From Adele Exarchopoulos to Marion Cotillard, why do Marcia’s dresses make every actress in French cinema run?

She dances to gypsy notes, strikes a pose while popping bubblegum, flashes cheeky looks in her polka-dot slip dress or animal-print tights with slits. Between a woman of the crowd and a Nouvelle Vague muse, Adele Exarchopoulos embodies the new campaign of Marcia’s spring-summer 2024 collection in a video shot by photographer Pierre-Ange Carlotti. Since the launch of this brand of sexy, cool and powerful dresses, it never ceases to charm Parisians and French movie actresses.

Wise from the front, much less from the side

Behind this young label that celebrates all the signs of the times: relaxed feminism and eco-responsibility, here comes Emma Rayno, a beautiful 36-year-old blonde, former model and classical dancer whose career as a stylist designer began in 2018. with an explosive creation, Tchikiboum, a form-fitting dress in Econyl (recycled nylon) with side slits. Rather wise from the front, much less from the side, the Tchikiboum is a dress of revenge; with this, understand that it is aimed at women who have decided to reclaim their sexuality because they want to (and are worth it). and not respond to male gazes. “This dress isn’t just a sexy statement to show that we’re still high after any romantic breakup,” warns the designer, referring to Lady Diana’s famous black revenge dress that appeared in 1994, two years after her split from Prince Charles. . , all legs, and sculpted in a super low-cut black glamor dress.

Dress without wearing panties

“At first I even designed it as a pair of pants that you wear over pants,” says Emma Raynaud. And then one day one of my friends wore it for a night out without anything underneath. It was very olé olé. She posted her outfit on Instagram and I started getting tons of messages. I put it up for sale on the website and it sold out immediately. The first person to buy it was a photographer, Harley Weir, who I was so impressed with, I was blown away, I didn’t know him. I thought that my first customer would be my cousin,” he continues with a laugh. Another assistant, Leila Bechty, whom he groomed as a stylist, and Adele Exarchopoulos. The two actresses posed for their first lookbooks. Not forgetting her producer husband, Hugo Selignac, the golden boy of French cinema (Large bathroom, BAC North, november, Love fu…), who decides to invest in his small fashion business from the start. “We have lived together for 15 years, he often asks me my opinion about the films he has made, and also gives advice about Marcia. We are a real team, and he was a great help, as you can imagine,” confides the designer.

Adele, Leila, Anais and others

In 2023, Emma presents the Marcia fashion show in the Amelot garage in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. In the front row, the atmosphere is reminiscent of the Cannes festival (without the international stars). Adele Exarchopoulos, her muse, and Leila Bechty, her friend, are of course there to cheer her on, as well as Geraldine Nakache, Anais Demostieu, Tahar Rahim, Vincent Lacoste, Gilles Lelouch… And Jonathan Cohen, whose co-star Piu Piu, pregnant, parades. on the podium Marcia Byla By Rita Mitsuko, who inspired the label’s name, it sounds like: Also there is jewelry designer Charlotte Chesnais, who Emma Raynaud worked with for a long time when she was a house model for Balenciaga. “At the time, Charlotte was working on the ready-to-wear collections alongside Nicolas Ghesquière and was responsible for making the clothes for the commercial show. I learned a lot from watching his work,” says Emma.

After this starry glow, Marcia is on everyone’s lips. Marion Cotillard joined the fanbase and even appeared on the brand’s Instagram account last June in a curve-hugging polka dot dress. But evil tongues would be wrong if the label’s success was summed up by its stylist’s cinematic connections. If her dresses are so popular, it is because their sexy and conquering side combines comfort (it adapts to all bodies) and desirability. And Marcia’s fans include young, fashionable actresses as well as mature customers and women from other backgrounds, “women who work and have enough energy and confidence to wear these kinds of dresses,” says Emma. The type who also dares to wear her Heartbreaker with thin straps, side slits and lace or her True Romance maxi without a revealing but very figure-hugging dress.

Heroines of yesterday and today

His Spring Summer 2024 delivers the same ‘caliente’ refrain based on fiery red, gold lamé, leopard or python print and mini dresses with very sensual cuts. Emma Rayno’s explanations. “This is a collection that reflects the strong women who inspire me, like Elvira Hancock (Michelle Pfeiffer) Scar face who tells Al Pacino (Tony Montana) “Don’t call me baby, I’m not your baby.” I love heroines revenge movies like Jeanne Moreau The bride was dressed in black or Uma Thurman Kill Bill. Marcia, she is also very 80s, has both the sense of humor and the depth of those years. Today, Adele Exarchopoulos perfectly embodies this with this playfulness, this sensuality, this freedom of tone and these distinctive expressions that belong only to her.

Today, Marcia is on the move, in every sense of the word. Emma Reynaud has just left her office and studio (her lease is up) and, pending new premises, has moved into the production offices of Chi-Fou-Mi, her husband’s establishment. His ambition? Taking the brand to the next level by offering a complete wardrobe and not just ‘pantyless dresses’, she says with a smile. At the beginning of the school year, she will also offer corset jackets with cargo pockets, and first of all, a bag inspired by her lace dress. A great dream to open a store in Paris. Meanwhile, it will be at Galeries Lafayette during the Olympics. The spoiled child route? Not only. The entrepreneur, the happy mother of two children aged 9 and 5, also experienced doubt and difficult moments.

Fold the sleeves

“For a long time, I regretted that I left dance on a whim at the age of 16, I wondered why I sacrificed my childhood and youth to this discipline without following it. It was hard to admit, but today I know that these years of work have taught me rigor, I finally understood that roads are not linear, but sometimes chaotic. The same applies to the period of Covid-19, which was very difficult. I had outlets at Galeries Lafayette on the Champs-Élysées and Le Bon Marché, and the day I was supposed to deliver everything to them, they closed their doors. I found myself with all the boxes in my hands.’ The following: She rolled up her sleeves and offered her dresses on her website, shipping them with the means at hand. The result: he sold them all. The blonde’s revenge.