Eymele Burgaud: A Fashion Success Story

Eymèle Burgaud is the ultimate success story. The French talent quit her career in marketing and communications to kickstart a career in clothing design at Singapore’s Lasalle International Fashion School and Paris’ ESMOD, before landing a job at John Galliano. Despite the odds, the fledgling designer soon launched her own label, eventually winning the Fashion Grand Prix de la Création of the City of Paris.

Burgaud’s work could best be described as a prêt-à-porter with a couture sprit, which reflects the rich confrontations and unexpected turns of her personal history. By bringing together complex sculptural work and subtle sensuality, she strives to obtain a controlled disharmony: soft and precious materials, edgy chains, fluid but sculpted shapes, unexpected details and simple-looking yet elaborate cuts.

Her latest collection reveals abstract, flower-like shapes, including a fluid, tulip jumpsuit, silken summer print dresses, short and structured blouses, long and breezy gowns, sleeveless capelets, a caramel-colored lambskin jacket and soft double-waist pants tucked into brown suede boots. Names such as petal dress, cocoon cape, comet blouse and orchid trench underline this floral inspiration and poetic universe.

The extremely feminine and seductive designs are inspired by modern sculpture and feminine contemporary artists such as Vanessa Beecroft, Louise Bourgeois, Fornasetti and Niki de Saint Phalle. By playing with volumes, asymmetrical and geometrical details, Burgaud creates strong and intimate, yet graceful and mysterious pieces of wearable art. The designs sensually emphasize the hips, shoulders and waist with fluid yet razor-sharp cuts in buttoned pleats, draped legs, tiered sleeves, rounded shoulders, bubbly necklines, leg-hugging and lowslung pockets.

The collection is suspended in subtle shades of shell, sorbet, skin, coral, almond, fig, pale rose and white, blending knits with crêpes, satin and leather along with feathers and metal chains. After receiving the Grand Prix during the last Paris Fashion Week, Burgaud gushed to us: “I am really honored. It is great that there is support for upcoming designers like me. It allows me to activate my projects and get things going.” The €8,000 prize money will run into the financing of a homepage, an online boutique and her next fashion show. “It’s like a supporting shove into the next season,” she happily explained, at the time.

For more information, see www.eymele-burgaud.com.

—Nora Baldenweg