Meet Maison Labiche: well-tailored, easy-to-wear staples with a twist

Maison Labiche’s design signature comes from the heart. ‘The brand was born in 2011 from a simple idea – to offer a special sewing technique on a durable, popular garment,’ explains co-founder Marie Welté. ‘We chose and developed a white T-shirt, then embroidered it with our own personal calligraphy. The idea was to be able to carry words like a banner.’

That flash of inspiration came from Marie’s discovery of her father's shirts, worn as part of his boarding school uniform in the 1950s. They were inscribed on the chest and struck her as ‘so chic’. La biche – french for doe – was her mother’s pet name.

Designed in Paris, Maison Labiche draws inspiration from subjects as varied as the 1920s, 1980s/90s hip-hop, James Dean and US gas station attendants. The clothes are made predominantly in Portugal, which has a great reputation for garment manufacturing, and at factories that meet environmental and ethical standards as certified by Oeko-Tex (the International Association for Research and Testing in the Field of Textile and Leather Ecology). ‘We’ve been working with the same factories for a long time and they develop the fabrics especially for us,’ says Marie.

‘Maison Labiche’s handwriting is about an embroidered slogan or motif on a great-quality product,’ echoes Helen Spencer, Partner & Buyer, Men’s Branded Casualwear. ‘Every product is beautiful to begin with, and then it’s given a twist with the embroidery.’ Thus a simple white T-shirt or striped Breton, through the addition of a legend such as ‘the dude’ or ‘out of office’, or a picture of a beach buggy or shark, is endowed with a certain je ne sais quoi. ‘Quirky is probably the best way of describing it,’ says Helen.

Each seasonal collection is tied together by a theme that runs through every piece, and is based on a hypothetical trip. Previous creative voyages have seen the label visit Versailles and the moon. ‘This season, the destination was Hawaii,’ says Marie, who particularly likes the pink tee emblazoned with ‘plein soleil’ (perhaps best translated as ‘direct sunlight’) and the white tee featuring a Citroen Mehari beach buggy. Marie won’t be drawn on where the more enigmatic slogans such as ‘the dude’ come from (possibly a reference to The Big Lebowski?), preferring to leave them playfully open to interpretation. ‘The best words are ones you can apply to your own personal experience,’ she says.