Come girls, I want to talk to you
come, come here.
You are all working for me, for my brand
and today I'm here, it's another big step
you know, I come from nowhere, I am still here
an independent designer in Paris
and to be here, it's so special under my mother's name,
plus, like people...
- I'm going to cry!
The South of France has always served as inspiration for Simon Porte
Jacquemus and his brand's designs.
Simon and i-D travelled together to Brame-Jean, the little town
he grew up in to learn about his idyllic upbringing.
Welcome!
When I was seven years old,
I pulled a linen curtain, I grabbed a Converse shoe lace,
I took a big kitchen knife,
I made 8 holes on each side
and designed a skirt just like that, with a Converse shoe lace.
A really ugly skirt!
My mother wore it, and came to fetch me.
Turns out it suited her. My grandmother told me.
And my mother turned to me and said: "Well, you're the best."
I think that's what's been driving me.
And since that day I think that's what's helped me.
And I think that made me who I am not to doubt myself.
In this industry, doubting is the worst.
- Go on, do it. - I'll do it quickly.
My parents and all my family were farmers.
I grew up in the middle of the fields, very simply.
Without schedules, without rules.
It was really a very free childhood,
I could be what I wanted to be.
We are at home in the South [of France], in Brame-Jean,
a hamlet in Provence in the 13th.
This is the road I've done a thousand times in my life.
I ran, I walked, I cried, I danced.
I rode, I kissed.
I've done everything here.
I always wanted to leave the South.
I've always wanted to be a Parisian.
I've always obsessed about becoming a Parisian.
I would tell myself 'Wow,
I know that if one day you are known in Paris,
you are known all over the world.'
I always had this idea in my head.
Arriving like a star in the village.
People will think I am crazy, for sure.
I spent my weekends selling in the market
in the South with my grandparents, selling carrots.
So, I always enjoyed selling.
When I made my first collection I thought:
'If I don't sell, how am I going to pay for the second one?'
- He's a fashion designer. - Who comes from here.
- You are from here? - Yes,
between Mallemort and Charleval.
Wait, I'll pass you on to Monsieur Simon Porte Jacquemus.
Just make sure to brief the girls, I want them to look happy.
I don't want them to smile too hard, but to smile at least a little.
It's important for the opening girl to look happy, so we understand.
The last time we said they had to be happy
and in front of the camera they looked angry.
We are at Jacquemus, and they really have to smile.
In the case of Paris, Paris in general,
People in Paris wouldn't describe themselves as anything other
than a Parisian designer.
And I always wanted to say: French woman, French designer,
from the South of France, from Marseille..
I insist on that, really, I keep repeating it.
When I lost my mother,
I understood who I was, what I wanted to say
what I wanted to tell;
that my strength was coming from the South.
That hill is more like a Marcel Pagnol one.
My grandmother, she's a little towards there,
Brame-Jean is next to it, where I was born.
There you have Charleval and its castle.
Behind are my grandparents and my father.
Yes, this is my home.
I dont need to say anything to my mother
she is here, with me, otherwise I would not have done all this.
I have a strength in me
which is already surreal because
I never feel like I need to talk to her,
my mother is part of me.
I know my life isn't normal.
Some say to me: "Simon, you got lucky."
I don't know.
I think it's just possible, I'm proof of that.
I arrived in Paris with nothing, I started as a salesman in a shop,
I listened to myself, I worked a lot
and, any way, I made it.
I made my dream a reality. I get to live my dream.