Nestled on the first floor of the Levi’s boutique on the Champs-Elysées lies the most exclusive denim experience in Paris. A workshop hidden from view, a private cabin and a caring team, welcome to Lot 1, where denim is a haute couture science.
San Francisco, London, Tokyo and Paris. Only four cities in the world offer the experience Lot 1 assembled from scratch by Levi’s. In the French capital, it can be found in the boutique on the Champs-Élysées where an intimate workshop is hidden, run by Virginie, “master taylor” places. She receives by appointment a clientele seeking exclusivity. The idea: to make them the perfect jeans. Custom-made pants created according to the wishes of those who consult it. The first step ? A tête-à-tête with Virginie. “Depending on the person you are talking to, this interview can last between 40 minutes and 2 hours. I am either dealing with very determined people, or with people who are completely unaware of what they want”, explains this trained costume designer. I’m exactly in between: I know I dream of high-waisted jeans that are timeless and easy to wear. Most of all, I look forward to owning pants that have been shaped to my body and don’t require alterations. So, let’s get to work.
To choose is to renounce
First, select a fabric from the 12 offered by Levi’s. A variation of blues, white, black, gray, beige, sand… For Lot 1, the brand only used untreated canvases. Let’s say rather lively, which will develop a patina over time, depending on the uses and morphology of their owners. And to avoid any unpleasant surprises, in the leather binder which closes the materials, each is presented in its raw state, then after 5 and finally 15 washes. I opt for an organic indigo cotton, which will take on brown shades over the years. And I feel it coming, the ultra classic cropped straight denim that will make Freddy, the young man who shares my life, say: “You have the opportunity to design the model of your dreams and you come home with pants that you could have found in any store?“That’s not quite right, Freddy. Virginie confirms: “The fabrics we have for Lot 1 are not the ones we use in classic Levi’s collections. They are exclusively made in Japan and do not contain an ounce of stretch.” Besides, the creation of my jeans is far from finished. Now you have to customize everything. Here we go. Pocket bottoms, tab (the little Levi’s signature label), design and colors of the seams, buttons, patch at the waistband, I can do whatever I want. Toile de Jouy here, navy blue on the buttonhole, embroidery there… “I try to guide my customers as best they can in their choices”specifies Virginie. “I receive 80% of men, who are used to tailoring and who are looking for jeans that are as well cut as their suits. Generally, the requests that people make of me are quite classic, even if they ask me ‘has already ordered jeans sewn inside out’continues master taylor. But before I have time to develop the slightest extravagant project, Virginie makes me try on high-waisted pants in a fabric of the same weight as the one for which I opted. Once this standard model is put on, she works on the size, then the length and finally the drape, which she adjusts using safety pins. In my case, my rounded hips create a crease in the middle of the thighs, which Virginie immediately corrects. At the same time, she gives me some final recommendations on the cut of the denim, the size of the button placket and the placement of the back pockets. Last clarification: “Jeans don’t wash much. Ideally, two or three times a year”. Oopsie, at home, it’s more like two or three times a month, but I don’t say a word about it and I give Virginie my cell number so that she can call me back for the final fitting.
Four weeks and jeans
A little month later, I am back on the Champs-Élysées. In 30 days, the Lot 1 Parisian workshop, which Virginie helped launch in 2017, had time to produce around twenty jeans. They all sell at a single price: 595 euros. So yes, it’s a small amount. But the models require an average of 8 hours of craftsmanship each. Above all, they are guaranteed for life. Repairs, adjustments, Levi’s takes care of everything: “If a customer comes back after 3 years and they have gained or lost weight, we will readjust their pants at no extra cost”. In the meantime, mine, pants, are almost perfect, with the exception of a little beak that points at the base of the buttocks. Well, small in my eyes, because in reality, to correct it, Virginie is obliged to redo the entire construction of the piece. The next day, however, I received my jeans in an indigo pouch lined with toile de Jouy. I slip in, go see Freddy, the harshest fashion critic I know, and the verdict falls: “It’s crazy, it looks like it was designed for you“. Yes, that’s exactly it.