The french brand making a blouse for every day of the week

Before we all began working from home, designer Atlantique Ascoli cycled to her studio every morning, taking the scenic route through Paris. ‘Paris and Parisians have this art de Vivre that belongs both to the ancient and modern world, and that is what I try to emulate in my work,' she says. Launched in 2013, her eponymous label is an ode to timeless sartorial style, released in volumes rather than collections to cement the evergreen nature of her designs. ‘It gives them a sense of timelessness – like they're classics you refer to in a library.'

Her volumes are labelled ‘OVERBLOUSE 7', and each always consists of seven blouses, one for each day of the week. ‘I love the idea of having a uniform, of making things easy, but Victorian blouses in fine crisp cotton and workers' shirts in heavy toile are one of a kind and hard to find,' she says. The minimalistic approach to her design practice was inspired by her mother, French new-wave designer Emmanuelle Khanh who worked at the cusp of prêt-à-porter. ‘Seeing my mother out and about in the fashion-world, designing countless styles for just one season conducted me to set boundaries. To keep my collections small and finely edited, something I could do independently from my kitchen with three children playing around.'

For her latest collection, Vol 14, the seven blouses were made in gemstone hues and paired with what Ascoli refers to as ‘accessories to the blouses' – skirts and trousers in wool and twill. Although her usual routine of seeing Paris and cycling to work has been put on hold, Ascoli is still working hard on her next volume. ‘These last days, getting dressed means walking around the house in Vol 15's toiles and prototypes,' she says. It helps me to continue dreaming of the next collection.'

INFORMATION

atlantiqueascoli.com