This Cult Paris Label Reimagined Its Logo With Help From Fashion Week’s Favorite Artist
Stephanie Hirschmiller
European Editor
“I’m celebrating myself with a cake and candles,” laughed Alexia Aubert of the five-year anniversary bash she’s throwing tonight in Paris for her Jacques Solovière label.
The brand was originally just Solovière, but she added the “Jacques” so the brand bears the full name of her grandfather who inspired it. Jacques Solovière was a trailblazer for today’s marketeers, running a successful branding agency in the 1950s and ’60s.
The idea behind the addition is to generate a more emotional response, she said. “I wanted to give the brand more humanity and personality.”
To this end, Aubert has also tapped fashion’s favorite calligrapher, Nicolas Ouchenir, to turn the name into a logo in the form of a signature. Dubbed “le stylo,” (French for “the pen”), he and his team creates around 20,000 of the handwritten show invitations dispensed each Paris Fashion Week.
For Aubert, the anniversary marked the perfect time to shore up her DNA. She’s refined her line for a more androgynous vibe with bolder proportions and enhanced fit, editing the range and dialing down the colorways for a stronger, more timeless point of view. All silhouettes are now unisex.
“With all the craziness of the production calendar, sometimes you can lose sight of your starting point,” she said.
Although deliveries for the new look don’t begin until June, the brand has already marked its fifth year with increased U.S. penetration. As of March, it is carried by Forty Five Ten’s debut New York store in Hudson Yards.
A collaboration with luxury British basics label Sunspel launched this week, reimagining key Solovière silhouettes in exclusive Sunspel colors. The partnership came about at Pitti Uomo in January when Aubert met the Sunspel team as the two brands were showing in the same area.
Come June, new points of sale will include Selfridges and Harvey Nichols in London.
