saint etienne

As a child born into a very organized family, second son of a notary mother and engineer father, Frederic grew up in a sphere where couture had jumped a generation.
Fascinated by aviation leading-edge technology and its precision to the very detail, passion inherited from his grandfather, the young Frederic turned in his early years to his grandmother, dressmaker for Mendès-France whenever he spent his out-of-school days with his grandparents. He was marveled with his grandfather’s universe, the mechanic, therefore the work of the metal became a curiosity that he quickly tried to tame. He learnt from his grandmother the use of industrial sewing-machines and the taste for couture, patterning and clothes construction.
From this era of games was born a true passion, at first denied and hidden throughout Frederic’s adolescence. When he turned sixteen a few years later, he decided to pursue this infatuation by applying to a fashion school. Using his grandmother sewing-machine, Frederic arranged, created and imagined for every second he got during his free time. Trying by all means to educate himself and to widen his knowledge of the fashion sphere, he started knocking at the doors of the most prestigious Parisian fashion houses. His last vacation as a high school student was a great opportunity for him to achieve his first experience in the fashion industry. He arrived at Yves Saint Laurent, run by Tom Ford, a first step as an important milestone in his life. He then and there acknowledged his vocation and measured the extent of the path undertaken.
This experience also showed him the importance of communication. Italy, England and France were three steps of his apprenticeship and as many different perceptions of fashion that Frederic had to tame, one after the other. Returning to Yves Saint Laurent, he then headed to Milan for his studies to integrate the Istituto Marangoni, then shifted to London to discover the famous British touch. Taking advantage of any moment of holidays to increase his experience, he discovered freelance styling in Mexico for two years in a row (2005 and 2006), then in Moscow (2007). After graduating from four very rich school years, he joined the team at Alexander McQueen in 2008.
June 2009 marks his return in France, and a great time to discover the backstage of the fashion magazines. He became the assistant of the fashion editor Anastasia Barbieri at Vogue Paris and Vogue Hommes International for an enriching seven months experience. This time was also put to use to apply to a Master’s Degree at the Institut Français de la Mode, to reinforce his background. After a year passed with success, he finally joined the new team at Paco Rabanne directed by Manish Arora. The nomination of a 3 Artistic Director with a 2 year gap, while being under the Artistic Director, pushed him to research himself, back to what made him love fashion in the frist place: Mechanism, Architecture, Industrial, Senses, fillings,...