On the earth of youngsters’s luxurious trend, few manufacturers handle to strike a stability between heritage, emotion, and modernity as seamlessly as Gabriel et Valentin. Based by Nathalie Scemama, the Paris-based label has develop into identified for its refined aesthetic, distinctive craftsmanship, and deeply private storytelling.
Rooted in a imaginative and prescient formed by motherhood, journey, and a lifelong appreciation for nice supplies and timeless design, the model displays a considerate strategy to childhood—the place clothes turns into greater than type, however a language of sensitivity and expression.
On this unique dialog, Nathalie Scemama opens up about her journey from the style business to founding her personal label, her definition of recent luxurious, and the values that proceed to information her artistic universe. From Parisian inspiration to American cinematic references, from craftsmanship to childhood improvement, she shares a uncommon and trustworthy perspective on what it actually means to construct a model with soul.
Nathalie Scemama Founding father of Gabriel et Valentin
Journey & Inspirations
Are you able to share the story of the way you entered the style world? What first sparked your ardour for design?
My journey into trend started at a really early stage, once I was working as a mannequin for homes resembling Hermès and Burberry.
It was throughout this time that I actually understood what excellence means — the precision of cuts, the standard of supplies, the craftsmanship, and the eye to element.
I’ve all the time beloved investing in lovely items designed to final over time. After I created my model, I had a transparent imaginative and prescient: to deal with distinctive craftsmanship rooted in France and Italy.
Was there a second that made you understand you needed to create Gabriel et Valentin?
Turning into a mom. I created this model out of affection for youngsters world wide and for my three sons.
When launching your model, what hole did you see within the youngsters’s luxurious market, and the way did you got down to fill it?
A scarcity of stability between creativity and craftsmanship.
Beginning a model isn’t straightforward—what have been the largest challenges you confronted, and the way did you overcome them?
Staying true to my imaginative and prescient.
The Aesthetic of Gabriel et Valentin
How would you describe the aesthetic and DNA of your model?
A stability between heritage, emotion, and modernity.
What feelings or values do you hope your collections convey to each youngsters and their mother and father?
Sincerity, authenticity, and timeless magnificence.
Your collections typically draw inspiration from the Wild West and American tradition—what attracts you to those influences?
The movies of Clint Eastwood and the music of Ennio Morricone deeply impressed me. I additionally draw from Native American cultures and needed to reconcile cowboys and Indians.
How do you stability timeless design with fashionable relevance, making items each elegant and approachable?
It’s about creating items that carry emotion and heritage whereas remaining easy and wearable. The stability comes from staying true to authenticity slightly than following traits.
Paris is usually described as the center of trend. How does Paris affect your imaginative and prescient, and what makes it such a novel supply of inspiration?
Paris is my sanctuary of happiness — a metropolis that by no means ceases to encourage me. I’m deeply drawn to its historical past, its artwork, and the timeless great thing about its monuments. There’s something profoundly emotional in regards to the environment right here; it consistently nourishes my creativity.
I’ve typically chosen Paris because the backdrop for my picture campaigns, as a method of expressing my love for town. From the Musée d’Artwork Moderne to the Palais Galliera, and extra just lately alongside the banks of the Seine and close to the Louvre with an American photographer, every location tells a narrative and turns into a part of my visible narrative.
Paris isn’t just a spot — it’s a feeling that continues to form my imaginative and prescient.
Past Paris, do you might have a favourite place on this planet that fuels your creativity?
I discover inspiration in locations wealthy in tradition and historical past, however Paris stays my true emotional anchor.
Luxurious, Craftsmanship & Authenticity
How do you outline luxurious immediately, and is that this definition totally different in youngsters’s trend?
Luxurious is about authenticity, high quality, and emotion.
How has your understanding of luxurious developed over time?
A model is credible when manufacturing stays in France or Italy.
Previously 15 years, youngsters’s trend and life-style merchandise have seen unbelievable development and demand. What are your ideas on this evolution?
This development displays a deeper consciousness amongst mother and father. There’s a stronger need to supply youngsters significant, well-crafted merchandise that carry worth past performance.
Imitation is widespread in trend—how do you preserve authenticity and originality in your work?
By staying deeply linked to my imaginative and prescient and specializing in sincerity slightly than exterior noise.
The place do you draw the road between inspiration and copying?
In intention. True inspiration transforms and reinterprets, whereas copying lacks soul and identification.
