A fashionable city
Marseille has become a fashionable city. Aside from its gentle way of life, its exceptional natural and cultural heritage, it is also a city of fashion, a hotbed of designers.
The Espace Mode Méditerranée, inaugurated in 1993 has encouraged the emergence of young talents
This original facility brings together on one site, on La Canebière at the heart of the city centre, a documentation centre open to students (consultation from Monday to Friday by appointment. Tel: 04 96 17 06 00) and professional organisations.
www.espacemodemediterranee.com
The professional organisations include the clothing manufacturers’ association behind the SPL (Local Productive System) project, an economic development centre.
www.professionmode.com
To attempt to describe in a few lines the world of fashion in Marseille would be pretentious and inevitably incomplete. For information purposes here are a few names for fashion connoisseurs or those who simply want to know a little bit more:
Some designers who had made a name for themselves:
• Sessun, Kulte, Pain de Sucre, Fuego, Didier Parakian, Le Temps des Cerises, Sugar, Héléna Sorel, Les P’tites Bombes...
Major designers who have chosen Marseille:
• Sonia Rykiel, Hermes, Kenzo, Vuitton, Ventilo...
Where are the designer stores ?
Near La Canebière, Rue de la Tour, known as Fashion Street, is home to a number of designer boutiques: Casablanca, Diable Noir…
Cours Julien, another place devoted to Marseille’s home-grown designers (Mme Zaza of Marseille, Fille de Lune, Floh, les Fées Bizar(t)...), offers with its pedestrianised esplanade, a laid-back atmosphere where shoppers can take their time to hunt down that perfect purchase.
At Galeries Lafayette, where the designers have a dedicated area at certain times of the year thanks to a partnership with the Institut Mode Méditerranée.
