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An interview with BÉATRICE DE CRÉCY...

L’Exception heads to the home of Béatrice de Crécy for this edition of Smart Talk. Co-founder & artistic director of Bonne Maison, her apartment in the 11 th arrondissement of Paris is the perfect setting to find out how the Beaux-Arts art-restoration major stumbled into the world of fashion, creating our favourite sock brand with the help of partner Jean-Gabriel Huez. Turning humble socks into a conduit for creativity, we get to grips with her distinctive design process - with an exclusive look at her moodboards that represent the backbone for the brand’s famous storytelling collections. During this interview, we learn more about Béatrice’s passion for art in everyday life, her ambivalence towards traditional fashion and the challenges the brand faces in producing each collection in France…

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L’Exception : Hi Béatrice, could you introduce yourself to our readers?

Béatrice de Crécy : Hi. My name’s Béatrice de Crécy, I’m the artistic director for the sock brand Bonne Maison that I founded with Jean-Gabriel Huez in 2012.

You studied art restoration at the Beaux-Arts in Avignon. How did you end up working in the fashion industry?

When I was studying at the Beaux-Arts, I was working for fashion designer Christian Audigier to earn a living. Spending my time with a needle and thread in hand, I ended up enjoying my day job more than my studies, so I decided not to finish my final year and work full time in the graphics department. In 1990, I moved to Lyon and opened my own graphic design business – creating catalogues and artwork for collections. We worked with lots of sportswear brands like GoSport and Adidas, It was really varied. After that, I moved to Corsica where I worked freelance for my clients.

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How did you meet your brand partner Jean-Gabriel Huez?

I met him when I was collaborating on a project at Christian Audigier. He was working for a sock company called ‘Doré Doré’ and we ended up working together on multiple occasions. We always had a good working relationship, I often asked him about collaborating on a project together. When he decided to create his own company, everything came together naturally and the brand Bonne Maison was born.

Why did you choose socks as your form of creative expression?

I and Jean-Gabriel have always shared a passion for those Japanese socks that were sold at ‘Autour du Monde’ with little patterns. Socks, whilst being an everyday accessory, are also a product that we both know very well.

The socks at Bonne Maison are ‘a way of telling a story in the space between your shoe and trouser hem’. Have you always considered socks as a way of expressing your personality in an outfit?

I haven’t always thought like that but we decided that it would be the product we launched with, so they became my canvas for creativity. Telling a story through something as simple as a pair of socks became the theme little by little, and, because I’m quite free with my designs, our brand quickly became known as a creative sock company.

Each season, you focus on three themes via 12 styles of sock. Where does your style inspiration come from?

I work heavily with imagery. I like to collect lots of images from painters, architects and other media. After that, I organise them into moodboards. I try to have three different themes by the end. The difficulty is creating a strong visual story and something that’s easily recognisable from each moodboard. That’s where the work begins: turning my ideas into a finished product. Sometimes, I work with an intern who helps me translate my ideas into sock designs. It’s always a very fruitful collaborative process.

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Tell us about the story behind this season’s autumn-winter 2019 collection?

The first is called, ‘Un Soir’. It’s inspired by artworl from Markus Lüpertz who is known for his focus on geometric design, daring colour combinations and blending figuration with abstraction. There is also influence drawn from artist Salvo and his use of softer shades and geometry. It’s this type of colourful, repetitive design that inspires me a lot.
The second is called, ‘Mandragore’. I took a picture of a fennel dish made by my aunt and it was beautiful. You can see the tender green stems with light pink tints and bright green parsley. That’s not expressly seen in the finished product but you can see the inspiration in the use of greens and pinks and artichokes instead of fennel. I was also inspired Renaissance and mandrakes, that look like little human roots.
by the The third is called ‘Un Rêve’ and draws on inspiration from the American surrealist artist Gertrude Abercrombie . The colours used are blues and purples. I also thought of the cinematography of David Lynch and his strange scenes that feel like dreams. Each pair of socks tells a story, we see large snails, falling men catching cattails and teary eyes. A blend of strange semaphores that look like something out of a dream .

