silently into a dinner party”.
In October, the brand arrived at Beijing’s Yintai Center in the same quiet way.
As Davin describes it: “There’s too much communication these days! We wanted to do something quieter. That is the whole flavor of discreet luxury.
“Moynat is old school, a very traditional brand. We are not part of the fashion world. Each bag needs over 20 hours of work by one crafts man. We sell through word of mouth only. We are lucky that we don’t have pressure to expand fast. So there’ s no ambitious store-openingprogram ,” Davin says, adding that Moyna tis still very exclusive, with a store each in Paris, London, Hong Kong and now Beijing.
Unlike some young designers who take over renowned houses and then proceed to ignore the company’s history, Nair respects the history of the brand and believes that comprehending the heritage is integral to the future of the brand.
Nair says: “I’m very happy to be a re-founding member and to become part of the story.”
When Arnault acquired Moynat, only the bare bones of the brand existed. But, they saw tremendous potential in its rich heritage and history, as well as the vintage products they were able to find at auctions and antique dealers, he adds.
“So what I try do is to re-create the story and add value,” says Nair, who works with eight senior artisans to make high-end bags and 30 others to make other products.
“You have a tree. You don’t see the root. But the root is there. For me old Moynat is the root,” he says.
His main goal is to cement the position of Moynat as a heritage brand with deep roots, and to build a brand with true values, leaning heavily on French savoir-faire, quality and elegance, he says.
Asked about new bags, Nair says there is no seasonal trend-based collection. It means that many of the styles can be traced back to the brand’s history.
Many bags feature curves inspired by Moynat’s rounded trunks that were designed to fit into the first automobiles.
“Moynat is not a fashion brand in the sense that we have no seasons or collections timed to coordinate with the fashion calendar. Moynat is something classic, timeless and truly exclusive,” he says.
Nair’s recent trip to Beijing was the first time the designer visited China.
The designer, who spent a few days in the new boutique, says he finds Chinese women “very elegant, very fashionable and with very strong character”.
“We have had a few Chinese clients in Paris and London. They shop with their female friends and ask difficult questions. They are very sophisticated and knowledgeable. When we take out our bags, they look at them very carefully.”