The fashion label Simone & Elise was launched in 2017 by Mariam-Simone Sidibe and Gina Kakou-Marceau and has new ambitions for 2022. Most recently, the brand unveiled a new collection drop and renovated its Abidjan boutique. The two ambitious founders also have expansion plans.
Numerous new challenges have to be mastered for the African premium brand Simone & Elise. The Ivorian label is sold online through the Afrikrea platform and in four concept stores in Africa: L’Art de Vivre in Dakar, The Lotte in Accra, Aziri African Designers in Pointe Noire and the Kay Ann Gallery in Libreville. In Abidjan, the brand has a boutique in Les Deux Plateaux-Vallon, on the famous Rue des Jardins, where many fashion, beauty and lifestyle stores are located. Last year, the Simone & Elise store got a facelift. From November to December 2021, the boutique closed its doors for renovation work: a color change and a change in the layout were pending. The goal was to make the clothes stand out better.
In this freshly renovated space, the brand now unveiled a new collection drop. It is called ‘Féérie’ and consists of dresses, skirts and suits, among other things. The label relies on unique materials and aesthetics: “We use a lot of wild silk, English lace, duchesse satin and Italian crepe,” the designers told FashionUnited. “Most of our designs depict the African woman in all her glory, proud of her heritage. We also have variations with figures, animals or flowers. It is an ode to our continent, which has riches that we should recognize and cherish more than ever.”
Highlighting African identity through painting
At the beginning of the Simone & Elise brand stood Mariam-Simone Sidibe. After studying tourism and languages in Montreal, she returned to Ivory Coast and worked as a flight attendant for a national airline. In parallel, she was the owner of women’s and children’s clothing and footwear stores for almost ten years. In 2017, she decided to leave all that behind and start her own fashion brand with the aim of “elevating African identity through painting”. To realize this dream, she teamed up with a longtime friend, Gina Kakou-Marceau, who comes from a very similar background: she studied public relations in London and then worked as an external communications officer in a state-owned company. Kakou-Marceau also opened flower and ready-to-wear shops before joining the label.
Together they founded Simone & Elise in 2017: “The brand was conceptualized in May 2017 and went on sale in October of the same year,” the two told FashionUnited. “It’s a luxury African brand that offers ready-to-wear and made-to-measure products. Our target group are all women between the ages of 25 and 70 who identify as African women, but who want to remain modern and keep up with the times”.
In the coming years they plan to expand the Simone & Elise label both locally – by opening a store in the southern part of Abidjan – and internationally, particularly in Europe and America.
This article was previously published on FashionUnited.fr. Translation and editing: Barbara Russ