CONTENTS
 

Impressum

Vol.15  Issue 03/00, 01.03.2015

Designer Of The Year - Marjolaine

Silk - A Noble Material

Designer Of The Year - Marjolaine

The Marjolaine story is a family history. It’s a story about lace and traditions, shapes and sharing, and creating and growing. It started in a little boutique where one day the grandfather decided to add sewing to his business, and it became a company selling nightwear across the globe. How Marjolaine accomplished that transformation is a wonderful adventure. The family welcomed us into their world to tell us all their secrets and how, from one collection to the next, Marjolaine lingerie makes women happy.

It all began in the city of Villeurbanne in the interwar period. At that time, the Marjolaine boutique sold knit goods, baby clothes, and needlepoint supplies. But the post-war years were difficult and grandfather Roger Millet-Desdoitils decided to add sewing to the business and travel across the region selling the new products. He made camisoles and slips – things women wore to not be completely exposed during doctor appointments. In short, lingerie for the era! In 1947 the Marjolaine brand was born. With each generation, the company’s directors adapted the collections to stay in tune with fashion.

After Roger, Nicole, one of his three heirs, and daughter Carole took over the company. Then, when Nicole retired in 2007, Carole’s husband Stéphane came on board to help his wife and keep the Marjolaine adventure moving forward, especially on the international market. By this time, Marjolaine had moved from the original 400m2 space to a former warehouse of 3,000m2. Today the company employs 31 people; Marjolaine products are available in 55 countries; and the global turnover is over €5 million. That’s what we call a family success story!

Renowned savoirfaire The process is the same for each collection. Carole, the stylist and designer, starts with fabrics. ‘It’s primarily the fabrics that inspire new combinations. I attend trade shows like Interfilière and those in Asia as well. I also have my suppliers for Calais lace, Jean Bracq and Sophie Halette. We work with rigid lace and our clientele likes a choice of as many colours and combinations as possible’. Carole’s creativity is almost limitless and she doesn’t let questions about cost or budget get in the way of inspiration. She designs and combines materials and colours according to her ideas and desires. She just has one rule: try to create coherent collections so different designs can go together in window displays. At Marjolaine, they think about what’s best for boutiques, which are considered as both clients and business partners.

Next the work goes to the atelier, and sometimes it has to go back and forth a few times for final adjustments before moving on. Cutting is done by hand to respect the grain, or fabric’s warp. In the beginning of the 2000s, silk replaced satin polyester. With the exception of this upgrade in materials and the use of Lectra software to create patterns, the rest of the manufacturing process uses exactly the same techniques. ‘It’s not just to carry on as before, no matter what’, explains Stéphane, ‘it’s because it’s still the best way to work with fabrics, not just for the finished results and details, but also in terms of time’.

The lace shape is then separated from its tulle backing with a pyrography tool and then pinned to the silk. At this point experienced, detail-oriented seamstresses take over. They use Cornely machines to apply the lace, following the shape of the inset. Stéphane gives background, ‘These machines are no longer manufactured, but because they’re the best, we coddle them and buy them used! The seamstresses guide the machines by hand so the thread follows all the arabesques and curves dictated by the lace and the designer’.

Next comes finishing, pressing, labelling, and packaging. It takes around an hour and a half to make a premium nightgown. Manufacturing is determined by the orders, but Stéphane always looks ahead and creates the right amount of stock for clients’ eventual reorders. At Marjolaine, even with a wide choice of designs, the care and attention are the same for small and large orders. Being able to fill reorders is important and the brand sometimes even creates custom designs (a particular combination of silk and lace), but what remains constant in this dynamic brand’s DNA is the goal of creating pleasure.

The lace babydoll nightgown set:the best seller
Each year Marjolaine presents around 15 in each collection, and then there are all the possible colour choices. Prices go from around €30 for the simplest to a little more than €100 for the most sophisticated. With such a wide choice of colours, designs, and prices, every client can find the babydoll that suits her best.

‘Incrusting lace into silk demands meticulous attention to detail, patience, and a light touch. We are specially trained to create embroidery with Cornely machines. When you love clothing and using fabrics to create shapes and movement, it’s a real pleasure to create all these designs and work with this lace. Every collection includes designs for every woman, young and not so young; and every style, whether classic, more original, etc’, Laure Labolle, 29 years, seamstress with Marjolaine for five years.

A TIMELESS NOBLE MATERIAL
It takes three times as many letters to describe it as to name it! Is it the word or the material itself that is magical? In-com-pa-ra-ble, ex-cep-tion-al: silk is both.

Silk can’t be defeated, not by economic crises, competition from synthetic fibres, or the whims of fashion cycles. With 450 centuries of history behind it, this noble fabric still faces a promising future, thanks to developments that have increased its uses and created a greater number of fibre blends, ensuring a wider price range and availability for ready-to-wear. In fact, French silk yarn imports grew by 18 percent in 2013, compared to 2012.

With a production of 150,000 tons per year, this valuable yarn represents less than 1 percent in volume of the textile fibres in the world market, yet its per unit price is more than 20 times that of cotton. Europe has lost its silk yarn manufacturers, leaving the market open to China and other Asian nations, which now account for nearly 70 percent of global manufacturing. India, Uzbekistan, Thailand and Brazil are the other major producers.

Yet silk is still a luxury fabric, symbolizing excellence and imbued with magic. Skilfully used by the biggest fashion houses, but also favoured by young lingerie designers (Marjolaine, Lise Charmel, Olivia von Halle, Meng, and others), silk continues to win consumers with its delicate beauty, the essence of its charm.

