Recently, we were fortunate enough to be invited to the exclusive Chez Les Mannequins’ Shows Privé during Paris Fashion Week. This event allowed us to discover three up-and-coming fashion designers: Cute-Saint, Téza by Thea Lacan, and broq. Here's a glimpse into the unique backgrounds of these brands!
Cute-Saint - EWA (Beauty) 2023 Collection
Cute-Saint is a thoughtfully genderless brand expressing much-ignored African narratives and practices through its colors, textures, shapes, and lines. A clothing collection that bridges the gap between “luxury and affordability.”
Cute-Saint takes pride in creating authentic, stylish, and functional designs crafted with locally sourced fabrics and batiks made by local artisans who have mastered the craft. Each piece from Cute-Saint was created with the environment in mind, as we believe that we all have a part to play in making the planet a better place to live.
In a world filled with depression, hatred, and pain, this collection seeks to serve as a goodwill message to all the people suffering from one form of depression or the other. It is an oxymoron of the concept of self-love and self-disgust. As the saying goes, "Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder." There is beauty in everything. However, some are more in-depth than others, and it takes some level of observation to discover the true beauty in one's essence.
This collection features the traditional Aso-Oke with a modern blend handwoven by a community of women known as Egun migrants. This line focuses on their artisanal practice of the age-long fabric. It also features deadstock cotton sourced from the Yaba market in Lagos, Nigeria, which went through a dying-process expending minimal water usage. The pieces were handmade in Nigeria by our local artisans, intentionally genderless, experimented with excesses, and comprising modified silhouettes and cut-outs.
Téza by Thea Lacan
Opening the final shows during the CLM Paris Fashion Week Menswear Spring/Summer 2024 saw Téza by Thea Lacan debut for the first time! Here are some words she has regarding her collection:
My inspiration for this collection 999 of the brand Téza by Théa Lacan is mixing cultural styles from Asian and African textiles brought together to create no-gender style pieces. Through my collection, I seek to evoke a notion I like to call the freedom mess, which I believe lies in the identity of every person. I create garments from death stock and upcycling materials to create forms or patterns that speak to me. In this collection, I want to show that the garment reveals the personality of each individual. I sought to adapt the message of freedom, acceptance, and eccentricity intertwined and thus giving life to a dynamic energy. Ensuring that people can feel like themselves in a garment that suits them and leaves them feeling good in both their minds and bodies. This is meant to mimic the satire of Juvénal, « A healthy mind in a healthy body.» In this collection, the body speaks and is in motion with a system of bands, modularity, and amplitude.
In addition, I have always wanted to help people through my art; since my childhood, I have always had the need to feel the authenticity of everyone, and it is through clothing that my means of expression takes shape.
The name of my brand is a blend between my name and the person I hold dearest, which is my cousin. I combined the first syllables of both of our first names to create Téza.
During my presentation of Téza, it was important that the models not only parade through the runway but they could express themselves and move according to their feelings. It was this human exchange that I want to transmit during this period of life that is the reality that I want to transmit through my designs.
I have always created my designs via spontaneity, as in the titles of each human characteristic. The craftsman is a key foundation I like to break the standards of and not fit into an established case because it is restricted to one facet, and for me, that is far too basic. The human is not like that, and fashion should neither.
broq.
We see aesthetics in evolution. Not the shiny brightness of novelty but the scratches that history gives - make the piece truly unique. Broq is inspired by the power that comes with the understanding of the uncertainty and constant change of the world, the “cosmos” - chaotic and magnificent. Broq doesn’t show off or impertinently dictate its rules. It just IS, here and now, in direct touch. broq serves as a reminder of freedom. broq = support. broq = exoskeleton.
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