Who are these entrepreneurs and new brands that embody the next generation? In the fashion sector, the MaisonCléo stylist, Marie Dewet, is one of those young designers who are upsetting the rules of the game. The French Touch draws her portrait.

Long gone are the days when the Devil still wore Prada. In 2022, the character played by Meryl Streep would probably act like Léandra Médine (creator of the Man Repeller site followed by a million people). In a few clicks on Instagram, she would rush to the looks of Marie Dewet, 30, founder of HouseCléo, the small rising French brand that fashion enthusiasts can't take their eyes off of, from Paris to New York.

The young designer from Calais had a dazzling success, arriving during the first confinement. But the one who today preferred old Lille to Paris to set up her design studio has remained faithful to her initial intuition. Imagine cutting-edge, hand-sewn fashion, using fabric scraps and thin rolls from luxury houses and local details (“buttons in the Somme, vintage Noyon lace in Calais, etc.”), marketed in small quantities on the fashion clever and eco-friendly custom-made pre-order. It's up to customers to be patient: MaisonCléo's online store only opens on Wednesdays at 18:30 p.m. – 12:30 p.m. in New York – in order to keep up. It's up to the boutiques and other multi-brands to accept the limited quantities… even if the checkered wool to design such a new jacket is only available for three pieces. " This is what makes the charm of MaisonCléo “says the one who says she draws her creative inspiration from the universal beauty, and ultimately quite classic, of feminine curves.

"I couldn't find what suited me among the young labels"

MaisonCléo is part of the quest for authenticity that marks the beginning of the 2020s. My clients often tell me that they feel like their grandmother sewed them the garment. The story of MaisonCléo began in 2016 like this: Because I couldn't find what suited me among the young labels, too much shoddy material made by machine in rooms without windows. I bought silk and asked my seamstress mother (nicknamed Cléo Editor's note) to reproduce clothes for me according to my drawings ". A few looks posted on Instagram are generating interest. While working at Vestiaire Collective at the time, Marie improvised a commercial website, without imagining what awaited her. Today, you have to jostle to hope to acquire the “Agnès” blouse with puffed sleeves that has become her iconic piece.

To its credit: the label, which organized its first show last March in Paris (based on ultra-tight fuchsia pink tube dresses and turquoise wild silk mini-skirts), is part of the select club of young brands sold by the prestigious Net to Carry, who are " and the only brand Made in France by hand “, she specifies. Going from the "small personal project" to the SME and the assumed entrepreneurship, this hard worker is now surrounded by a team of 14 people, " all women »: seamstresses, knitters etc. And the one who has shown her ability to skilfully slip into the system has no intention of trading her freshness for the legendary stress of the sector. " It's really not the money that motivates me. My goal is to make accessible the Made in France quality ". And to participate in this overhaul of our way of consuming.