She arrives without a coat, like a challenge to this chilly February morning.
Wrapped up in her lover's big cable-knit wool sweater – an unbranded model she's worn every winter for years –, raw jeans and a pair of burgundy square-toed boots from her brand Rouje, Jeanne Damas perfectly embodies French
effortless
chic
.
At just 30 years old, this fashion figure leads her life as an entrepreneur with a bang, followed by 1.5 million followers on Instagram (@jeannedamas).
Six years ago, she created her Rouje label, which she continues to develop: her headquarters, located at 11 bis, rue Bachaumont, in Paris, brings together in the same building her creative workshop, her shop and her bistro. , Chez Jeanne.
“I imagined a lively and warm place, a hybrid place with a soul, where people meet.
A nod to my childhood spent in my parents' restaurant, Le Square Trousseau, in the 12th arrondissement.
On video, in the HQ of Jeanne Damas in Paris
In France and abroad, Jeanne Damas is perceived as the Parisian par excellence.
A style and look that are both deceptively casual and ultra-desirable, which seduced the French leather goods house Lancel, with which the designer has now signed a collaboration around another fashion icon: the bucket bag.
Madame Figaro
.
– You have just signed a bag for the Parisian house Lancel.
Why did you choose to reinterpret the Chéri model?
Jeanne Damas.
– Just before meeting the team, I found a photo of my grandmother, in which she was carrying a black bucket bag from Lancel.
I took it as a nice sign of the past!
It's a timeless classic with graphic charm, it's everything I love.
I wanted to go back to weaving the straw basket, a practical accessory that never leaves me, summer and winter alike.
The red and pink model is a nod to the world of
lipstick
, my signature, and the white and beige brings the
seventies touch
which I adore and which reminds me of the immaculate bags carried by my icons, Bianca Jagger and Lauren Hutton.
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"I wanted to take up the weaving of the straw basket, a practical accessory that never leaves me, summer and winter alike": Jeanne Damas signs the new range of bucket bags from the Lancel house.
Lancel / press photo
How was your taste for fashion born?
Even though my mother worked in the restaurant business, she was very elegant.
I remember her serving her customers slipped into Vivienne Westwood woolen corsets with turtlenecks underneath, Sergio Rossi croc boots or square-toed Prada mules.
I was very proud of her, her look and her sense of style.
But I also remember asking him never to pick me up from school with his big off-white sheepskin coat!
In my bag…
“Before having a baby, I only carried small bags containing only the bare necessities.
Today, I prefer large models to accommodate my happy bazaar!
If you dig deep into my Chéri Lancel bucket bag, you will find my phone, my passport, the Rouje Chaleur palette for a make-up touch-up on the lips, cheekbones and eyes, a pen… and a new essential: a pacifier!”
“I am a go-getter”
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"It's a timeless classic with graphic charm, it's everything I love": Jeanne Damas signs a bag collaboration with Lancel.
Lancel press photo
And how did your sense of entrepreneurship come about?
I was brought up by a restaurateur father, who got up every day at 4 am to go shopping at Rungis… I think that leaves traces on the way in which one considers his way of working.
I didn't get my baccalaureate, but I'm a go-getter, I always knew I would manage.
Finally, all that was before having a baby, in December 2020… It took me some time to find a slightly less chaotic organization.
But, that's it, I found the solution: no more life at night, I go to bed now at 10:30 p.m.!
What inspires you?
Watching women in the street is my main source of inspiration.
I prefer to see the woman, before the garment.
Diana Vreeland said, "It's not the dress you wear that counts, it's the life you lead wearing it."
That's really my motto.
How do you dress each day?
In winter, I have a very masculine style.
I like to steal my companion's big wool sweaters, which I put on with jeans and a pair of high-heeled boots.
In the summer, I prefer the feminine side of little printed wrap dresses, very inspired by the 1940s. But if I always dress a bit the same way, I play a lot with accessories.
I love, for example, breaking the "lady" side of a small leather bag by combining it with a large summer basket.
What is the detail that signs a look?
A touch of lipstick.
It's the silhouette's blush, the perfect touch of radiance when you don't like makeup very much, like me.
You now have over 1.5 million followers on Instagram. What is the place of social networks in your life?
I created my first Tumblr when I was 13.
I come from the Net and, however, I am neither on TikTok nor on Snapchat: I am a grandma of social networks!
I rarely post personal photos on Instagram, especially since I'm a mom.
This has the gift of annoying my teams, but I have no desire to show my private life.
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The Lancel bucket bag designed by Jeanne Damas.
Lancel press photos
You imagine a wardrobe with a timeless style. Is sustainability important to you?
All our parts are manufactured in family factories in Europe.
Rouje's DNA is to offer several limited editions in a season.
This allows us to create collections in small quantities, and therefore limit production and overstocking.
In 2019, you opened your first Rouje store and your Chez Jeanne restaurant. Was it a lifelong dream?
I grew up in my parents' restaurant.
It was a place of anchorage for my sister and me, a kind of reassuring refuge, where staff and customers alike took care of us.
It was my own village, with our apartment just above and my school close by.
When they sold and left to live in the provinces, I felt a great void, like a loss of bearings.
I can even say that I found myself an orphan from Paris because I could no longer see my parents whenever I wanted!
By opening Chez Jeanne, I think I wanted to recreate my lost kingdom, a nice place where people meet for a drink or a snack.
