French couture designer Eymeric Francois will open ,,Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Montenegro” on November 15th.
Five days before showing his fairytale collection ,,LEGENDS” at the Fashion week for the first time in Montenegro and only one day before presenting it at ,,Serbia Fashion Week”, where he is an Art director, Francois speaks for MNE magazin about fashion, Montenegro, inspiration, culture, fairytales and life.
How did it come to this collaboration with organizers of ,,Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Montenegro“?
– The collaboration came from a mutual wish from me and Svetlana Horvat, the president of ,,Serbia Fashion Week”. I wanted to discover more the culture of Montenegro and it could be possible through the ,,Serbia Fashion Week” for which one I am also Art Director.
What does it mean to you to present your collection here and have you ever visited Montenegro?
– First discover of this marvelous country which is Montenegro, but I’ve seen so many images of the culture, and the beauty of this place. I always love to discover new cultures and in this case a so powerful, rich and interesting one.
As Art director of ,,Serbia Fashion Week”, you had been able to see the collections of Montenegrin designers. What is your opinion of Montenegrin fashion scene?
– The Montenegrin designers deserve to be more known in others countries, they really promote in a perfect way their culture, their national costume, and they have to continue in the idea to mixing tradition and contemporary designs.
Which ,,journey” will you be taking guests of ,,Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Montenegro“ on with your collection?
– I will bring guests to my LEGENDS couture collection, and invitation to discover traditional characters of fairy tales but in a contemporary couture way.
It is clear you believe in Legends. Celtic symbols are widely present in your collections, while Celtic music is playing in the background. Where does the fascination for Celts, myths, fairy tales, nymphs, vampires, fantasy creatures, witches and queens come from?
– I am always in to write stories, first for myself then to share these fantasies with my guests. I always loved to create my own characters, my own universe inspiring by some religious, iconistic or myth details. It’s very important even for adults to never lose their children eyes, to be able to dream easily.
What is your favourite material to work with?
– I use all kind of material, from traditional couture fabrics in silk, wool or cotton, till very strange materials to do some metallic structures. I also love to transform by myself my own fabrics, to die, to destruct, to burn them, to have some different kind of results.
,,Black is my colour“, you said. Why?
– Black is my expression, when you want to wear on a difficult cut, on a difficult pattern, black is the way to focus on a part of the work.
And why black is a color? Because there are 1000 different kinds of black, in terms of color you have, some coals or hot black, in terms of aspects you have mate, shiny, glitter, soft blacks. It’s an infinite color to work with.
Where did the love for fashion come from?
– In fact, I’m not so much in passion with clothes or even fabrics, I’m in love with women shapes, and I always try to make every woman very impressive beautiful and sensual. It’s very interesting sometimes to see how much a customer can be surprised of herself in a mirror during a last fitting of a dress. If she feels more beautiful than what she would think possible, then, I succeeded!
What was it like working for Thierry Mugler and Christian Lacroix?
– It was an impressive experience to start a career close to 2 very famous couturiers. Mister Mugler brought me the love of women, their shapes and a passion for the corset. Mister Lacroix brought me the precision of the details, the work on a silhuette, and the positive energy I still keep in me.
You had been in fashion for 16 years. What is your proudest moment?
– My proudest moment is to imagine the way I made during the last 20 years, when I was still a child at my parents’ place, dreaming of just doing a small fashion show maybe one time in my life, but you know, a designer always needs to believe that the proudest moment will happen today or tomorrow!
France had always been a synonym for fashion and elegance. How do you see fashion today?
– Fashion changed a lot in the last decades. All my work, as a French designer, is now about this French elegance, to try to prove that it still exists, and it’s not only about the past, but that elegance is limitless in terms of time and in terms of understanding by people of different cultures all over the world.
,,A timeless elegance without trends and seasons.“, ,,A fetishism of silhouettes of a man who has become a sculptor.“ are descriptions of your fashion. Are there really trends in fashion or is the fashion overall just as timeless as art?
– Fashion world is very often only looking at itself and not really interesting in others art.
So you’re right, my vision is more about a universe, a global way to think about beauty around a body, fashion is a way to express a more important way to live, to talk about beauty and for sure to talk about passion.
What is, according to you, most timeless piece of clothes?
– The most timeless piece of clothes is definitely the one you’re not able to put out of your wardrobe! We all have some pieces which a little bit old, maybe not in good condition anymore but we still wear and love it. For sure these pieces were exactly in a fashion moment, in a long moment of your own life story!
Bojana Radonjic