Ester Manas (Q2179)
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
No description defined
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Ester Manas |
No description defined |
Statements
On the moodboard for their spring collection, Ester Manas and Balthazar Delepierre pinned up a smattering of images by Helmut Newton, an “Ozempic Games” message tee, and a telling phrase: “Should I over-explain myself or remain misunderstood?” At the last minute, they titled the collection “The Elephant in the Room” and stuck one on the runway, too.Given that these days there is more than one elephant in any room at any time, hewing to a baseline of diversity and body positivity, mixed with the ultimate scandal—sex—yielded enough fodder. For inspiration, the duo pored over outraged critiques of Yves Saint Laurent’s 1971 Libération show and turned to Dr. Ruth for the soundtrack.“We’re always thinking about what to hide and what to show,” Manas offered, noting that society still considers a French size 38 (roughly an American size 8) “curvy.” Which is why she has lately taken to modeling her own brand on social media. “It’s a very trendy and sensitive topic, but that’s our elephant,” she said. “We didn’t necessarilywantto talk about it; we just wanted to make clothes for everyone.”With support from the beloved French lingerie brand Chantelle, the designers sent out pretty little nothings in black lace and “naked” numbers in fine mesh designed to be layered over a new offering of basics, for example a top and leggings in coordinating leopard print. Skirts, tops and dresses busy with ruching and ruffles were likewise made for layering up by two or threes for full coverage. More elaborate pieces, like a lilac dress with 350 gathered bands applied by hand, are available by order only. Ditto the canary yellow frilled and gathered dress in look 12.Noting how their community wears teeny-tinyfroncéminis like an accessory over jeans by day, the two expanded that technique to handbags. And they took a deep dive into texture, notably on printed, embossed, and bonded leather jackets that rendered the creases of the linings beneath.Summing up their process, Manas said, “It’s about a woman who’s messy-sexy, who doesn’t care about what everyone else is doing and goes out as she is.” A few coats summoned that femme fatale as well as any of the super-sheer numbers. It would be nice to see the designers take that power of suggestion and push it a little further.
26 September 2024
The Ester Manas digital invitation was printed with a bouquet of flowers bearing a note, “missed you,” and a red lipstick kiss. Founders Ester Manas and Balthazar Delepierre haven’t shown on the runway since February 2023 despite winning the Andam Special Prize, worth €100,000, in May. The idea behind the break, they explained backstage, was to use the time off to focus on product development and return bigger than before, meaning with additional categories beyond the stretchy ruched dresses that accommodate sizes 2 to 18 in which they specialize.“The community was telling us, ‘I love you guys, but I need a down jacket from Ester Manas, I need an easy bag from Ester Manas, a trench,’” said Delepierre. Manas nodded: “This collection is a gift for the people around us. Thank you for welcoming us again; we came back and we came back with what you asked from us.”The last time this brand was on the runway its size inclusive casting felt like part of a new wave of commitment to more body diversity across the industry. In the meantime, the trend has been going in the opposite direction, just another way that women who don’t fit the sample size fashion ideal (which is most women, of course) are underserved.Manas and Delepierre set out to address that with their new collection, which included down jackets made recycled nylon and trenches constructed from deadstock from Balenciaga (Kering being one of the sponsors of the ANDAM Prize), a color-blocked croc-stamped leather jacket and coat, and ribbed knit separates with a sportier vibe than the lingerie-ish cut-out dresses they’re known for. The densely ruffled cropped jacket and matching bags were the Ester Manas answer to faux fur (the fabric is also being made into hair scrunchies).Best of all was a jacquard that looked like a blue and white tie-dye from a distance but was actually a print rendering of the ruching technique that makes their signature dresses so stretchy and versatile. The crowd whooped and hollered as the pair came out for a bow; Manas and Delepierre weren’t the only ones happy that they were back.
27 February 2024
Ester Manas and her partner in life and business Balthazar Delepierre are tying the knot this summer. It gave them a ready-made starting point for their new collection. “We’re getting married, so we tried to do the most stereotypical wedding we won’t do for ourselves,” they said, completing each other’s sentences in their usual style. Hence the church venue and the love songs on the soundtrack: Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away” and Sade’s “No Ordinary Love.”Manas and Delepierre are planning something low-key for their own ceremony, but she won’t have to go far for her dress. It’s look 4, she said, a strappy number in different kinds of white stretch lace with cut-outs on the bodice, a ruffle circling the hips, and a high front slit. At 30, Manas is part of a new generation that’s rejecting strapless gowns with trains, among other old-fashioned traditions. She also showed a midriff-baring two-piece dress with a hip cut-out (pro-tip: wear a corsage there), a single-sleeve sheath, and another dress with the shape and ease of a short-sleeve T-shirt.The good feelings at this show weren’t only down to the love story. The Ester Manas runway is the most inclusive in Paris, a city where body positivity has sometimes felt in lamentably short supply this season. Manas’s mantra remains: “I am making clothes to welcome everyone.” She’s also making clothes more responsibly, step-by-small-step. Ninety percentage of the collection is made from deadstock, including the laces and the ribbed knits that were incorporated for the first time. Manas sees the ribbed jersey as a path forward for the nascent brand, still body-conscious but wearable on more occasions.“For better or worse,” was printed in script across the show invitation. Together, Manas and Delepierre really are making their little corner of fashion a better place.
