Fashion’s current love affair with mixing the decades up in modern ways doesn’t only begin and end with Gucci. A French label called Soeur established by two sisters – hence the name – now has several shops in Paris and an increasing following.
Their claim – to be androgynous, Scandi, Parisian, occasionally oversize with a nod to English traditional tailoring and Indian textiles – is a melange that is at once very accessible and affordable, but never too much.
The sisters Domitille and Angelique Brion are an interesting pair and it shows in their well thought-out clothes which reflect their own lifestyle; one was a stylist with Bonpoint, the famous French childrenswear brand and the other has a diploma in children and adolescent psychology, and their sources are from India, Mauritius, Madagascar and eastern Europe. Current offerings include some very alluring white shirts, great Indian printed dresses and even a turf-coloured linen jacket called Dublin. Visit soeur.fr
Thread carefully
A period spent with weavers in Gujarat in India while still a student at NCAD had a profound effect on designer Alanagh Clegg which she writes about in the current issue of “Franc” magazine. With her sustainable brand Four Threads, she believes strongly in supporting generations of skilled craftworkers as opposed to sourcing from large companies that don’t disclose origin. So her latest collection of shirts and trousers use linen from a family business in Wexford along with dresses and shirts in traditional handwoven kadi cotton and Mashru silk from artisan makers in India.
The oversize shirt (€310) and drawstring trousers (€250) are both in Irish linen and worn here with a cross body bag with French seams and inside pockets which comes in ecru and black. "The approach to producing a Four Threads item draws from the four aims of our ethos: inspired, handmade, quality and conscious," she says. Visit four-threads.com
