Meet Mélanie Gomis, the Marseillaise Designer Building a New Kind of French Fashion Brand
The headlines in French fashion are perpetually hogged by Paris, which, when you consider that both à la mode and modernity were invented there, is arguably fair enough. And yet 481 miles south, in amazing Marseilles, a highly notable French fashion start-up has emerged, thanks to a creative journey between Dakar, Senegal; Como, Italy; London, Beirut, and (inevitably) Paris too.
The journey is that of Mélanie Gomis, 27, who has launched the impressive first collection of her newly founded label, Gomis. Range through her online rails and you see a collection fashioned with evident savoir faire and vision. Particularly fine is an open-backed, made-to-order stretch jumpsuit with a sarouel-leg silhouette, a pant style thought to have been first brought to France by soldiers returning from North Africa. There is also a beguiling and amusing signature snail print—gastropods are so overlooked in fashion—used on multiple pieces, and much excellent sequin work. The online studio also discloses the source of all its materials, including British recycled sequins and Como-spun recycled fabrics fueled by solar power. Ultimately, these ingredients and others are then combined into Gomis’s designs in her own studio and the Marseille atelier 13 A’Tipik, a social enterprise established in 2013.
As she explained, initially via email, her journey in fashion began when she won a two year course at the Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne thanks to 2013 s edition of French Elle’s Solidarité Mode competition. Following this she completed one year of a BA in womenswear at Central Saint Martins in London, before a lack of funds forced her to search for work. She found it alongside the Paris couturier Georges Hobeika in his Beirut-based studio.
“I was his assistant in the work,” Gomis wrote. “It was a real exchange and he was a mentor. During the first six months, he taught me the couture foundations through sitting next to him: It was mainly about creating, searching, and sourcing everything we have in mind and being experimental together. He really gave me his trust and encouraged me to believe in myself. I was the link between Georges and the atelier manager, and I can say it was really a close relationship built on creativity.” Highlight pieces she worked alongside Hobeika to create included a Gomis-beaded dress worn by Dakota Fanning at the Venice Film Festival, and Beyoncé’s fiercer-than-fierce look worn while promoting The Lion King. This inspired her to return home to Marseille in early 2020 to begin building her own enterprise.
Over years of covering Paris-based designers, I cannot recall ever having encountered, let alone interviewed, a designer who is French, Black, and female. A well-known designer friend in Paris—whose knowledge and experience is far more acute and personal than mine—concurred that in his long experience, there are very, very few Black women operating as designers in the French fashion system. “When I decided to name the brand Gomis, it was because it’s a really huge family; we all come from these roots,” she says of her Senegalese heritage. All the more reason to pay attention to the new Marseillaise on the scene.
Luke Leitch: Nice to meet you, Mélanie. So, your last step before founding Gomis was working for three years with Georges Hobeika. What was that like?
Mélanie Gomis: What was nice is that Georges worked alone, doing the full process himself—everything is integrated in his house—and I got to see and learn that full process myself. I saw how to do the artwork, how to work on the dresses and on the pattern, how to choose the materials, and I learned how to do the beading and how to develop the fitting. It was the best role for me.
It is very brave to launch your brand during the pandemic. Why now, and what are your hopes and plans for Gomis?
Honestly, it was because I already planned to launch [by now]. It felt like the right moment for me. When all of this happened, it was not a problem because I like to allow time to work and to allow reflection about the collection. I like to do things in the right way: step by step, not in a hurry. This is also what I want for the future: a durable house, with the full production process integrated into the atelier. This is the ambition that I have. And to also develop a strong aesthetic; pieces that are really well-sewn and a bit iconic.
Even though you say you’re not in a hurry, you seem to be moving pretty fast to me. Does that philosophy relate to your snail print?
I guess, yes! Because I like the quiet patterns and the peaceful path. It’s true that there is a contradiction there, but I have a philosophy about life. Even if it’s sometimes difficult, I like to do the thing that I have in mind at the right moments. It’s not about doing it in a hurry, but doing it when you feel it.
Tell me more about how you’re integrating that philosophy within the house?
In the sourcing, apart from the sequins from the U.K., most of the fabrics are from Italy and are sustainable. In the production, I’ve been working with another atelier called 13 A’tipik, based here in Marseilles, that offers unemployed people or people with social difficulties the chance to gain a contract of employment, so we are reducing carbon emissions by local production and also contributing to human respect. Then in the look, it is about doing something which is simple, but also edgy, and is something you can personalize. It’s also about cherishing, and about transmitting, these clothes. It’s about time—and I really think this is what is sustainable.
In establishing this house, do you have a financial backer or partner?
No, and this is also the reason why I am doing things slowly and on my own, because I am independent.
…Which makes your retail platform urgently important. How is that going?
It’s really the beginning. I am starting to get in contact with a good retail collaborator. Right now I am going directly to the clientele. I’m going directly to their apartments, I show the collection to them in detail so they can try it. I like to show them personally what the project is because they need to have confidence in it and see it for themselves.