Sewing the seeds of DIY fashion
䚾
In the realm of haute couture, where seamstresses concoct handmade gowns that cost as much as a car, one atelier has caused a sensation by purveying a different kind of made-to-measure.
Call it do-it-yourself chic.
The atelier, called the Sweat Shop, is a kind of internet cafe where Singer sewing machines replace computers, and would-be fashion designers and creatively inclined clotheshorses pay by the hour to stitch their own garments.
The brainchild of a Swiss makeup artist and an Austrian clothing designer, Sweat Shop opened in March as France was reeling from the global economic crisis and unemployment in the country stood at more than 10 per cent.
"It seems like a strange thing to say, but the crisis turned out to be the perfect timing for us," said Martena Duss, the atelier's Swiss-born co-founder.
"After years of having this attitude that was all about consumption, people are now about recycling and saving and being creative."
The space sets the tone: a dilapidated former printing press in the up-and-coming Canal Saint Martin neighbourhood of eastern Paris, Sweat Shop is furnished with found and second-hand objects in what might be dubbed haute kitsch style.
A couch set in mustard yellow velvet sits beneath a mounted deer's head; grandma tschotskes and crocheted doilies cover every surface; and the white sewing machines, provided free-of-charge by the manufacturer, are placed on refurbished school desks.
It costs 䚾 ($8.60) per hour to use one of the Singers, but some prior sewing experience is required.
For novices, Duss and Sweat Shop's co-owner, Sissi Holleis, offer sewing classes five evenings a week.
Duss said home economic classes had long been absent from the French public school curriculum, which explained why the lessons were Sweat Shop's most popular offerings.
Beginners start with the same simple projects - a pillow or a bag - but after that, clients come with their own fabric and ideas.
"The most frustrating thing for people is that they just don't realise how time-consuming it's going to be," Duss said.
"They come in here thinking they're going to make a wedding dress in a single afternoon, and it's like, 'Um, no, that's just not possible.'"
Both Duss and Holleis learned how to sew in school, and 38-year-old Holleis turned the skill into a profession - designing an eponymous line that she sold in her Paris boutique.
After a decade in business, Holleis closed the store in 2008.
Duss, 28, studied to be a makeup artist and works mostly on fashion shoots and runway shows.
"Sissi is the real professional. I don't sew well, per se, but I do it in my own way," Duss said.
Along with sewing classes, the shop offers knitting lessons, birthday and bachelorette parties and, during the summer, French language immersion-cum-knitting courses. It also is a cafe, serving up potent espressos and homemade cakes.
Sweat Shop has attracted considerable attention from French fashion magazines, and 80 per cent of its clientele is women aged 25-35.
Duss said there were lots of men in the knitting classes.
The shop also attracts a fair share of people passing through Paris, as well as some veteran seamstresses - like an 80-year-old Swedish woman who spends nearly every afternoon there.
The shop already has proved a much bigger success than Duss and Holleis envisioned.
"We were a bit nervous because there isn't much of a do-it-yourself culture in France," Duss said.
"Maybe it's because there's so much perfection all around, with haute couture and haute cuisine, but French people are generally reticent do things that may not be perfect."
"But now, I think people are eager to express themselves and be their own designer and personalise what they wear.
"They don't all want to be going around in the same H&M T-shirt."
Sweat Shop has had offers for franchises.
"For the moment, we're taking it slow. This is like our baby, so we want it to have time to grow up a little. But we sometimes joke that our goal is to have three stores in three years," she said.
A top destination for the first new branch? Possibly New York, she said.
