Two home-inspired fashion labels

The language of architecture inspires fashion designers when designing collections. Over time, fashion houses also transferred their style to their own home collections. But seldom is the whole concept of a brand based entirely on home, as with the Maxime and Francon labels, which emerged during the pandemic – a time when home was taking on new meaning for many.

maxim

“The main premise of each issue of Maxime is to explore the many elements that make up a home and the feelings of serenity, comfort and security that come with it,” says founder and creative director Maxime Fruit. “A home you can take anywhere.”

Having worked for labels like Damir Doma, Vetements, Yang Li and A-Cold-Wall, Fruit always knew he wanted to do “his own thing”. Alongside working as Head of Production at A-Cold-Wall, ideas for his own menswear label continued to mature as he spent more time at home during the pandemic. Though he enjoys traveling extensively because of his job in the fashion industry, Fruit says it’s an incomparable feeling to be home. And it is precisely this feeling that he wants to convey with his clothes – “so that people feel as comfortable in them as if they were at home.” The brand’s logo in the form of a small red house also fits into the concept.

Maxime presented ‘Edition 4’ at Pitti Uomo in Milan and during Paris Men’s Fashion Week. The collection explores life in a country house after escaping the city. The result is a relaxed and comfortable wardrobe in earthy tones with pops of color like a deep peacock blue. The materials are inspired by tapestries from old country houses or his grandmother’s crocheted blankets – and range from Raschel knits, 3D jacquards to broderie anglaise with details of hammered rivets or metal buttons.

The label Maxime also works mainly with leftover stocks. Edition 4 consists of 90 percent existing fabrics, says Fruit. “At the beginning of each design cycle, we look at what’s available and how we can fit it into the story we want to tell – it’s challenging at times, but also incredibly rewarding.”

Franconian

May Kaan is the founder of the Rotterdam women’s fashion label Francon, which she has been building together with her partner and architect Kees Kaan since 2021. She studied fashion and then worked in PR and marketing for a while, including at the French fashion house Yves Saint Laurent. But then she wanted to go back to Rotterdam and do something of her own, not just marketing for others.

Not an architect herself, May Kaan gets her inspiration from working with her partner Kees, with whom she also designed their own waterfront home in the Dutch province of Zeeland. Kaan thought it might be interesting to design clothes to match the house. That’s how the concept for the first collection came about, when Kaan designed a luxurious pajama-style kimono to wear around the lake house. The label was also inspired by the fashionable heritage of the province of Zeeland. Although Francon offers a collection for summer and winter, these are less dependent on the season than on the place where they are worn.

“Actually, it’s crazy that fashion follows the seasons. Every season there has to be something new,” Kaan said in an interview with FashionUnited. “Why? For us, thinking about where and how to wear something makes more sense than what time of year. So we came up with the idea of ​​applying architectural thinking to fashion.”

The starting point for the first collection was the lake house, the others followed archetypes such as the tower, the hut, the chalet or the palazzo. “We think about these places, how to live there, how to behave there,” explains Kaan. This results in a list of requirements for the collection, but these house archetypes do not dictate what to wear and where. They are mainly used for inspiration and to tell stories.

This post was made with the help of Nora Vreeman.