Not that long ago, I’ve came across Maison Persienne. From the first time I saw them, I’ve been in love. Last summer, they had summer sales and I decided to give it a go. I bought a wrap top, made of 100% cotton and made in France. The top is so well made and it’s one of my favourite tops to wear. When I shared my outfit on Instagram, Emma, the founder of Maison Persienne, directly messaged me. It was such a pleasure to chat about the movement against fast fashion. So today I’d like to introduce you to Emma and to Maison Persienne.
Let me introduce you to Maison Persienne!
What does Maison Persienne stand for?
Maison Persienne is a small brand based in France. It’s a “human-size” company, as they call them in French. Emma emphasises this, as it’s very important to her. Her brand is all about being a Maison de Couture, with its atelier in Paris and with a small team of passionate workers. They all work closely together, to create the unique pieces. Christine is the model maker and she turns Emma’s designs into huge patterns. They use these patterns to cut the fabrics and produce the clothes. Everything from A to Z is made in Paris by their caring team. Concerning the designs, Emma gets her inspiration from retro styles, but not only. For sure, Maison Persienne is not about sportswear, but they have a wide range of designs, some are very Parisian, others are more Italian or Mediterranean. Since very recently they also select treasures from the past. They release these items on every Monday during the Vintage Monday capsule.
The reason Emma started her brand
Emma has started Maison Persienne last year, in 2018 and she’ll celebrate the first anniversary in October. It was very important to Emma to be part of the slow fashion movement and to share her sustainable ideals with a big community of fashion lovers. For now Instagram is the perfect social media for that purpose.
What about sustainability and ethics?
To Emma, a brand is only sustainable if its production can be done long-term, without any bad consequences on the environment or on human fundamental rights. Maison Persienne focusses on the use of left over fabrics as well as selling vintage beauties through their Vintage Monday Capsule. All the new items are made by hand in Paris, so Maison Persienne can assure full transparency and high ethical standards.
Magda, Emma’s sister, in a vintage dress 
Vintage Christian Dior in the Vintage Monday Capsule
Which materials are used in the collections?
Concerning the fabrics, they usually have two options. Either natural fabrics from European firms or natural or synthetic fabrics from dead stock fabrics. These mean “end-of-roll” fabrics that are leftovers from stores in Paris. If you think leftovers are a cheap solution to a waste problem, you’re wrong. Sadly it is not less expensive, far from that actually, since it’s supposed to be for single customers and not for brands. Besides that, working with leftover fabrics makes the restock of some items very complicated, as they cannot be sure to find the same pattern and material again. However, this is also very beautiful, as you will have limited numbers of the items, which makes the clothes truly unique.
Emma’s best tip to live more ethically and sustainably
Her first advice is to consume more ethically. That starts with only buying what you really wear. To her this is the golden rule. Then, if you can, each time you bring something new to your closet, try to sell or give to charity an item you don’t wear anyone. Last but not least, try to buy from ethical brands or buy second-hand (including cool vintage stores) as much as you can. “Fashion is a big cycle,” she says, “you can always be trendy with something vintage, and you won’t see other people wearing the same outfit as you in the streets.” She also stresses the fact that you should not pressure oneself. If you fall for something from fast fashion stores or brands, try to wear it as much as you can. We cannot always be 100% sustainable, doing your best is already awesome.
Do you like Maison Persienne as much as I do? You can shop all the items of her summer collection here, as well as the Vintage Monday capsule. The summer items are currently on sale, so this is the perfect time to invest in this ethical brand.
