Meet Marie- Ève Lecavalier, the Canadian Designer Shortlisted for the LVMH Prize


How a self-described “emo kid” from the suburban areas of Montreal made it to the world phase.

If the name Marie-EveLecavelier does not yet call a bell, here’s your opportunity to get familiarized.

Last year, the 30- year-old Canadian designer took house the leading reward at the Hy ères InternationalFestival of Fashion and Photography while still an intern for Raf Simons inAntwerp She utilized the money earnings from the reward to discovered her name label, Lecavalier, which released in 2018, and prior to the line had even strike it’s very first birthday, she vanquished 1,700 candidates (the most the structure had actually ever gotten) to end up being shortlisted for the 2019 LVMHPrize Her stealthily highbrow styles are offered by SSENSE and she simply teamed up with Simons on a pill collection of slinky separates influenced by, in her own words, “a weird woman sitting next to a pool and getting drunk at 11 in the morning.”

As somebody who matured the working class Montreal residential area of Saint-Hubert,Quebec, Lecavalier never ever imagined fashion style as a practical profession alternative; she presumed fashion was scheduled for snooty abundant individuals and was unattainable to somebody of her background. (Lecavalier’s mom worked as a secretary and her dad was a grade school instructor.) In high school, she was an “emo kid” who socialized with skateboarders and a few of h r earliest experiences with sewing included covering holes in her buddies shredded clothes. But her creativity extended far beyond her presence and she wished for escape.

PhotographyCourtesy of Simons

After high school, Lecavalier studied fashion style at UQAM, where she found out fundamental technical abilities, however she longed to broaden her horizons as a designer. “In Quebec education we have this thing of keeping everything neutral or kind of masking it and not being too personal, but actually if you’re a good designer you really go personal,” she states. She headed to Geneva for her masters degree at Haute Ecole d’Art et Design de Gen ève (HEAD), where she found out how to conquer her doubts about developing individual work and mine her autobiography as a leaping off point for imagination. The result was Come Get Trippy With Me, the advanced prize-winning collection at Hyeres she states was influenced by a memory of being “five years old, making myself hallucinate.” (It’s now offered online at SSENSE)

“I try to make a homage of where I come from, without being ashamed of it,” she states. “I like to make pieces that have actually been marginalized with the working class. I was type of embarrassed of [my background] when I was a bit more youthful, specifically in the fashion market, which is so elite. But today, the fashion elite are appropriating working class garments, which I believe is truly ludicrous.”

Lecavelier collects anecdotes from her individual history, and similar to Rumplestilkskin’s capability to spin straw into gold, takes all of these unusual recommendations and spins them like Rumplestiltskin’s straw into gold into extremely raised, refined and advanced collections. Though “Come Get Trippy With Me” was influenced by her vibrant brush with Frank Zappa- age psychedelia, the outcome is garments most likely to we used by Phoebe Philo worshippers than hardcore Deadheads.

Being shortlisted for the LVMH Prize was an “overwhelming” experience, according toLecavalier “It’s still a bit surreal. I’m really surprised, everything is going quite fast.” And though she didn’t rather make it to the list of finalists, protecting the election within her label’s very first year of service is still a remarkable accomplishment.

Now she deals with the unavoidable choice all Canadian designers need to make from whether to keep her service headquarted in your home or to start a business in other places. “For me it’s a frustration in such a way, I returned to Montreal to [be part of] a market, to deal with individuals. Then you understand that individuals here are simply truly closed-minded. I believe eventually if you wish to be worldwide, you need to vacate.” Though Lecavalier has actually currently been included in leading publications like WWD and the NewYork Times, she disappointedly can’t remember a single function about her work ever released by a local outlet in Quebec.

Lecavalier has actually had a banner year, however the down-to-earth designer isn’t fretted about keeping momentum or getting ahead of the buzz. Instead, all she desires is to do a great task. “The goal for me is just to work really hard and get a really good final product and continue my mark in this industry,” she states.



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