Sentimental parade of "Le Papier" Jacquemus in the Camargue Saltpans.
Known for seeking out-of-the-ordinary locations that reflect his brand identity for his spectacular shows, French designer Simon Porte Jacquemus has explored it all; from the coves of Marseille, passing through a field of lavender and another of wheat, to the beach of Hawaii. We thought that Jacquemus had already done everything, but apparently we were very wrong.
To present his new fall/winter 2022 menswear and womenswear collection outside of the Paris fashion week schedule, the creative used his honed aesthetic sense and cinematic eye to imagine a show over the pristine white, almost lunar landscape of the salt flats of Camargue , at the Salin-de-Giraud saltpeter mine, near Arles, southern France .
The brand took all its guests, including Victoria Beckham , to the Bouches-du-Rhône region, in a town specialized in the exploitation of salt about 40 kilometers from Arles, to reveal its new collection entitled "Le Papier" in collaboration with Nike. As its name indicates, its inspiration was the blank paper and the elongated anthropomorphic sculptures of Alberto Giacometti.
"I started working on the collection with the obsession of starting from scratch, like a blank page," Jacquemus confessed. The two references, both the idea of a blank canvas and the work of the Swiss sculptor, were the starting point for imagining a collection in neutral tones, such as beige, pink and sage that returned the brand to its origins and stood out from the pristine landscape.
The designer wanted to take a break from the explosion of color in his latest collections to return to his organic identity and reconnect with his native south, but without falling into the Provençal cliché of the sea, the beach and the countryside. “We moved 180,000 tons of salt in the last month,” Simón told the French newspaper Le Monde of the long walkway and sculpted benches inside the saltpeter mine.
The models wore tulle veils and tailored skirts, all deconstructed with that characteristic touch of the designer.
Tell us what you think of this new collection and the new location they chose!
Credits: VOGUE.ES, ELLE.MX