CLAIRE CHATAIGNER OR THE TAILORING AT THE IDENTITY'S SERVICE

I met Claire Châtaigner a month ago, when she made me discover leather craftsmanship. Immediately, I noticed the genuine love for her art - because it is an art. She is a master at tailoring with exceptional ethic and ideas. After meeting in January, she offered to show me her studio.

After getting some time to learn more about Claire and her universe, I can tell that she is not only talented, she is gifted! But not only. She is truly interested in helping woman to create tailor-made clothes that fit them and don't constrain their body.

But let's be honest, she talks better about it than I do. So, here is the interview of Claire Châtaigner about her beliefs, inspirations and future projects.

#INTERVIEW:

4am Journal: How did you become a tailor specialized in womenswear?

Claire Châtaigner: I have been creating, since I was 8 years-old. I always wanted to create for myself, as I did not find what I was looking for. At that time, childswear was not as diverse as it is now. So I sneaked into my mother's wardrobe to take some outfits. In the 80s, I also had the luck to attend parties where women were dressed in Dior. I was in love with the womenswear at that time. When getting older, I got more interested by the body. During my law and politic sciences studies, I did thesis on the genders issue and the place of women in politics in Ancient Egypt. I started another thesis, related to the body in law, that I interrupted to become tailor. In 2006, I founded my first brand: L'Armoire de Claire. Madame Carven was my first show's sponsor. I always thought that in contemporary fashion the clothes were not really respectful of the women's body. It is either imprisonned or a fantasy. Its reality is not always respected. So to answer that issue, I wanted to work following two approaches. The first one is the semi-mesure, which means that I create collections and clients come to have the clothes made according their measures. We select together the fabric. Nothing is pre-manufactured. The second approach is the grande mesure, which is my favorite one because it allows me to give back to women their will to dress for themselves and by themselves with the respect of their body shape and identity. My goal is to help them to regain a part of their freedom, by freeing their silhouette.

4am Journal: What is the source of your inspiration?

Claire Châtaigner: Arts. To me, arts communicate between each other. I go to see exhibitions. I read. To design a universe, you have to empregnate of everything surrounding. It may even be made of human relationships. The human interactions trigger the curiosity and the inspiration.

4am Journal: You come from a long line of leather craftsmen. How do you use this inheritance in your creations?

Claire Châtaigner: In my designs, I integrate leather details, in the jackets or coats for example. I also create clothes completely made of leather. It is a recurrence in my designs. It can be in small touches or in total look. It depends.

4am Journal: You have ambassadors of your brand. Tell me more about them.

Claire Châtaigner: My ambassadresses are long-standing clients. They know the products, the tailoring. They also have influence, a network. For example, Alexandra Baldeh (Consulenza of France at Sao Paulo) who accepted the welcome an exhibition I work on, is one of them. My ambassadresses are women with a large network, who wear my brand for special occasions. They are part of my brand, but overall they are my friends. They are amazing powerful women. There is a real relationship with me and my brand, but also between them. In a way the love of the silhouette gather women in a network. It develops synergies.

4am Journal: You have already done fashion shows to showcase your previous collections. Do you plan to do new ones for your upcoming creations, such as the pyjamas line you just launched?

Claire Châtaigner: I would love to. It will depend on how the brand expand. I finally have my brand new tailor-made pyjamas line launched. It is called Pyjama Parisien. The idea is to give back to pyjamas the elegance they used to have in the past, with a contemporary twist. Nowadays, when you think to pyjamas, you see something super casual. I would like to give women, and men, the choice of elegance. I think it is possible to find a compromise between comfort and elegance. The first collection will be on the original sin theme.

4am Journal: What are the other projects of Claire Châtaigner?

Claire Châtaigner: In May 2016, I did a fashion show at the Chateau Vodou, owned by the Arbogast family, named Mami Wata Invocation. The inspiration was the invocation of one of the most important goddess of the voodoo pantheon: Mami Wata. After the runway, I had the idea to create a show. I wanted to go further in this project by creating a show on Mami Wata and the voodoo history to explain to people this religion. Currently, you can find this cult in West Africa, Brazil, Haïti and in South of the United States, such as Louisiana. The idea is to create a show and an exhibition that would start in Paris at the Quai Branly Museum, then go to Brazil and the South of the United States,... and maybe to other cities after these. The concept of the show and the exhibition is to describe how this religion mixed with others. In the end, it is about demonstrating the several religions can subsist together and live with each other without clashing. For me the respect of the body is as important as the respect of the identity.

CLAIRE CHATAIGNER'S INFORMATION:

(Photo credit: 4AM Journal)