Farewell to Maria Luisa Poumaillou, the pioneer of the multi-brand store
who helped launch the careers of Gaultier, Galliano and Margiela
‘A lot of people don’t want to officially accept it but Zara and H&M gave us a lesson. What is Chanel doing right now? You have a Chanel collection every six weeks in the store between resort, cruise, pre-collection, collection — it’s the Zara effect.’
Iwas deeply saddened when I heard of the passing of Maria Luisa Poumaillou last April 7. According to a press statement, she lost her battle with cancer. In my line of work where I get to interview leading figures and icons of the fashion industry, seldom does one find a strong connection to these figures in ivory towers. But the moment I was introduced to Maria Luisa, I felt right away that our interview was going to be one for the books — the kind that one remembers for a long time not only for the memorable and uncensored quotes, but also the interview session’s dynamics and the easy banter.
To many serious fashion observers, the name Maria Luisa easily calls to mind the height of fashion. In her heyday, before globalization took over the retail landscape, Maria Luisa and her eponymous store on Paris’ Rue Cambon was the epicenter of all things innovative and avant-garde. It was in the late 1980s when she opened her first store and, with it, she helped launch the careers of Jean Paul Gaultier, John Galliano, Martin Margiela and Helmut Lang. She later opened two more outposts in Paris.
But the advent of big fashion conglomerates had put a strain on small, independent multi-brand boutiques and around 2009 she closed her stores and opened a shop-in-shop at Printemps, and teamed up with Yoox and Thecorner.com to sell online. At her shop-in-shop at Printemps, she highlighted the works of new names like Anthony Vacarello, J.W. Anderson and Simone Rocha.
I met Maria Luisa when she opened a pop-up store in Hong Kong in 2011. And in the hour or so that we chatted, she talked about business strategies, the ups and downs of her career, and the future of fashion (all of which remain relevant today). For those in the fashion and retail industry, her wise words will come in handy.
You were a pioneer of the multi-brand store. How has business changed from when you started to now?
Maria Luisa Poumaill ou: It has become corporate. It’s become all about marketing and globalization. Individual talent and personality have kind of gone down. Art directors and marketers have become the most important people right now. It’s a pity. It’s less creative and has become all about business.
In Europe and the US, multi-brand stores are disappearing more and more. The Internet is an absolute revolution and it changed the game.
But e-commerce seems to be what’s working now and where the future is headed…
It’s very difficult, e-commerce. You have to secure payment, answer 24 hours a day. You have to think of shipping and returns. And if you are a small, local business, that is very difficult. There are a lot of e-commerce sites now but in a few years, the big e-commerce
‘Before, fashion addicts would travel to London, Paris and Milan
to get the very best. Now it is everywhere. They have it in all the
stores, on the Internet.’
sites will swallow all the small ones and will operate it for them.
It’s so hard finding unique and special things when you travel now because all the stores look the same, they have the same windows, the same merchandise…
It’s because of globalization. Before, fashion addicts would travel to London, Paris and Milan to get the very best. Now it is everywhere. They have it in all the stores, on the Internet. For a girl from New York or Hong Kong, when she goes to Paris now, her priority is no longer to shop. Whereas before shopping in Rome, Paris or Milan was a must when traveling.
If your store couldn’t survive the ever-competitive industry, what hope is there for us?
I decided to move to Printemps because it was ridiculous to fight with the big stores over a tiny clientele, so I made a move that was in step with the 21st century. I felt that if I went on I would be the stupidest woman ever.
To survive is to make yourself into a showroom. 10 Corso Como is not a statement. It’s a showroom for every brand. It used to be a statement. It used to sell styles that looked like the owner Carla Sozzani. Colette has always been a showroom.
The stores that remain are those that have become showrooms or marketing tools like Colette or 10 Corso Como. They used to have a fashion point of view but now they no longer do because they have to compete with the Internet and monobrand stores. But they found a way to survive. I respect how they do business but it is not my way.
What catches your eye as a buyer?
It’s more about what I do not like. Whenever it is too easy to copy, we don’t touch it because it will be everywhere, like digital prints. It will be at H&M and Zara even before it is delivered.
Can we blame Zara and H&M for making the fashion cycle too fast?
A lot of people don’t want to officially accept it but Zara and H&M gave us a lesson. What is Chanel doing right now? You have a Chanel collection every six weeks in the store between resort, cruise, pre-collection, collection — it’s the Zara effect. Call it what you want. Fashion has become so disposable. You will not be able to fight it because we have become global. This is why you have designers who get burned out from producing 14 collections a year, like poor John Galliano.