INTERVIEW WITH ESTHER BANCEL

Saint-Maur-des-Fossés When did you first realize you wanted to launch a your own label?

Hello, I am Esther, the creator of the brand, I am 28 years old.
http://artedgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/alfacgiapi esther bancel is my second brand… I created my first clothing brand at the age of 5… and that’s when I knew that one day I would create a second one (the real one).

It’s true that at 5 years old, I hadn’t gone beyond the stage of creating a name and a logo, but the idea was there.

So that counts, right?

I grew up in a family where we talked about art every day. A mother who painted all the time and gave me a taste for creation. So before being a lover of fashion, I am first deeply attached to art and artists. As a teenager, I discovered that by combining art and my way of dressing, I could impose myself where I did not feel legitimate. A social protection that allowed me to move forward despite my lack of self-confidence. I always knew that I was going to create, because it is anchored in the family, the clothing is imposed to me thereafter.

If you could go back and tell yourself one thing before beginning your career what would it be?

Don’t be afraid to fail, it’s the best thing that will happen to you.

How do you want your clients to feel when wearing a your brand pieces and in what occasions can be worn?

My clothes combine elegance and irreverence and it’s not by chance.

Since I was young, creating has been a form of exorcism, of bringing to light my own wounds and prohibitions. The garment has for me a liberating role, almost cathartic, which softens while ennobling the unspeakable and fragile part that I sometimes prefer to hide.

Through my creations I explore the duality, the fragility of all things in the hope of sublimating them. When some see darkness, I prefer to see poetry and romanticism
that’s why the brand is dedicated to the audacity & to the affirmation of all that is darkest and most fragile in oneself.

This is what I feel when I wear my creations, this is what I want my customers to feel and I think there is no special occasion to feel this.

Can you tell us how your collections makes a difference to help more the environment?

Since day 1, it was unthinkable for us not to understand and control the impact the brand would have around us. We have been thinking about our entire value chain to be responsible and have the least negative impact possible and the most impact possible.

Of course we manufacture locally. We are in France, so currently all our pieces are 100% made in France. Not just a piece. They are made from start to finish in France. But it’s not at all. We have at heart, even more, it’s a mission for us, to value and keep alive the know-how of the tailor. So we work with the last tailors in France. Our final mission is to prevent the extinction of this know-how and to revive training and apprenticeship around this unique know-how. Oh and also we only manufacture to order. So we have NO waste because NO stock.

Concerning our materials, the rule is simple: if you can’t go and buy them by foot, by bike or by train, it’s because they are too far. We have banned transportation. Moreover, we only use what we have in stock. We never have any material produced for us. That’s why all our pieces are in fact in limited series. We could like that detail the whole of our operation but that would be a little long… let us say that we systematically privilege the virtuous solutions even if it costs us more.

There is one important person, in your life, who pushes and motivates you to believe in yourself?

I believe that my husband Morgan and I have this role for each other. We are a team in life and in the professional world.

If one of us has a slump, the other takes over and vice versa.

This is a chance to be partners and to be able to count on each other. To be on the same wavelength and to have common objectives. He believes in me, better, he believes in us.

Describe us you as a creative in your personal life and how your feelings influence the creativity process?

My personal life and my creativity are one and the same. It is difficult to separate them. I don’t cheat. What you see in my creations is me. So my daily emotions directly influence my creations. Finally they are the result of a mixture between my inspirations and my states.

Would you like to involve other creatives in your future projects and what do you think is the main mission of the CO-BRANDING concept?

If your question is whether we are considering collaborations with other brands, the answer is a BIG YES. We are big believers in the collaborative system. In sharing, in helping each other, in mixing creations. We are always stronger together than apart. It is therefore essential for the future that we collaborate and move forward with other creatives to create beautiful projects that make sense and share our messages.

What is the slogan of your brand?

elegance is not dead.

What are the next steps for your label, in order to grow up more?

We are in the middle of developing our physical presence. We are looking for multi-brand stores that believe in our project. We started in digital and now it’s time to be present in the field. The 2 years of COVID did not help us to develop on this way but it is in 2022 the objective n°1.