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On Tuesday, Ami, in partnership with Institut Français de la Mode, awarded its second annual prize for young entrepreneurs to Cachi, a genderless fashion label co-founded by French and Argentinian designers Élise Girault and Belén Frias.
Recognised for mixing techniques and references from their two respective countries, Girault, 29, and Frias, 32, use embroidery, tufting and local motifs, like the passionfruit, from Argentina. Cachi is the name of Frias’s father’s village in Argentina.
Ami founder and creative director Alexandre Mattiussi praised the beauty and quality of the clothes. “The singular houses are those that are embodied by the person. For me, Paris is my home. With Cachi, I travel between Argentina and France.”
With the prize, Cachi will receive a one-year mentorship from each member of the jury. This year’s jury was made up of Ami CEO Nicolas Santi-Weil; Mattiussi; Julie Pellet, brand development lead at Instagram; Tatiana Dupond, TikTok’s director of luxury, fashion and beauty; Nadia Dhouib, general manager of Paco Rabanne; René Célestin, founder of production company Obo; Brune Buonomano, executive vice-president of creative consulting firm Mazarine; and journalists Mademoiselle Agnès and Daphné Burki.
The Ami x IFM Entrepreneurship Prize was launched last year in an effort to recognise and support rising talents and went to leather goods line Atxi x Sed Nove Studio. The transversal award involves each of the courses offered by IFM (management, design and craftsmanship), and the entrepreneurship certificate is led by Thomas Delattre, director of Fashion Entrepreneurship Center at IFM. “The idea is to connect them with people who can help them,” says Santi-Weil of the prize. It also reflects the brand values of “friendship, sharing and inclusion”, he adds.
Girault and Frias met at Wanderlust, a nightclub in Paris. Girault’s background includes the design studios of Lanvin and Véronique Leroy, while Frias is visual merchandiser at Lacoste. They joined the IFM incubator as they were building their brand, where they met Emmanuelle Segalowitch, an MBA student at IFM who joined the duo to oversee the financials. They plan to launch the brand in January next year, presenting an Autumn/Winter 2024 collection at Paris Fashion Week. The plan is to raise funds and start the brand wholesale.
The jury also awarded the Coup de Coeur prize to Doots Studio, a brand transforming clothing deadstock into handbags created by three IFM students (Annabelle Tissier, Gabriel Katzin and Thibault Jamar de Bolsée). Twelve projects were shortlisted for the prize (seven led by joint teams of entrepreneurs and students and five led by students only). They included Cent Neuf, a brand offering secondhand collections, and Barraket, transforming prickly pear into innovative materials.
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