Would a luxury brand have paraded in Marseille ten years ago? Chanel, which organized its “cruise” show on the roof of the Cité radieuse on May 2, would undoubtedly not have targeted the Marseille city, because it then lacked the fashion biotope that exists today. “For several years now, the city has been seen as a fertile creative breeding ground”notes Mélanie Gomis, founder of the ready-to-wear brand Gomis, which also offers a small tailor-made offering, entirely made in Marseille, with Italian fabrics. “In 2019, I was looking to settle down and I chose Marseille, because I felt something was happening, like in Berlin in the 1990s.”
“There has been a creative buzz since the city was designated European Capital of Culture in 2013”says Alix de Moussac, a Parisian originally who settled in Marseille in 2014 to found La Nouvelle, a lingerie brand. “comfortable and sexy”. “Jacquemus also contributed to changing the image of Marseille”, adds the entrepreneur. The Provençal designer with a dazzling international career presented his collection “Les santons de Provence” in 2017 in Marseille, followed by the publication of a book with an evocative title, Marseille I love you. In 2018, Christelle Kocher, designer of the Parisian house Koché, organized a fashion show on the ferry Danielle-Casanovawhich connects the Phocaean city to Corsica, Algeria and Tunisia.
Alongside these ephemeral events, sustainable fashion initiatives have flourished, such as the Jogging concept store, inaugurated in 2015, which offers fashion items, beauty products, etc. “We did things with few resourcesexplains co-founder Olivier Amsellem. We set up shop in a butcher’s shop that we have barely renovated, with the desire to enhance the layers of the past. »
“An alternative to Paris, London and New York”
“Marseille is now fashionable, but it has always been a fashion city”defends Maryline Bellieud-Vigouroux, a local entrepreneur who, since 1986, set herself the objectives of developing training in fashion professions and supporting emerging brands. “There has been a textile tradition there since Colbert made it a free port in 1669she recalls. It is a city which has absorbed numerous waves of immigration, Armenian embroiderers in the 1920s, Italian tailors fleeing the rise of fascism…”
Maryline Bellieud-Vigouroux is at the origin of the Maison Mode Méditerranée endowment fund, which has accompanied and financially supported fashion professionals since 1988; she also laid the first stone of the Museum of Decorative Arts, Earthenware and Fashion at Château Borély, inaugurated in 2013. And launched the OpenMyMed fashion festival, which promotes new talents from Marseille. In addition, several fashion and design schools are located in Marseille, including Studio Lausié, which has been teaching eco-responsible fashion techniques since 2021. Mélanie Gomis, who teaches courses there, is delighted that “young students are now planning for the city”.
“Marseille offers an alternative to Paris, London and New York, with a more modest, less luxury fashion vision. Pieces in small series, but attractive »summarizes Maryline Bellieud-Vigouroux. “We found a gentle way of life in Marseille which allowed us to develop our project with few resources”explains Alix de Moussac. “The rent is more accessible than in Paris, the network is smaller, so connections are made faster. » “Being a trader [à l’heure du numérique]it’s hard, I don’t really earn a living, admits Olivier Amsellem. But that suits me. With Jogging, I discover a place, a way of being. I tell a story, that of Marseille. »