Clémence, who are you?

"I started social media very early, at 13 years old, I was posting on my Instagram account fashion and beauty photos found on Tumblr in the form of Top / Flop poll and some videos of me type make up tuto and my look of the day.

I then started on the same idea to work on a YouTube channel, at the time I had blocked all my college for fear of being bullied, it ended up knowing because very quickly Youtube had taken the ascendancy over Instagram and I was actually very surprised because everyone took the thing super well, people thought it was so cool! Of course, there are always haters and it's important to be aware of that when you expose yourself.

Later during my graduate studies in business school, I took a break from social networks, without forgetting them but in fact during these years, I gain maturity, my ideas are more assertive, and during Covid I realize that I wanted to start all over again. I wanted to have a much more oriented towards fashion profile.

Louis, my boyfriend, pushes me a lot in that direction, and it helped me a lot."

Moving to Paris

"Anyway, at the end of our studies we decided to move to Paris, because it's here that everything happens in the world of fashion and everything accelerates, I chain partnerships, the first to really mark me is a trip with YSL beauty.

Then there is Vestiaire Collective with whom I did a three month campaign, then Vinted, and even Farfetch which is a wonderful platform to shop amazing pieces new or even vintage !"

"The fun fact is that unintentionally the first luxury bag I bought was actually a second hand bag, it's a yellow Louis Vuitton vintage bag in waxed leather that you can see on those pictures. And the vintage piece I bought that I'm most proud of is this Gucci banana, the same as Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and The City".

Your passion for vintage clothing

So, you were talking about your partnerships with Vestiaire Co for example, you do a lot of reco on vintage and second hand on your networks, how did you get this passion?

"Honestly, vintage came a little later in my life, my mom had some vintage pieces but I didn't have a real interest for it at these time. The fun fact is that unintentionally the first luxury bag I bought was actually a second hand bag, it's a yellow Louis Vuitton vintage bag in waxed leather that you can see on those pictures. But it's later that I really started to be interested in it, in 2020 I was contacted by YourGarmentz (a vintage shop) to make an influence loan, and I realized with the second hand and vintage market you could have access to incredible pieces, original, often from great luxury houses and yet more accessible. That was the trigger, naturally, I started to follow content creators more oriented towards this sector (Marie Gaguech @marieggch, Rosa Bohneur @rosabohneur, Rubi Pigeon @rubipigeon ...)

Then I set out on a quest to find the best deals, find original pieces and create content around that, especially with the real ones on a white background.

At the same time, the Uyghur scandal broke out and all the phenomena related to over-consumption and fast-fashion. It is really something that made me question my whole way of thinking and also of consuming."

Social networks and good conscience

In fact, ou did your thesis on the role of influence on consumption and the impact it can have, can you tell us more about it?

"The strength of social networks is that ! I published in my story's the link of a questionnaire to help me to complete my thesis and I received more than 2000 answers! At the end of it I asked a question about what do you think influencers should do to try to change mentalities.

I have more than 200 people who took the time to answer this question and I received very strong opinions but what came out of this exchange is that today with the "power" of communication that we have, it is also with us that we can change consciences, and especially on fast-fashion. It would be cool to show our communities that even without big financial means, we can be fashionable and cool, that buying second-hand today is super fashionable but also super responsible!

In fact it is simply to demonstrate that there are always other ways of consuming that can be more responsible and not only on the subject of ecology but also precisely on all the impacts that it has and therefore the working conditions and the way the products are manufactured.

The more consumers are informed, the better they will consume. Today there is still a lack of information, and I think it is our role to speak out on this!

Of course it's not easy to go to the other side because all the partnerships with fast-fashion brands bring in a lot of money but it's really a matter of conscience, frankly I earn a bit less since I've repositioned myself but I'm much happier this way. I'm much more careful about the way I consume and I'm happy to be able to share that on my social networks.

In any case, I am very optimistic for the future because the expectations of our communities are more and more demanding and we have to be more demanding with ourselves. Today, it is not enough to only show an image, it is also good to speak out on the subjects that are important to us."

 

Thanks a lot for reading our last article, click here to see Clémence's selection on Vintage Operandi ! <3

 

Pictures: 1&2 courtesy of Clémence, dress Jean Paul Gaultier @vintageoperandi

Picture 3 courtesy of Clémence

Picture 4 Carrie Bradshaw (SATC) & courtesy of Clémence

Picture 5 courtesy of Clémence

Picture 6 courtesy of Clémence - photo Ines Chable - look @archivestheory