Jacquemus: Provence, in Paris

In June 2019 Simon Porte Jacquemus put a pink runway through a lavender field in Valensole, in Provence, and showed his tenth anniversary collection on it. It is probably the most photographed fashion show of the last decade, and it was also the most literal statement of intent any designer has made recently: this is where I am from, and it has been the subject the whole time.

A label named after a mother

Jacquemus is his mother's maiden name. She died when he was young, and he founded the label in 2009, shortly after moving from the south of France to Paris and leaving fashion school before finishing.

That is an unusual origin for a house that now sells globally. Most young labels begin as a reaction to something — a scene, a market gap, a rejection of what came before. Jacquemus began as a memorial and a homesickness, and it has never really stopped being about the same place: hard southern light, white walls, terracotta, a body in the sun.

Deconstruction that stays cheerful

The clothes are deconstructed, but not in the Belgian sense of exposing seams and raw edges to make a point about construction. Jacquemus deconstructs by removing. A blazer loses a sleeve. A shirt loses half its body. A dress is cut on a diagonal that has no functional reason to exist.

What is left is geometry: asymmetric crops, oversized trousers against tiny tops, colourblocked knits, shapes that read as sculpture from a distance and as easy clothing up close. The palette runs bright primary and soft pastel, with a lot of white and unbleached natural.

The tone is the distinguishing thing. Most avant-garde tailoring is serious. This is not — it is optimistic on purpose, and that optimism is harder to design than melancholy.

Le Chiquito, and the joke that worked

Then there is the bag. Le Chiquito shrank a normal handbag until it held roughly nothing, and the fashion world spent a season deciding whether it was a joke. It was, and it also sold enormously, and it also turned out to be a serious piece of design — the proportions are correct, the leather is good, and it reads instantly across a room.

That combination of humour and craft is the house's real signature. Jacquemus is one of very few labels that can be funny without being cheap.

Buying it

Sizing is not standard and varies significantly between pieces, because the proportion is part of the design rather than a fit decision. A shirt cut deliberately short will not size up into a normal shirt — it will just be a wider short shirt. Ask before ordering if you are between sizes.

The natural and unbleached fabrics mark. They are meant to, and they wear well, but do not buy cream linen expecting it to stay the colour it arrived in.

The small leather goods are the most durable entry point. The construction is the same as the larger pieces and the shape holds.

At ANSH46

Jacquemus sits well beside the more structural end of our rail — it gives a room air. Southern French light is not something Rotterdam produces on its own, so we import it.

Browse Jacquemus at ANSH46, or see womenswear, menswear and bags.