Designer of Valette Studio, Pierre-François Valette thirsts for freedom and independence, he launches his brand in 2020. It evolves around tailoring. A revisited and gender-neutral suit. A reinterpreted wardrobe that embodies the harmony between the tradition of Haute Couture and contemporary creation. Valette Studio’s clothes are easy to wear and in tune with the times. They are part of an eco-responsible approach and are made in Paris.
Valette Studio and its creator are present at the Première Classe show, the fashion show of tomorrow, at the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris until March 4.
It’s therapeutic for me to create. I need it, it lightens me up, allows me to dream. It’s like medicine! In creation, I always imagined that there was something quite egocentric, that is to say that the idea, I cultivate it myself, I tell myself the story, then I will communicate it to the model, I will dress her and tell her how to communicate the idea. But after the idea, she leaves. I find it pleasant. And I love getting feedback, that’s also what nourishes me.
Pierre-François Valette, designer and creator of Valette Studio
“ My name is Pierre-François Valette, so I didn’t want to do Pierre-François Valette. I think I had a pretty strong personality. Already, people thought I wanted to monopolize everything. Above all, I saw it more as a collective. I wanted to describe the idea of a group. Valette Studio is a bit like a fashion house. It’s a creative group because I think it takes a lot of energy. That was the idea behind the brand name. »
Born in Normandy, in Caen, in the north of France, to a Norman father and an Italian pied-noir mother, in the house of Pierre-François Valette work and freedom are family values. As a child, he joined the Caen masters, a young boys’ choir, where he learned discipline and rigor. It is also his first contact with the artistic world. After his scientific baccalaureate, a good student, Pierre-François Valette joined the faculty of medicine, then that of law and finally he turned to fashion at the School of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. Her attraction to costumes, her thirst for learning, luck, time and encounters allowed her to launch Valette Studio in 2020. This young designer likes to develop the suit into a global look. “ It was the casual suit to project yourself into, running in the metro with your cell phone without looking to see if we’re going to bump into anyone. That’s life. What was complicated is that it quickly adds up to a lot of fabric. To avoid suffocation I always mixed it with the skin of naked bodies. »
“And then very, very light materials, fuzzy materials. I’m happy because in the last collection we presented fuzzy models, fuzzy T-shirts. There was a wool suit for example, or very fine jerseys that fall on the shoulder. But it’s still a men’s wardrobe basic. It’s contradictory, but ultimately, anyway, I’ve always done things in contradictions. »
Pierre-François Valette places clothing at the heart of his creative process. “ We determine canvas silhouettes and then they are available in fabrics. It’s really the look that interests me. I made collections on David Bowie, Andy Warhol, a collection on Françoise Sagan. When we think of Françoise Sagan I don’t think we think directly of her look. But looks mean a lot. When we remember great periods in history, we remember how people dressed. If I tell you Louis XIV, what do you think of? Versailles, the wigs or the red heel? I also make clothing because it embodies something. »
“ I do a lot of image research. I draw very little, I make files of images and then we immediately develop the canvases in 3D. I like fashion, but I especially like clothes. It’s the clothing that interests me. So the fashion show is part of the clothing because we dress people, present the clothing. But I do this mainly for the work of the garment, how we develop it, how it is made. What I like is clothing. All Valette Studio clothes, all collections are made in Paris. Production is made as much as possible in France, except for leathers, embroidery, etc. There are a lot of things that come from France, so it’s complicated at an affordable price. »
“ Sometimes we are a little constrained, but I always try to fight not to be too constrained. Clothing is clothing, how it accompanies life. For me, the Valette Studio is a complete dressing room. I didn’t decide to make a single-product brand of shirts, coats, pants or underwear. I immediately made a complete wardrobe. What interested me was the attitude. More than every garment produced. »
Valette Studio collections are made in Paris, eco-responsible and gender-neutral but what interests Pierre-François Valette is the construction of the clothing. “ There are a lot of people who say I make gender neutral and who make dresses. I wanted to be gender neutral in the construction of clothing. That is to say, in the collection we have two jackets, one for men and one for women. For the woman I didn’t make a smaller men’s jacket. For women it’s completely different. It’s like a Saint Laurent suit, we have the impression that they are the gentleman’s pants but not at all! It is plotted to have the idea that these are the gentleman’s pants, but they are really a lady’s pants. »
“ I really wanted to make a non-gendered collection on the technique of clothing and not fall into the dress. Yes, men can wear dresses now. If I sell dresses for men, I’m sure I won’t sell many! What I wanted to do was gender neutral on the technique of clothing. »
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