After a decade-long absence from the official Paris Fashion Week calendar, designer Sakina M’Sa returned with “The Pure,” a collection that marked the launch of hew new M/SA (Makers of Sustainable Aesthetics) line.
Ten years ago, M’Sa walked away from the runway following the Rana Plaza tragedy in Bangladesh. She was deeply affected by the disaster and booked a ticket to the country, where she worked with women garment makers on the ground and began to understand fashion’s production system. Since then she has been committed to slow fashion and produced only two items a year.
But the time “just felt right” to return with a full collection and lead by example, said M’Sa. Her show was staged simply, with chairs in an inclusive circle in the center of a bare Carreau de Temple, no bells and whistles.
It was a love letter to both her adopted home of Paris and sustainable fashion.
That translated into a colorful collection bold on structure, shape and pattern. Key was an architectural chevron motif that recalled the typical Haussmanian floors of Parisian apartments, rendered in cobalt blue, earthy brown and a crisp white as a nod to the sea of her native Marseille and the importance of earth.
M’Sa offered structured silhouettes with expanded shoulders and oversized cuts as a nod to feminine power dressing and as a message to hold ground against regressive provincial thinking that seeks to roll back women’s rights.
Voluminous cuts gave ample space for movement, particularly striking on undulating sleeves and roomy caftans made for the woman and not the male gaze.
M’Sa used 80 percent deadstock sourced from luxury houses in the U.K. and France and upcycled unsold clothing, with 20 percent GOTS-certified cotton for the rest. With her own factory space outside of Paris, M’Sa is clear that the collection is designed to scale.
On jackets, for example, she used multiple textiles to add flexibility, and separates are engineered to meet anticipated demand.
“If the buyers invest in a brand like us, we can have a big ecologic impact. We can change the world – and this is the objective,” she said.
M’Sa wants to define sustainable fashion “with joy, with love, with a smile,” she said, and judging by the enthusiastic crowd of fans (including executives from luxury houses) eager to greet her after the show, she succeeded.