MARIE-ADAM LEENAERDT

How have you approached this season? 

It’s our fifth. We're starting to acquire some reflexes, but at the same time, there is more at stake. You have to balance creation, production and distribution. The brand is present in around 20 retail locations. We have restructured all our logistics, which are now handled in-house. The team remains fairly small, let’s say two-and-a-half of us, even though the pattern maker and the prototyping studio are located off-site, thirty minutes from Brussels. This collection is perhaps the most complicated. Everything starts to overlap. 

What is your main inspiration? 

I realised that, for buyers, we had to push this multifunctionality of clothing. A skirt can be reversible, become a dress. I had to show the versatility of what could be worn, and the removable garment is one of my obsessions. I worked with the idea of an archetype, a basis that can be wrapped to add detail, colour and a final look. It's an interplay between the base of the garment and what covers it. 

How do you extend this reflection on the status of clothing? 

With fashion, we have lost the sense of time that exists in furniture and design, for example. It is important to think about a coat in the same way as a chair that you want to keep. It is important to be there every six months, but do we need to reinvent ourselves every six months? We're working on the principle of a double show done differently, to show that it doesn't matter if you see more of the same thing again.

Why Galerie Paradis?

It only sells designer furniture, so in the scenography, we contrast these rental chairs with designer chairs, and the mannequins wander around in the centre.

Why grey felt? 

 It's the base, the structure, the framework of the garment. On top, there's a cover that creates the garment, revealing it in silk or wool. You can wear the garment with this structure, or not: without reinforcement, without horsehair, without epaulettes, the suit becomes like a waistcoat. I am interested in this interplay between carcass and fluidity. 

And the colours?

 They are neutral. It’s a beige trench coat, black suits, navy suits.  I wanted us to focus on the cut, the volumes. I collected some old tablecloths used to cover rented furniture and made dresses out of them. 

What's the most important thing for you in 2025?

 Reinforcing wholesale, which isn’t so easy when it comes to getting a message across. You need an instruction manual, and the brand isn’t known for that yet. We are currently developing the website, which will be operational in April. This platform will also be educational, to explain the origin of a piece, such as a V-neck, round-neck and turtleneck jumper...

This interview has been lightly edited.