Emily Ratajkowski wears the made-to-order Julie de Libran sequined-tulle Charly dress
Julie de Libran wasted no time after her five-year run ended as the artistic director at Sonia Rykiel: de bran is launching her fashion label. It is a small collection, for starters-which is not only ideal for de bran but also jibes nicely with our current moment, in which the fashion industry has finally begun addressing its environmental impact.
She started designing at the age of 14, where she designed a black velvet dress with a boatneck, tight long sleeves, and a bubble skirt for a school dance. (“It was the ’80s!” she says, laughing.) Well, during her days in the backroom of Prada, Versace, and Louis Vuitton, she specialize in red carpet pieces, she's ever committed to making her line green as possible following a made-to-order model to reduce waste and, in some cases, cutting her patterns from exclusive dead-stock materials sourced from a pair of mills in Italy and Switzerland to “give life to these exquisite fabrics that have long gone unused,” as she says.
This month, she will be back on the Paris Couture Week schedule, with a coming-out party for her new dresses—a cocktail-hour tableau vivant. The sense of intimacy will be key in her new venture.
Talking on the sort of woman she designs for, she said: “She’s not in costume or drowning in something.” She also said; “I always say a piece of clothing is like a piece of music—there’s a memory to it.” “In the right dress, you’ll be remembered.”
Julie de Libran, at home in Paris