Craftsmanship and materials choice are central to your model. How do you strategy these components in your artistic course of?
Leather-based is made in France (goat and shearling). Cashmere and silk-cashmere blends are made in Italy. Knitwear is produced in Italy and France. Boots are made within the USA. Every materials and place of manufacturing is rigorously chosen to make sure the very best stage of high quality and authenticity.
Sustainability and acutely aware manufacturing are more and more necessary—how do these values play a task at Gabriel et Valentin?
Sturdiness, high quality, and timelessness are on the coronary heart of sustainability. Creating items that final is, in itself, a accountable strategy.
The Trade & Human Connection
What’s your perspective on in-person experiences resembling commerce exhibits, pop-up shops, and bodily retail areas immediately?
Bodily experiences stay important immediately. In a world saturated with photographs and digital content material, direct contact creates an actual, virtually tangible emotion. Touching supplies, seeing volumes, assembly the individuals behind a model — all of this offers which means to the garment. Pop-ups or commerce exhibits develop into areas for storytelling, the place a imaginative and prescient could be shared in a extra intimate method. I imagine human connection is extra necessary than ever. Digital makes entry simpler, but it surely doesn’t substitute relationships. Style is about sensitivity, perspective, and alternate. It’s typically by means of actual encounters {that a} true connection to a model is born.
Kids, Fashion & Improvement
Many mother and father say, “Youngsters develop too quick, so we don’t put money into luxurious clothes.” How do you reply to this angle?
It’s true that youngsters develop rapidly, however that doesn’t imply high quality has no worth. Quite the opposite, investing in well-made, sturdy, and timeless items is usually a technique to introduce a baby to a sure appreciation of magnificence and respect for objects. It’s not about luxurious, however about which means and transmission.
Do you imagine {that a} baby’s environment—together with clothes, equipment, and their aesthetic setting—play a task of their improvement or training?
A toddler’s aesthetic setting performs a elementary function of their improvement. Shapes, colours, and supplies all contribute to shaping their sensitivity and the way they understand the world. A considerate and coherent setting can stimulate curiosity, creativeness, and even self-confidence.
In your expertise, do youngsters actually care about what they put on? How can trend affect their confidence and self-expression?
Kids are sometimes extra perceptive than we expect. They reply to textures, colours, and luxury. Clothes can develop into a way of expression, a software to say a creating persona. When a baby feels good in what they put on, it might strengthen their confidence.
What’s the greatest recommendation you might give to folks who wish to develop their youngsters’s artistic considering and sense of magnificence?
I’d advise mother and father to deal with simplicity, high quality, and coherence. It’s additionally necessary to offer youngsters area to decide on, experiment, and even make errors. It’s inside that freedom that true creativity develops.
Recommendation & Imaginative and prescient
What recommendation would you give to aspiring designers hoping to construct a significant and genuine model immediately? Do you suppose good style is a expertise, a ability, or each?
To younger designers, I’d say: keep true to your imaginative and prescient. In a fast-moving setting, it’s tempting to observe traits, however the actual power of a model lies in its consistency and authenticity.
Take the time to construct, to know supplies and craftsmanship, and above all, to offer which means to what you create.
I’d additionally say: by no means take heed to those that attempt to discourage you. There’ll all the time be exterior doubts, however what issues most is trusting your intuition. Following your coronary heart and what you actually really feel is usually the important thing — it’s what means that you can create one thing honest and distinctive.
Style, in my view, is a mix of each. There could also be a pure sensitivity, but it surely develops over time by means of statement, tradition, and expertise. It’s a fixed technique of refining one’s eye.
Trying forward, what’s your final imaginative and prescient for Gabriel et Valentin within the years to come back?
In the long run, the purpose is to construct an enduring model in each sense: in its merchandise, its values, and the connection it creates with its purchasers. The thought is to create a coherent, timeless universe that endures past seasons with out dropping its identification.
What do you want most about Junior Fashion?
I love its forward-thinking, dynamic, and stylish imaginative and prescient. The Junior Fashion Awards are an actual first for {a magazine} celebrating rising expertise. The thought of that includes a Junior Fashion ambassador mannequin may be very nicely thought out. I additionally admire its selection of collaborations with lovely manufacturers, and above all of the rigor, professionalism, and sensitivity of its founder, Aleksandra Ataca.
All pictures are sourced from the Gabriel et Valentin private archives and stay the unique property and copyright of their respective homeowners.
