Maxine Wattam – the luxury brand between luxury lingerie and niche ready-to-wear

Posted on

Maxine Wattam Paris is a designer brand based in Paris that offers a hybrid collection halfway between fine lingerie and high-end ready-to-wear, inspired by the Japanese art of Kinbaku.

Behind it’s launch in October 2021, a duo of female entrepreneurs: Maxine Wattam (left), the designer and Hajnalka Szabo (right), the brand manager. Two different views and a shared desire: to surround oneself with the best french craftsmanship to produce exceptional pieces, mixing traditional Calais lace with upcycled premium lambskin for made- to-measure or limited edition collections.

Our goal is to create timeless and sustainable pieces. Our definition of sustainability: local manufacturing and sourcing of quality materials from dormant and upgraded stocks, putting French craftsmanship back in the spotlight.

Our products combine soft natural lamb leather from European tanneries, mainly French, with contrasting light materials sourced in France and Italy, from stock, in order to avoid any unnecessary production.

Prime material in this first collection, we favor dipped lambskin from French tanneries that comply with the REACH standard. For our bespoke pieces, we work with leather sourced from the dormant stocks of major French houses, preventing it from being unnecessarily stored and then finally destroyed.

We combine leather with light contrasting materials. For the fluid fall of wide trousers or a six-panel dress, we like silk, for the transparency of a sleeve or a yoke, cotton veil, micro- tulle and Calais lace.

Calais lace is woven on traditional looms and renowned for its great finesse. We select all our lace from Maison Sophie Hallette favoring Leavers for the comfort provided by its elasticity, and paying particular attention to the patterns ; floral or graphic, woven or embroidered, their precious character gives each of our pieces a unique identity.

For a reasoned production of our pieces, at our own pace, we work with trusted local partners: passionate like us about their profession, they are committed to exercising it with respect for people and the environment. Proximity with our suppliers and our partner workshop is essential.

All located in France and Italy, we take pleasure in regularly exchanging with them and visiting them to better understand each stage of the manufacture of our materials and our pieces. Their know-how is invaluable to us and their vision is constantly helping our project move forward.

We favor quality craftsmanship, solid seams, and neat finishes. Our bespoke pieces are made by the designer in the studio and our line of ready-to-wear is produced in limited series by a small Parisian family owned workshop specializing in leather. For both collections we have one simple guideline : sustainability.

We make sure that the stitches are tight and the yokes reinforced. We also pay great attention to details: each piece must be as beautiful on the reverse as on the front, finished by hand.

Our style — ultra body-contouring assertive silhouettes and urban minimal graphic pieces — results from the hybridity of the designer’s influences: with ten years of experience in lingerie, she designs and builds clothing like a piece of corsetry, emphasizing the silhouette as closely as possible. Conversely, lingerie is enhanced with elements borrowed from clothing: a raw silk collar enhances a bodice bra, a removable leather belt heightens high- waisted panties.

The pieces are designed to be worn as a total look, mismatched and above all mixed. Some pieces are conceived as real body jewelry. The contrasts are sharp, the clean lines are shaken up by surprising cutouts to reveal what you choose of yourself.The result is a form of daring elegance, which the designer takes pleasure in personalizing, creating unique pieces on demand.

The ready-to-wear line is carried out by a family owned workshop in the heart of Paris. A favorite material, natural lambskin is combined with light contrasting materials such as cotton veil, silk crepe or micro- tulle. Minimal cuts, graphic lines and metallic zips are characteristic of this line. The interior finishes and all the precious macrame details are made by hand.

Our selected fine materials call for high- quality finishes and attention to detail: french seams sheath assemblies and hand stitched freshwater pearls are specific features of the Maxine Wattam lingerie pieces. Bra cups are lined with a precious hand woven macrame finish: this distinctive component envelops the wiring and releases satin elastics that draw graphic lines on the skin. Woven binds cross on the back and neck, link to brass clasps and intertwine around gold or silver plated rings.

For more info visit maxinewattam.com/en

0 Comments

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.

nine − 7 =