“You’ve been shopping at Sézane?” a PR asks me as we sit down for a meeting in-between shows in Paris. She’s signalling at the large shopping bag I’ve managed to run away with after meeting the brand’s founder Morgane Sézalory earlier that day. “We all love her here. Everything she does is so Parisian,” she says, nosying through the bag. “What she’s been able to create is so impressive. She’s so clever.”
Clever she certainly is. See, while the French may be pioneers when it comes to the clothes we see on the catwalk, they’re notoriously slow when it comes to embracing e-commerce and anything digital – and that’s where her Sézane fits in. Founded almost four years ago, it’s heralded as the country’s first online-only label, and comes after years of Morgane scouring and tweaking vintage and flea market finds to sell on her eBay shop, quite in the same way that Sophia Amoruso did in the States before launching NastyGal.
Sézane came slightly later, born out of a desire to sell the kinds of pieces her fans were asking for that she couldn’t find on her travels. It’s not about trends, though. While she makes a point to keep track on what’s emerging on the runway, her starting point is always the quest to offer an update on something that’s already out there, whether that’s a tweak on a classic like the little black dress or a modern bag that’s both beautifully made and functional and stylish enough to take you from work to the bar.
The set-up is simple: alongside two seasonal collections each year you’ll find limited edition capsule collections drop online each month and once they’re gone, they’re gone. Available in limited runs, you won’t see a hoard of other women wearing the same dress as you on a Saturday night.
Right now she’s keeping busy. This Christmas she’s created a special collection of some of Sezane’s greatest hits as part of her ongoing collaboration with J Crew’s sister brand, Madewell, not to mention the fact that the brand has finally launched in the UK. Just yesterday she opened the doors to an ‘apartment’ in the heart of Paris – a designated hangout where you can try pieces on in a relaxed environment before having them shipped out within 48 hours, a move that will soon be replicated in London.
To celebrate the big opening, we caught up with her in the new ‘apartment’ to talk eBay, never being afraid to ask challenge the status quo and growing her empire, day by day.
I started on eBay years ago. The year I launched it, I was looking for the university I wanted to go to and I couldn’t find one that would teach me everything I wanted to learn. All of the art courses were focused either on photography or designing clothes but I didn’t want to just be a crazy artist. I wanted to be an independent woman so none of the courses appealed to me. I started my eBay account, almost by chance. My sister had left to go to Berlin and London and left maybe three bags of clothes, including vintage pieces, behind. At the time I had already started buying things from the American eBay so I decided to put her clothes up for sale and quickly realised that I had a talent for picking the right pieces and presenting them online. This was more than 10 years ago when people were still posting dark photos. I just understood that doing small things like making sure your images were well lit makes a big difference. I would put up a piece for say, €40 and it would end up selling for €400 or €500. I was only 18 at the time so I thought maybe there’s something in this.
I was by myself and completely self financed so I just tried to save as much money as possible to create my own website. What I think I’m best at is composing and creating. I’m good with decorating and bringing things together and that’s what I wanted my first real website to be about. I only sold vintage in the beginning and with the money I managed to save, I started my own design to plug the gaps in my vintage selections. After doing it for years, I knew the pieces people were after so as time went on, I stopped selling vintage and it became only my own designs. Selling vintage was such an education. I touched and felt everything. It was my like my own education in fashion.
Sézane is a combination of my last name with my first name. I had another name before but changed it to Sézane when I wanted to tell the world that it was becoming a real brand. It’s funny because it was never my intention to launch my own brand. Life does funny things like that. The Internet changed everything. Ten or eleven years ago, even when I was selling on eBay, I don’t think I ever could have imagined that this could happen. I remember telling people that I sold vintage pieces on eBay and they would look at me thinking I wouldn’t go anywhere. Even when I started selling pieces on my own website I think people still thought it was impossible to have an online-only shop but clearly it isn’t. Of course now the Internet is the thing and everyone recognises it as the present and the future. Sezane is a crazy story. We’re all working hard every day so we never have time to really think about how much of an amazing story it is. It’s a good thing not to be self-congratulatory. It drives you to keep working hard and do better and try new things.