4 March 2023
Progress around body diversity on the runways is stalled in Europe. In New York, where emerging designers are recruiting friends and community members to walk, the rise of real-person models has given shows an inclusive spirit that Milan and Paris haven’t been able to match. A token curve model is not the kind of change fashion needs.Enter Ester Manas. The French designer, who is “making clothes to welcome everyone” and sending them out on size-inclusive casts, is finding her audience. A one-off collection for AZ Factory, the brand founded on similar body-positive principles by the late Alber Elbaz, came in June. And today on the runway she announced an upcoming collab with Ganni via a logo T-shirt and the show’s shoes.Together with her partner Balthazar Delepierre, Manas has set out to deconstruct and problematize the “summer body,” that impossible-to-achieve airbrushed ideal fed to us by media and advertising. The summer body, as it’s historically been conceived, is about work: diet and exercise. “We got the idea of the sunset body, which is that moment at the end of the day…” Delepierre started, then Manas jumped in, “when you have salt in your hair and you’re like, “I’m so fresh.’ This is the real summer body, this is the moment.”Pleasure, not deprivation, is the operating principle. “Comfort,” said Delepierre. “But beauty and sexiness, too,” added Manas. They started with stretch fabrics, gathered and ruched for one-size-fits-all flexibility, and featuring cut-outs that offered peekaboos of their new swimwear. At AZ Factory earlier this year they began experimenting with pants shapes, and they added them to the mix here, using the same gathered and ruffled techniques. On the knitwear front, they’re proud that the new yarn they sourced isn’t itchy.The stars of the collection, which is twice as big as last season, were the sunset hued shibori dyed dresses. But the stars of the show were the models. Ester Manas isn’t the only Paris runway we should see them on.
2 October 2022
The atmosphere of sisterhood, pride and warmth radiating from the Ester Manas runway was a beautifully compelling—and influential—addition to the culture of Paris fashion shows. The body-positivity movement has been slow to gain ground in Europe in general—at least on the narrow platform that high fashion provides. But here came Ester Manas with her voluptuously gorgeous crew of women friends and models to demonstrate—from every angle—how it’s done.Manas used a brilliant phrase for her design mission: “I am making clothes to welcome everyone.” This was during a euphoric post-show backstage scene, in which all the young women who had worn Manas’ vivid, ruched, asymmetric, knitted, curve-and-skin celebrating clothes were crowding around to thank the designer. One dashed away tears. She’s modeled for commercial work, she said, “But I never, ever believed I would be able to walk a show. And now it’s possible!”This was Manas’s second physical show. She’s French, her partner Balthazar Delepierre is Belgian, and they live and work in Brussels. Two years ago, she made it her mission to pursue the issues around designing inclusively size-wise. “I’m big, and always I fit on myself first,” she said. “A lot of brands have a curvy girl on the catwalk now—but the reality is, you cannot find a good size in the store afterwards. I mean—just an image, nothing more. But with us,” she paused, with a huge smile, “I try to give the dream a reality.”Manas counts her friends and models as co-designers. The key to making everyone feel confident and secure is Manas’s research process—spending time with women of many shapes, understanding what works both technically and emotionally. “It’s like we became a family,” she exclaimed. “And they looked so fierce!”She has evolved ruching techniques which add in extra fabric, producing spiraling effects, and cutouts which hold securely and flow elegantly and sexily where they should. The other facet is her knitwear—midi tube skirts with slits to abet sashaying; cache-coeur bras. Vibrant and subtle by turns, her color palette, ranging from orange and violet to moss-green, is entirely chosen from what is available, avoiding the use of virgin materials as much as she can. “We search warehouses and factories where you can find them. Eighty percent of the collection is deadstock or upcycled.”She was brimming with optimism after the show. Watching Manas, the model industry is finally beginning to wake up to what it’s missing.
“I mean, we have a pretty good casting director, and last time we had twenty percent of my own friends, mixed with some girls we met who were new faces, but there were really no girls on agencies,” said Manas. “But this season when we went back, we had choice!”
5 March 2022