Published by Marie-Charles Nadeau
»Read the interviews with the others graduates 2014
« I love matter. May it be fluid, light, soft or rough, it stimulates your imagination… One must always be on the lookout for new materials and textures, for new ways to mix and combine them. You have to surprise and let yourself be surprised. That’s fashion is to me. »
On april 29th, Marion Verron will unveil Arty, a clothing line derived from her experimentations with materials. Even if she had to scratch her first effort and start again, from the top, Marion stayed positive, saying her participation in the creation of a collection gave her a chance to maintain her desire to be a fashion designer.
Baron: How did you get where you are today?
Marion Verron: I began when I was 16. I was learning couture flou, an haute couture dressmaking discipline where most of your work has to be handmade. I then went to an applied arts prep school, studied fine crafts and fashion accessories. I was getting ready to try my luck with French fashion schools, but I didn’t feel like going to Paris. I wanted to leave the country, but I had to spend a year in college first, studying arts.
B.: What can you tell us about your work?
M. V.: The line is named Arty and was made for mothers and daughters ages 25 to 40. I made the collection while thinking about my mother and me because a lot of boutiques and online stores are trying to reach that clientele. These sellers are usually offering clothes you can wear on both formal and casual occasions.
B.: What is your collection made up of?
M. V.: While being aimed at a large market, Arty is mostly comprised of high-end clothes: two pairs of pants, two skirts, some shorter dresses and an evening dress that will close our fashion show! The evening dress looks a little like a wedding dress since it’s made of white organza but this just might help it stand out. My clothes are usually sophisticated, showing lots of elaborate finishes. I only used silk fabrics and, even if I had to start again from the beginning, I’ve only added slightly more colorful shades to the initial idea.
B.: You’re saying you had to redo everything?
M. V.: I didn’t like where my first version was headed. It didn’t feel like me. I took it upon myself to start again from scratch. The whole process required an awful lot of energy and strength. At first, my teachers didn’t understand what I was doing but they trusted me and let me do as I had planned.
B.: How did you deal with all that pressure in such a short delay?
M. V.: It was awesome! Of course, there were times when I wanted to breakdown and cry, when I just thought about giving up. I really had to keep at it. When I look back, I’m glad I chose to start again. It gave me a chance to work even more with materials. I realized I was quite good at creating from fabrics instead of sketches. I usually struggle with drawing while materials really take me places.
B.: What is your take on fashion trends?
M. V.: I’ve kind of a mixed feeling on this issue. Trends can guide you, to some extent, and that’s good. But is it bad to let the fashion industry be ruled and structured by trends? I wouldn’t know what to say. As a matter of fact, where is the line between business and trends? Fashion trends sell hence they can sometimes be engineered by marketing agencies. In the end, they tell people what to wear and how. Trends are so scripted and, thanks to globalization, they tend to apply to the whole world, which ends up killing variety.
B.: Facing worldwide trends and globalization, how should fashion evolve?
M. V.: It should try to be different. Fashion has already started changing: new designers are appearing everywhere, along with new materials, cutting and seaming techniques. There’s still a lot to explore, but I believe we’ll be more and more open-minded about fashion, from now on.
Discover Marion Verron’s Arty on April 29th, as part of the collective fashion show of UQÀM’s Fashion management – design and styling graduates, at the university’s Design Center’s gallery.