For Jeanne Friot, the Political Is Personal

ALEX POMMIER

On Wednesday, it was one day shy of exactly a year since Jeanne Friot burst onto the scene with that moment-defining Joan of Arc outfit at the opening ceremony of Paris 2024. Her runway show in the courtyard of the Ministry of Culture in the Marais marked another high point. Called Résistance, the collection offered up spins on the pride flag as well as new variations on the metallicized leather armor that put the 30-year-old designer and her fledgling brand on the map.

The casting, drawn entirely from the trans and non-binary community, drew just as much excitement, if not more. Backstage before the show, the mood was electric. “Be fucking strong!” shouted trans activist Claude Emmanuelle to her fellow models. In the show notes, she expanded on the thought with a text titled “Offer a Riot Before It’s Too Late.”

“When I did my last show [in January], I thought I had to do something,” the designer offered. “I couldn’t just do another collection and not address what’s happening in my community, and notably the trans community, because their life can be complicated and I find what’s happening so violent, I was waking up depressed every day. This is my way of saying, ‘We love you; you will always be visible, we will protect you,’” she said.

On the runway, tartans became capes, broad shoulders made for commanding silhouettes, and stacks of belts in black patent, metallic blue, and pink leather became bodysuits, dresses and stompers-as-manifestos, the last of which was developed in collaboration with Both.

But Jeanne Friot has no intention of limiting her platform to Paris Fashion Week. She’s recently produced some furniture for the French retailer La Redoute, as well as stage costumes for artists including Katy Perry and the French singer and actress Barbara Pravi, and new partnerships with the Ballet de Lorraine and the Philharmonie de Paris. “It’s really a global vision,” she said. “I want to go outside of fashion too and show what we love to do.”