Mango and Camille Charrière unveil holiday collection in Paris

By

Triana Alonso

Translated by
Roberta HERRERA

Published
Nov 7, 2022

Trend forecaster, podcast host, TV presenter, columnist and, from now on, also muse and designer. The multifaceted Camille Charrière is expanding her extensive list of career titles with a capsule collection designed in collaboration with Mango. This partnership with the Spanish company has been in the making for a little over a year and a half and follows close on the heels of other collaborations between the Barcelona-based brand and celebrities from the fashion or design world such as Chufy, André Saraiva, Leandra Medine and, more recently, Pernille Teisbaek. Coinciding with the international launch of the collection on Thursday, November 3, which was celebrated with an event in Paris, FashionNetwork.com took a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process and strategic thinking that went into creating the collection.

"We wanted to work on a major party collection. Camille seemed like the perfect person for it. Her sophisticated and chic Parisian style mixed with her casual London vibe fit with the concept of the capsule and Mango's brand identity", said Justicia Ruano, product manager of Mango's women's collections and member of the executive committee of the Spanish company. For the designer, the alliance has been "easy and natural" since, in addition to sharing points of view, the French-British influencer has been a 'Mango girl' for years.

Charrière's personal style and the nightlife scene of the late 90s and early 2000s served as the starting point for the collection, which was inspired by dozens of photographs taken at that time starring Kate Moss and Meg Ryan, as well as Charrière's own closet.

Better quality and more selective production

"We had a lot of ideas and the most difficult part was choosing the models we were going to work with, since we wanted to present an exclusive collection in the form of limited pieces, with high-quality garments that were not mass-produced," said the Spanish designer regarding the capsule, which was conceived over the last few months through trips between Paris and Barcelona.

"We were not looking to offer individual garments, but rather cohesive looks that mirrored Camille's entire closet. We wanted to capture her personality and her essence," said Ruano, adding that even the fittings were carried out on the collaborator's body.

"What I really appreciate about Mango, especially in the making of this collection, is that they are trying to make affordable items that are not easily found on the high street. I still really believe in the high street as a concept," stated Charrière, stressing that " the most important thing is to consume consciously, to find things that you are going to wear over and over again and mix and match them."

Giving up on "price wars"

For Mango, this alliance reflects its commitment to "quality and timelessness". The premium and limited capsule features a more elevated positioning with materials such as silk velvet or gemstone embroidery, but maintains affordable prices, ranging from 12.99 euros for a necklace to 199 euros for coats, dresses or boots. "I wasn't given a spending limit so I was able to afford luxurious materials," quipped Ruano, noting that some of the line's materials were sourced in Italy, while production was carried out nearby, in workshops in Portugal and Morocco.

"Globally, within the company, we are working on improving our overall quality and offering a fair quality-price ratio. We have been in search of a sophisticated capsule. We wanted it to be an object of desire, to push the company's strategy and help us to upgrade the quality of our production as a whole. We must try to give up on price wars," stated the designer bluntly. The collection, which is already available on the brand's website, will also be sold in a "qualitative selection of stores where customers are willing to pay higher prices".

In terms of style, the collection entices customers to go out and party. "I think what excited me the most was the outreach," Charrière said of Mango's approach, adding that if she ever gets to have a brand of her own she would like to do party wear. "After the pandemic, we came to realise that dressing up lifts your spirits. I want an outrageous wardrobe with extravagant pieces that make me feel special, sexy, flirty and fun," she explained about the capsule, geared towards the holiday season. "The entire idea of this collection was to create something that everyone could afford and wear. We all have different ways of dressing up and dressing down, so the goal of the collection was to create something that everyone would like," she concluded.

The line, which was presented this Thursday at a grand evening event at the Hôtel de la Monnaie in Paris, equally underlines the brand's commitment to the French market, the company's second-largest in terms of turnover. To promote the launch, the capsule had François Larpin, Charrière's husband, produce the campaign while Felix Cooper directed the shoot.

For the moment, expectations seem to have been more than met. Within the first few hours of the launch, Mango's websites registered an unprecedented surge in traffic.