When I had to choose the first piece to make, I asked myself what I was always looking for as a young woman that I could never find exactly how I wanted in the shops. I started off releasing collections each month because I couldn’t finance doing more. This was before Sézane the label was officially launched. It’s only once I felt that I knew how things worked and that I knew factories and fabrics that I was ready to do it. The great thing was that I had an incredible group of women who had followed me from the beginning so it was a lot easier for me to present them with my brand after seven or so years bringing them a curated selection of vintage pieces I knew they’d love. It was a big opportunity for me.
I’ve always been quite business minded. My parents are both entrepreneurs and there’s a real free spirit in my family. For example, I didn’t go to high school for the last year before I sat my final exams. I taught myself at home. I’ve always been independent and I always think out of the box. I don’t just accept things as they come. I’m always thinking about how I can do things in my way or make something better. I try to question things. If you look at people who bring something new or interesting to the world no matter what sphere they’re in, it’s because they’re curious and don’t just accept how things are currently being done. I was confident that it was possible to create a brand that would make people feel like it’s sold at a fair price but is beautiful made and is great quality. Because we sell via our own website, there’s no middleman. You couldn’t find shoes like ours in a department store at this price. They would be two or three times the price. That’s the great thing about the Internet: we’re closer to our customers so we can really control our prices. I always start the design process thinking firstly about what I want to make but also how much I personally would be willing to pay for it. I write down all of the details of what I want the piece to look and feel like, and then I write a price down. From there, I work backwards and see if it’s possible. Most brands work the opposite way and start by thinking how much of a margin they want to make on a piece and often, the price just doesn’t make sense. For me, I’d rather not have a great margin and offer an amazing product.
Now we have our spring/summer and autumn/winter collections but I’ve had the monthly limited edition collections from the beginning. Before I was young, free and running the business all on my own so I thought it made sense to communicate a new drop of pieces once a month. Making a specific drop date each month meant that I had to do the work so it was like a deadline for me but it ended up working really well because my customers started getting excited about the release day each month. That’s how it started but I did it mainly because I only wanted to go to the post office once a month! It was much easier to release everything on one day and then go and send everything the next because everything would sell out in a day. Everyone loved the idea of getting something exclusive that you’d never be able to get again so I wanted to keep that feeling when I launched Sézane but I also make sure I was offering pieces that people could buy whenever they wanted. Nobody should ever feel stressed about shopping.
Our collaboration with Madewell happened because we found out that the artistic director really wanted a sweatshirt of ours but couldn’t find it because it had sold out. I was so happy that she wanted it. I managed to exchange emails with her and I just happened to be going to New York the following week so we met and I gave it to her. She’s French too and we instantly connected and that’s how it all started. We didn’t even talk about collaborating at that point. We just wanted to meet up but she started to order more things from Sézane and wearing it around the office and eventually Jenna Lyons and the team asked where the pieces were from. The next time they were in Paris they all came to meet me with the big boss Mick Drexler we got on so well. The first collab was such a success that they wanted a second one and now we’re working on a third one for Christmas. The whole idea was to create a small capsule collection of 15 of the most iconic Sezane pieces. It’s like our greatest hits but what’s good is that we produced it this time so it’s very Sezane.
This new boutique space is everything I dreamed that a boutique should be as a little girl. I want it to be place that people can come and spend time and try things on before buying something on the website. We’re an online brand so I didn’t want to change that message. Everyone expects for us to want to open shops but I don’t need to nor do I want to. It’s so hard explaining that to people. Even with my dad, he understands how the business works but I know he thinks about the success of a brand in relation to how many shops they have. It’s a different time. I wanted people to be able to come into this space and instantly understand the values of the brand, but it was equally important for me to create somewhere that people will just want to relax and catch up with girlfriends.
Some people love to go out all the time. I love to host dinners and have people over at home. I love vintage and flee markets too so I wanted the space to bring those things together. The day beds are an eBay find; I upholstered the chairs with some fabrics I love; I went to a design fair and found this incredible designer who creates marble furniture so I asked her to make this big table custom made; and the wallpaper is a from very traditional French brand and it’s all hand painted. I wanted it to feel like a home and that you don’t have to rush. That’s why I called L’Appartement. It’s welcoming or at least I hope so.
This interview has been edited and condensed and Morgane was shot by Naomi Mdudu in the new space at 1, rue Saint Fiacre – 75002 Paris. Shop online at sezane.com