A restaurant in Saint-Tropez, a wedding line, new Paris offices with an art gallery vibe: French designer Simon Porte Jacquemus is busy on multiple fronts, carefully curating the image of his Jacquemus label, and broadening its range by introducing new ready-to-wear categories and an experiential lifestyle feel. All of this publicised through a major communications effort, featuring press releases and, for the Jacquemus community, sneak previews posted on the label’s social media accounts.
 

Jacquemus has been extremely active on the retail and product development fronts. The label, whose revenue has topped the €200 million mark, recently opened a franchised store in Dubai in partnership with the Chalhoub Group, one of the leading luxury distributors in the Middle East. It is Jacquemus’s second store, after a first address on avenue Montaigne in Paris was inaugurated in September 2022. And the label is set to open soon in New York and London, as Porte Jacquemus told FashionNetwork.com in March.

Products-wise, after introducing home linen, garden furniture and design objects, and a childrenswear line, Jacquemus has recently launched the Le mariage collection for women and men. It includes wedding dresses and occasionwear for brides, grooms and guests, plus shoes, jewellery and handbags, as well as a selection of summer looks and accessories comprising swimming costumes, beach towels with characteristic yellow stripes, and sunglasses. Prices range from €190 for the bikini bottoms to just over €2,000 for the minimalist white bridal dress.

Another project that will be key in the summer is the opening of a beach club, restaurant and store in Saint-Tropez, announced by Jacquemus on its Instagram account without adding further details. Last summer, the label had decked out a first beach club in nearby Ramatuelle. A few years ago, Jacquemus had ventured into the hospitality business by opening the Citron café and Oursin restaurant inside the Galeries Lafayette department store in Paris, both since closed. The label has also regularly relied on pop-up stores, notably in some of the trendiest summer resorts in France and Italy, and will continue with this strategy on the Côte d’Azur this year.

As it pursues a diversification strategy aiming for a more upmarket positioning, and while still looking for a CEO following the departure of Bastien Daguzan, Jacquemus is increasingly emphasising its connection with the art world. Design, cinema, architecture and the visual arts have always been sources of inspiration for Porte Jacquemus. He has shown this for example with the La Collectionneuse ready-to-wear collection for AW19/20, or through his choice of runway show venues. Like his latest show, entitled Les sculptures and staged at the Maeght Foundation in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, or the rooftop show at the Mucem museum in Marseilles in 2017.

 
Art is also a means of conveying a more sophisticated brand image. Jacquemus has released pictures of its new Paris HQ in rue de Lisbonne, not far from the Parc Monceau, in the 8th arrondissement, opened at the start of 2024. The project was commissioned to the OMA architecture studio, which also worked on the label’s Dubai store, while Unispace took care of interior design.

The offices are spacious and include a fine terrace, and are furnished in a palette of soft hues. Above all, they have an art gallery feel, with their top-notch designer furniture and a selection of artworks hand-picked by Porte Jacquemus, notably paintings and sculptures by artists like Aristide Maillol, David Hockney, Balthus, Amedeo Modigliani and others.
 
This year, the label from the Provence-born designer is celebrating its 15th anniversary, and is set to consolidate its refined image with the next show, scheduled on June 10 in Capri. It will be staged at the iconic Villa Malaparte, renowned for its modernist architecture and huge roof terrace, and as the location where Jean-Luc Godard filmed his 1963 movie Contempt, starring Brigitte Bardot and Michel Piccoli. The villa is closed to the public, and will be hosting a fashion show for the first time.