Haute Couture: the workshop where gold hands are reborn
Difficult to guess that a haute couture workshop has been nestled for two years at the foot of this building bar in the city of Vercors, in Villejuif (Val-de-Marne).However, by pushing the door, everything is there: the rattling of the sewing machines;the heat of the iron;The ribbon meters deposited here and there on the long wooden tables;embroidery, gauze or cotton falls.
→ Reread.Haute couture, the influence of French luxury
On a Stockman model, Moubarik, white blouse on the back and colorful scarf on the head, pin two white jeans to transform them into a strapless dress.Further on, a man's costume jacket has lost its sleeves to become a kimono for women, when the tuxedo pants have changed in skirt.Once the seams are defeated, and without adding materials, these pieces abandoned by their owners come back to life.A Renaissance also experienced by the fifteen couturiers in insertion of this workshop.
Reveal talents
Here, the "watchword is valuation", sums up Philippe Guilet, founder and artistic director of the Renaissance association, created in 2019.Valorization of fabrics, but also talents: "These designers have gold hands but they must be given the opportunity to express themselves.This is what we do by forming them, "says the 56-year-old man, who worked for twenty years with the greatest creators (Jean-Paul Gaultier, Thierry Mugler, Karl Lagerfeld).By launching Renaissance, this designer who dreamed of dancer mixes two ambitions: revealing talents and proving that the luxury industry can be more respectful of the environment.
For six months, integration employees undergo remunerated training to learn the codes of a haute couture workshop.Same white blouse, same level of requirement and same technical bases.With a small team, Philippe Guilelet teaches, voluntarily, the basics of the profession and involves once a month a model maker.All with an unprecedented approach, overcling (in English "upcycling"), which consists in recycling a worn garment, or fashionable, transforming it.An increasingly sought -after competence.Ultimately, apprentice couturiers will have a sufficient level to apply as "first beginning hand".
MELEGEDERS MELECTED
"We teach them the vocabulary, the mode of operation of a haute couture workshop and we give them confidence in them.They will have all the keys in hand, "says the artistic director, who relies on his network to place a maximum of students at the end of the training.The only condition to integrate the program: Knowing how to sew with hand and machine.Interviews and practical tests allow Philippe Guilet, supported by insertion structures, to select the fifteen elected officials from several hundred applicants.
In the play, where the slightest corner is occupied, generations mingle - from 18 years to over 60 years old - and the origins - French, Afghan, Russian, Ivorian, Guinean ... All share the same box, made of exileforced, quest for papers or long periods of unemployment.
Moubarik has been working in Chechen fashion houses for seven years when she fled the war.With her family, she puts down her suitcases in France in 2006.Twelve years later, she resumed sewing training: "I had to relearn forgotten things because of the war."She meets Paulette Mendy, now the first of Renaissance workshop, who later pushes her to apply for the workshop of Philippe Guilet."My six children are great now.I'm free.I will be able to continue my life in sewing, ”says, radiant, the 47 -year -old mother, who perfected her seamstress as her French as her French.
Flagship moment of the year, the parade
To her neighborhood neighbor, she slides the instructions in their mother tongue.Of Chechen origin, Petimat has lived in France since 2013.So a cleaning lady, without fixed accommodation, raising her two children alone, it was in Emmaüs that she meets Philippe Guilet, who joined her in the first renaissance promotion although she barely speaks."I watch and reproduce," she says with malice, proudly scrolling on her mobile phone the photos of her three creations from last year, presented during a parade at the Arab World Institute.
Flagship moment of the year, the parade is the standard of Renaissance know-how and the common thread of the training.The whole workshop participates in it: employees in integration, trainees and alternating people welcomed by the association, but also the small volunteer hands of the city.This year, non -professional models will parade on the theme of parity in Paris, July 19.All dressed in “extra -school” parts, from donations from individuals, as a demonstration of the possibilities offered by this technique.
→ to read.Ideas to make the textile industry less polluting
Because the approach still arouses many reservations on the side of haute couture houses."By reusing clothes from their previous collections, they fear devaluing their brand and prefer to destroy their products," explains Philippe Guilet, who admits having been incinerated in Vendondés signed by Jean-Paultier himself many times..But luxury brands will soon have to change their practice, under penalty of fines.From December 31, 2021, the anti-winning law for the circular economy will prohibit the discharge and incineration of unsold food products.However, in France, according to the Ministry of Ecology, between 10,000 and 20,000 tonnes of textile products are destroyed each year.A very good vein on which Renaissance is weaving the project of a company named "Detox your stock".
A first experiment with the Alaïa house
"We wish to provide a service to fashion houses.We would offer them new forms of models from their unsold parts, which they could then market, details Henri Paul, secretary general of the association.This economic component of Renaissance would finance the reintegration workshop and limit the stressful hunt for grants.»»
A first experiment is underway with the Alaïa house.It mobilizes four seamstresses, two of the current team and two from the first Renaissance promotion."Alaïa gave us unsold to create fifteen new sewing pieces while keeping the original DNA.Philippe draws, I make the fabrics and the customer valid or not. Les pièces sont ensuite créées ici»», détaille Somchit Sinthirath, recrutée comme première d’atelier sur le projet.In September, these creations will find their place on the bearing of an Alaïa boutique.
Among these models, a black pleated skirt on which Chadia works.Concentrated, she shapes by hand with meticulousness the pleating.Passed by fashion houses and a subcontractor from Chanel, Chadia was one of the best students of the first Renaissance promotion."Before, I did not see the continuation of the model.In Renaissance, what I liked was to be able to touch everything and follow a piece from start to finish.We called them our babies.»»
Haute couture and overcling
Today, the 54 -year -old seamstress flourishes by mixing haute couture and extraordinary: "We are very lucky to learn these techniques.I love the research work to make the old garment enter the new.I would really like to be able to continue but I do not make a plan on the comet.»»
→ to read.Roubaix experiences the relocation of the textile sector
In parallel with Alaïa, other fashion houses approached Renaissance.Negotiations take time and come up against complex profitability calculations.But Philippe Guilelet remains optimistic: “The long -term goal would be to create a production workshop, to allow us to keep employees that we would have formed.»» Avec une nouvelle problématique : le manque de place. « Pouvez-vous dire à vos lecteurs que nous recherchons des locaux plus grands ?»»
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With Renaissance, plural support
The employees-employees sign a fixed-term insertion contract, paid up to the minimum wage, with AEF 94, renaissance partner integration structure.
Training is part of the economic activity integration system, intended for people who are most distant from employment, due to social or professional difficulties.Wages are funded by the state.
Employees benefit from socio -professional support by AEF 94.If necessary, they can follow French courses in parallel and are supported in the event of housing search.
To remunerate the supervisors and equip the workshop, Renaissance relies on many partners and patrons.Among them: the Île-de-France region, ADEME (under sustainable development), the Academy of Fine Arts, the Ministry of Culture, the Sisley Foundation in Ornano ... Luxury clothes arethem given by individuals.
