Before slow fashion became a hashtag, BY Marie was already practicing it. Before craftsmanship became a marketing argument, Marie Gas made it the backbone of her selection. Here's why it's not a trend, it's a conviction.
Fast fashion: the end of a cycle
The pace of contemporary fashion has reached its limits. Collections follow one another at a rhythm that no longer has anything to do with seasons. Sales arrive even before the season is over. Marie Gas has observed this since her first years at BY Marie, and says it plainly:
Pioneer of slow fashion
Long before the term became fashionable, Marie Gas always favored what is commonly called slow fashion: valuing craftsmanship, expertise, and pieces that last over time due to their quality and timelessness. FashionNetwork.com
This is not a marketing positioning, it's a purchasing philosophy inherited from the Gas Bijoux workshop, where nothing is ever on sale, because only what deserves to exist for a long time is created.
Craftsmanship as a compass
At BY Marie, the selection criterion is not a brand's reputation or its communication budget. It's the quality of the gesture. The presence of expertise. The trace of the hand in the object.
Marie Gas is very sensitive to handmade work: the craftsman who works with leather, the dyer who will execute a tie-and-dye. This is the common thread that connects Gas Bijoux, all of whose pieces are handmade in Marseille, to the BY Marie selection: designers from all over the world who share the same obsession with beautifully made products. Ulla Johnson and her embroidered silks, Selim Mouzannar and his Lebanese jewelry, Ancient Greek Sandals and their Greek leathers, Marie Lichtenberg and her enameled medallions. Pieces with a story, a geography, an author. Leather Fashion Design
Buy now, wear now: the right timing
BY Marie also advocates a vision of the fashion calendar that restores meaning where the industrial system has removed it.
"It's the idea of buy now, wear now. We need to reconnect the timing of collections and seasons." Marie Gas, FashionNetwork
It is in this spirit that BY Marie launched its own creations: the BY MARIE Collection, in cashmere and silk, sold all year round because beauty has no season. And the Vacation Pieces, permanently available on bymarie.com, because the desire for summer cannot be scheduled.
A manifesto in action
The BY Marie slow fashion is a sum of concrete and coherent actions:
Select little, but well, never fill a store just to fill a store. Maintain loyal relationships with designers over time, not according to trends. Offer limited edition and exclusive pieces, to resist the logic of volume. Value local and international craftsmanship, from the Gas Bijoux workshops in Marseille to the Greek, Lebanese, or Milanese workshops of the selected designers. Offer a personal service: Personal Shopper, in-store advice, holding items aside so that each purchase is a thoughtful decision, not a disposable impulse.