How does silk transcend the centuries unaffected by external forces, such as economic crises, competition from synthetics and fashion cycles? Silk thread producers have all but disappeared from Europe and are becoming ever rarer in Italy, leaving the market for this precious raw yam to Asian and Brazilian producers. What does the future hold for this fabric with a history dating back over 450 centuries?

A well-preserved niche market
The silk market went through a brief period of instability, with continually rising silk prices linked to thread availability. "Supply has now returned to normal, with high-quality fabrics and stabilizing prices, even though price levels are far higher than 18 months ago" underlines Will Steele, managing director of Pongees, an 80-year old English silk company based in central London for the last twenty years.

Improved silk-farming in China has reassured silk specialists regarding the availability of high-quality thread sourcing options. "Rising thread prices and the corresponding increase in the price of silk fabrics have affected the middle of the range, driving producers and shoppers alike to seek out silk blends, rather than pure silks. Spared the full impact, Haute Couture and luxury lingerie remain loyal to pure silk," continues Will Steele.
It is worth noting that silk remains unaffected by the economic crisis.

Describing silk requires an arsenal of adjectives that are enough to make the head spin: vibrant, timeless, sensual, sumptuous, luxurious, subtle, delicate, refined, fragile... Sought-after and coveted, silk is capable of plunging certain sensitive personalities into a degree of fetishism, such as Marie Benjamin, who was found to have fainted with pleasure, gripping a length of red silk fabric, stolen from a Parisian department store. That was just a century ago in 1914. One hundred years have passed, and the magic of silk remains. Unshakeable, in a market dominated by cutting-edge research to develop smart textiles.

Silk - a multi-faceted fabric
Wonderfully soft and delicate, with an unrivalled sheen, this most noble natural material has always been associated with women's lingerie. Insulating, fine, light, fluid and strong, its many qualities make it a truly exceptional fabric, capable of reinventing itself. Compatible with a variety of processes - printing, dyeing, conversion and finishing techniques - silk deserves its enviable position as a firm favourite with Haute Couture designers. No longer exclusively reserved for an elite clientele, silk has become more accessible, affordable and contributes to a more upscale brand positioning. In addition to its functional qualities, silk offers enhanced technical properties to satisfy new consumer requirements, thanks to developments in machinery and new fibre blends.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF SILK
It is very difficult to determine exactly when silk was discovered but it is thought to have been used for over 4,500 years. The Chinese were the first to succeed in "domesticating" the silkworm, keeping the art a closely-guarded secret and even threatening anyone who broke the silence with the death penalty. The secrets of silk would not be revealed to the West until 3,000 years later. Well before Arab conquests in the Middle East, North Africa and Spain brought sericulture (silk production) in their wake, this luxurious fabric travelled all the way to Europe in long caravans that journeyed along the silk road. From that point onwards, the Chinese monopoly gradually waned and other countries established themselves as silk producers. Italy created a silk transformation industry in the 12th century.

The French monopoly in silk trading was established in Lyon from 1450, and was further consolidated under the reign of Francois I, who contributed to the increasing influence of Lyon's silk manufacturers. By 1554, twelve thousand people made their living from silk weaving. In the 17th century, the reputation of Lyon's silk fabrics had even gained the courts of Europe, with members of the royalty placing orders with Lyon's manufacturers for clothing and furnishing for their palaces. The French revolution would later seriously compromise the silk trade's main clients: the church and the monarchy. Japan also began making a significant impact in the silk industry in the late 19th century, since it succeeded in controlling diseases affecting silkworms, it exported considerable quantities of raw silk to Europe and the United States. In 1923, Yokohama became one of the world's largest silk depositories. Today, the main silk-producing countries are as follows: China, India, Brazil, Uzbekistan and Thailand. Silk fabric is mainly manufactured in Japan, China and Europe, in the Lyon region, as well as in Italy.

HOW IS SILK ACTUALLY MADE?
It all starts with the silkworm, a caterpillar that feeds exclusively on mulberry leaves. When fully-grown and satiated, it starts to spin a cocoon. It then creates layer upon layer of thread (liquid secretion) between the layers of the cocoon (over 20 to 30 layers) and encloses itself inside. Snug in its shelter, the worm transforms into a chrysalis, then a moth. When the moth is ready to hatch, it secretes a liquid to create an opening. Hatched cocoons cannot be used for spinning since a continuous filament is required. Steam is therefore applied to stifle the chrysalis, only those which will be used for breeding are kept alive.
Once the cocoons have been processed, spinning can begin. The spinner combines between 4 and 14 cocoons, depending on the thread thickness required. The threads created are gently twisted to ensure consistency before being wound onto a large reel. The silk thread thus takes shape and is known as raw silk. The raw silk is then woven which involves criss-crossing the warp (longwise) and weft threads (widthwise) on a weaving loom until yard after yard of beautiful silk fabric falls from the loom.

This last step in silk production was carried out on hand looms until the early 19th century. The Jacquard loom revolutionized this activity in 1801, allowing complex patterns to be introduced during the weaving stage. Textile finishing processes can then be applied to the silk in order to enhance the fabric and obtain its incomparable sheen. There are a number of different silk fabrics, each with a completely different look and feel, such as colour-changing taffeta, crepe-de-chine or georgette characterized by their soft and springy feel, light and matt silk chiffons and organdies created using very fine threads, etc., twills and a whole range of satins : duchess, charmeuse, crepe-satins... with a high-shine finish...
HOW DO YOU RECOGNIZE SILK?
It's quite simple: unravel part of the fabric and apply a flame to several threads. If it is pure silk, several millimetres will burn. When it goes out, a tiny carbon ball will be formed and there will be a smell like burnt horn.

Lise Charmel

Marjolaine

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