Marine Serre
WHY DOES THE world need another fashion brand? That’s the question Marine Serre has been pondering since winning the 2017 edition of the LVMH Prize for Young Designers in June, an event that propelled the 25-year-old into the international spotlight only a year after her graduation from Belgian school La Cambre.
It proved a bonanza moment for the young talent, who in the same year was a finalist of both the Hyères International Festival of Fashion and Photography and the ANDAM Fashion Award Creative Label prize.
Serre has used the 300,000-euro prize to build her team. “When we won, there was just me, my sister [Justine Serre] and my boyfriend [Pepijn van Eeden]. Now, we’re around 10 people,” said the designer, adding that being thrust into the spotlight has led to some deep reflection on her newfound responsibilities as she moves from designer to the owner of a brand. (She quit her job on the design team of Balenciaga around six months ago in order to focus all her energies on her label.)
“I’m really happy to be given the chance to share a certain vision and to change, even if it’s super small, what I can change,” said Serre who has made responsible production — “who stitched it, where the fabric is coming from” — a priority. She works with factories in Italy, France and Portugal.
“What is important for me is that I don’t want to overproduce, meaning what you see [on the runway] is what you get; you won’t have 25,000 more pieces in the showroom,” she said.
Her first Paris show, on
Feb. 27, will feature 30 full silhouettes, with a focus on outerwear.
In terms of mentors, Serre has worked on the teams of Matthieu Blazy at Maison Margiela and Raf Simons at Dior. The overriding lesson from Balenciaga’s Demna Gvasalia, she said, and for her generation as a whole, “is that he’s made it obvious that we can do things differently, and this is good — to just have the guts to do something and go for it.”
But when asked about the relevance of the fashion show format today, she revealed another major influence. “I started fashion because of Alexander McQueen, so I don’t really believe in fashion without a fashion show — not meaning that a fashion show needs to be [this huge thing], but that you share this moment with people that you love, that believe in what you do and the energy you create there,” said Serre.
“Instagram and social media are clearly really important today because they’re relaying a lot of thoughts from people and everything is going around, but I don’t think they will ever replace direct contact with people and the exchanges you have with them,” added Serre. “I’m also from the countryside, so maybe I need to feel people, and I think a show is really good for that. And also for the team, for drawing the end-point of the collection.” (Born in the Corrèze department in southwestern France, Serre lived in Marseille and Brussels before moving to Paris in September 2016.)
Then again, the independent-minded designer said she may choose to go the Azzedine Alaïa way, and show when she feels like it.
Her own point of difference, she hopes, is based on acting. “Today, we are a lot of brands trying to do things and say things that we believe. And the hardest thing is acting on what you say,” said Serre. “It’s really difficult — not just in fashion, but in the world in general. And it’s what I try to stick to, and to keep the enjoyment in what I do.”
The designer’s graduate collection, titled Radical
Call for Love, was politically charged, merging Nineties sportswear influences with luxurious 19th-century Arabic garments. She mixed moiré taffeta with surfer jerseys, with the crescent moon symbol replacing the sports logo, “that most metaphysical, ideological element of secular consumer culture.” A small collection for spring followed, with stockists including Dover Street Market and Opening Ceremony in New York.
The role of the designer, she said, is to act as a sponge. “You keep your eyes and ears open, sponge everything up, and then squeeze it to see what sticks,” said the designer. “[In] the world today, we have so much information, and that’s what [my collections] reflect. But it’s not because we have a lot of information that things should not be sharp.”
It’s been a whirlwind few months for Serre since winning the LVMH Prize. But the goal, she said, is to remain grounded and keep working with people who love what she does.
“That’s how the story started,” said Serre. “People came to my [100-square-foot] studio in Paris even before we won the prize. That was quite a magical experience for me at the time, and quite unexpected.