The Paris luxury label that whispers not shouts

“There are still people who don’t want to be a billboard for a brand,” says Marie-Christine Statz, the designer and founder of nine-year-old Parisian label Gauchere. “Sometimes people want to be themselves and don’t necessarily want to represent a brand while they do so.”

Speaking from her headquarters on Paris’s buzzing Rue de Rivoli in a black silk tank, trousers and white trainers, Statz is surrounded by her collections of unfussy, precision-tailored suiting, fluid gowns and clever separates. The designer’s signature brand of low-key luxury is one that whispers rather than shouts, in a vocabulary of couture-esque craftsmanship and fine fabrics such as silk lace, virgin wool and featherweight cotton jersey.

Statz’s design philosophy is one of easy, foundational tailoring that quietly empowers the wearer without upstaging them. Her garments, which seek to “point out the individual”, pick up where Phoebe Philo’s cerebral designs for Celine might have left off and exude a discreet opulence without being austere.

They also chime with the penchant for basic silhouettes constructed from lavish and unexpected fabrics, such as Bottega Veneta’s Spring 2022 leather-as-denim “jeans”, Jil Sander’s couture-level tailoring and luxe minimalists The Row and Petar Petrov joining the official Paris Fashion Week ready-to-wear schedule in March (during which Statz staged her runway presentation under the colonnade below her offices as passers-by paused to observe).

The Parisian passer-by has long been an inspiration to Statz, albeit a particularly stylish version. Gauchere’s pre-collection was inspired by the designer’s return to the streets post-lockdown, of being shoulder to shoulder with strangers and seeking “the realness” of a person.

Sometimes it’s more difficult to take away than to add things, so you really think about the essentials

“I wanted to capture that passing feeling of walking by someone, the energy of being so close-up to a [stranger] walking in the street,” Statz says, showing me the pieces featuring the only prints in the collection, abstractions of photos the designer took herself around the streets of Paris. “I connect minimalism to realness. Who is that woman, really? How to show the certain strength of every individual?”

The German-born designer first studied economics before switching to fashion, completing a bachelor of fine arts in fashion design at Parson’s in New York, honing her skills at Narciso Rodriguez and Diane von Furstenberg on graduation. In 2010, Statz moved to Paris to receive a special qualification in haute couture at the École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne. It was here that she received the nickname “Gauchère”, meaning left-handed, for draping and pinning in the opposite direction to her peers (she still tailors her blazers to close left over right, as in menswear). Statz’s eponymous label was launched in 2013 and now a team of 15 work in the Rue de Rivoli atelier.

Statz’s love for art and architecture — Brutalism, Bauhaus, the mood of Wolfgang Tillmans, the shapes of artist Lygia Clark, the sculptural forms of Camille Henrot, the cleanness of Mies van der Rohe — inspires her stripped-back signature aesthetic. “Minimalism is something I always have in mind and sometimes it’s more difficult to take away than to add things, so you really think about the essentials,” Statz says.

“Marie-Christine has an incredible eye, which you can see in her cuts, colour palette and use of different fabrications and textures. [Gauchere] also excel at matching separates; particularly with lace detailing that is all hand sewn,” says Libby Page, market director at Net-a-Porter.

“There’s always something unexpected, such as the red faux fur top we’ve just launched at Net-a-Porter, but styled with the brand’s classic denim makes the pieces feel incredibly easy to wear. She is also the master of the perfect fit and everything makes you feel comfortable and confident. Each collection seamlessly moves on from the last, meaning that almost everything is interchangeable and can easily slot into your wardrobe.”

In Paris’s La Samaritaine department store, you’ll hear words such as “strong”, “secure”, “protected” and “empowered” when swapping changing-room chatter with Gauchere enthusiasts. Pieces are reliably refined and slinky, yet sculptural — things just fit. There’s an intimacy to Statz’s pieces, a quiet dialogue with her wearer in the details: the interior finishes of a trenchcoat so clean it could conceivably be worn inside out, tropical wool suiting that ensures the wearer stays cool without losing structure, hourglass-shaped blazers that retain their curves in the closet, and recycled nylon dresses finished with silk chiffon on the inside to ensure a certain softness towards the body.

“It was the sort of sober elegance, a pureness that I was attracted to, but I think I could say that I fell in love with Gauchere when I actually wore it,” says Miren Arzalluz, director of the Palais Galliera — the Fashion Museum of the City of Paris.

I feel that myself and the clothes are one and only and that’s a very powerful feeling

Having discovered the brand in 2018, soon after moving to Paris to work for the Palais Galliera, Arzalluz regularly wears Gauchere. In particular, she chose a boxy-shouldered black blazer with a gathered waist and matching slouchy trousers from the Spring 2021 collection for one of her most important professional events, the reopening of the museum following a refurbishment alongside the launch of a Gabrielle Chanel retrospective, her first public outing as director.

“When you are representing a public institution with its intellectual prestige and the whole aura around museums, there are lots of expectations: respectability, seriousness, cultural prestige,” says Arzalluz. “But also it’s a fashion museum so [it requires] something with sensibility towards fashion, something strong and aesthetically beautiful. It’s not easy to find the balance [but] I feel that myself and the clothes are one and that’s a very powerful feeling. The cut is so impeccable, it’s like an extension of your movement, of your body — and it’s exactly what you need where you need it.”

Find out about our latest stories first — follow @financialtimesfashion on Instagram