You share your sources of inspiration and the paintings you like on your Instagram page @bonnemaisonfr. Can you tell us more about the artists that influence your work?

Picasso is the absolute master for me. If I had to choose one it would have to be him. There are also lots of other artists, too, like Matisse and David Hockney. I think their use of colour is the common theme.

The brand’s lookbooks are always very inventive; making socks come to life can’t be easy. Do you look after the imagery and artistic direction in general?

Yes, we shoot the images at our shared photo studio – usually on the weekend so we don’t disturb anyone. We start from scratch and try to make the most imaginative imagery possible. We source clothing and shoes and ask students from the neighbouring fashion school at Studio Berçot to model them for us. But sometimes it will be a girl I cross in the road or in a coffee shop. We have a photographer that works with me one day a week. For each look, we partner up with brands like Anne Thomas, Botte Gardiane or Yvonne Waska as they have a similar aesthetic to ours. It’s always quite spontaneous, there’s not a lot of premeditation.

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Whilst a lot of imagery goes into the design, you also focus on the sustainability of the socks at Bonne Maison. Can you explain how you develop such a quality-driven finished product?

We use Egyptian cotton, spun with a special technique that allows the elimination of all short fibres and prevents the pilling of the cotton once knitted. Each sock is reinforced using a double knit method to eliminate unwanted seams - making it smooth, soft, matte and strong. Our colours are created with care and the dyeing of the threads is specially crafted for Bonne Maison in Italy.

Where does this specialist savoir-faire come from?

My associate, Jean-Gabriel Huez worked for Doré Doré for 15 years and has a wealth of knowledge in this area. We also manufacture our socks in a small factory in a village near Limoges. Jean-Gabriel is very curious and spends a lot of time overseeing the products and looking for new ways to improve the process.

To manufacture 80% of your socks in France, you have purchased your own thin gauge knitting machines to ensure you can continue to produce your products in France. Can you explain the ins and outs of this join investment?

The factory where we were developing our products didn’t have lots of machines adapted to sock making at the start. We decided to invest in two machines that would be housed at the factory – as a way of showing our solidarity and willingness to collaborate with this manufacturer. We wanted them to know that if they helped us develop our product, we would then work with them permanently because it is quite difficult to find a manufacturer who will help develop a product in France. It requires a real investment on their part.

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Where are the rest of your products manufactured if not in France?

The remaining 20% of our products are made in Portugal - but only because the factory that we work with in France doesn’t have the capacity to create our whole collection in-house. It costs us the same price in Portugal, it’s not cheaper, so it’s not about price but about manufacturing capacity. The production process isn’t as expensive as say, leather goods, as it needs less hand’s on craftsmanship, so it’s a lot easier to manufacture in France and sell at a fair price point, too.

Why do you think it has become so important to manufacture products in France in 2019?

Firstly, it’s a question of quality. It allows for more creative control and supervision during the manufacturing process. With my associate, we’re always more interested in the details of each product than the marketing. The colours of the French flag aren’t really what define us. For us, it’s about ensuring each piece is created to the highest standard and our customers are proud of purchasing a Bonne Maison product.
The other important aspect is that manufacturing in France creates jobs, even though I know the factories find it hard to hire. Working in the textile industry is becoming less popular. Finalising a collection at the factory fills me with joy, everyone we work with is so dedicated to what they do and always on hand to help, they’re miracle workers! These are jobs that really make sense because you produce something. In the end, you can see the fruit of your labour.

Do you want to expand into other types of products one day or will Bonne Maison remain a sock brand?

It’s in question, but for the moment I can’t tell you more. In any case, what I can tell you is that I’d like to one day. I’d like to enlarge my opportunities for expression.

What are the initiatives that have caught your attention in the fashion industry at the moment?

I used to watch what was going on in fashion but now I feel a little bit off. I like to shop in thrift stores and flea markets, I don’t really by anything new. I’ve always found second-hand clothes inspiring. I find the fashion world quite scary. I don’t really feel like I’m part of that universe, I’m in a far more simple part of the industry. But, if I had to cite one contemporary designer that I like it would be Jacquemus. I find his work very conceptual with lots of strong visual aspects and colours.

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