Molli: Redefining Legacy

Without Charlotte de Fayet, the Parisian brand Molli would have disappeared. She transformed the renowned garter stitch for babies into a coveted womenswear label.

It happened one afternoon in 2015 when Charlotte de Fayet visited a Molli boutique to exchange a gift. A conversation with the lady behind the counter revealed that the brand was breathing its last. Thanks to Charlotte’s entrepreneurial instinct, she was convinced of its potential, and she decided to buy it. Once the baby collection took off the same year, the idea to bring unique expertise of the House to the forefront hit home. She launched a ready-to-wear line for women. And it was just the beginning.

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“In 1886, Molli started as a manufacturer of delicate undergarments for adults. It was only in the 1950s that it moved to making only infant clothing,” Charlotte says. She, thus, went headlong into the archives, spent hours at the workshops to familiarise herself with techniques and machinery that makes garter stitch mesh. She followed it up with a spinning training at Institut Français de la Mode in Paris. The first collection of basics that she put together caught the eyes of Sofia Coppola, Léa Seydoux and Natalia Vodianova. “The objective was to create pieces that I would like to wear and would not find anywhere else but at Molli,” she says.

New dimensions

Molli is neither completely retro, nor is it too specialised. While always preserving its unique identity, Charlotte does not hesitate to disrupt it. Details are delicately played up —odd-looking buttons, peculiar sleeve length, scalloped collar — bringing in elements of surprise. This winter, it plans to be innovative with sleeves that are puffy at the cuff. The colour palette will be rosewood, amaranth, biscuit, magenta and Bordeaux red.

A stickler for quality, Molli uses nothing but pure virgin wool of sheep that are raised only for their wool. “Length of the wool is a deciding factor. The longer it is, less fluffs it has,” explains the young expert, who makes her knits in the finest workshop of France and Italy. In Paris, Charlotte works with a small team of four people. “My office is in 8e arrondissement. I head there every morning after dropping my kids, Alma, 7 years and Félix, 4 years, off at school.”

Born in Paris, Charlotte is familiar with the world of luxury. Her mother was the press liaison for Manuel Canovas, Porthault and Castelbajac. After finishing her education at a business school, where she specialised in marketing, she joined Danone and started working for Evian before setting off to Buenos Aires, Argentina “I lived there for two years, where my daughter was born. While I was there, I collaborated on an artistic and social photography project aimed to help less fortunate children,” she says. On her return, she began working with L’Oréal, in the marketing departments of Kiehl’s and Shu Uemura. “This is where I learned the golden rule of detail and merchandising, notably the ‘retail is detail’ formula.”

On the birth of her second child, Charlotte decided to start her own business. The possibility to relaunch Molli fell into her lap at the right time. Today, the brand has two boutiques in Paris, a corner at the Bon Marché, an online shop, and is available at select retailers globally. Her dream is to have ten odd stores across the world, but only after opening a third store in Paris that will be a flagship. “I love spending my days at my stores. To satisfy the clients truly gives me pleasure,” Charlotte says.

Her core space

Parisian at heart, Charlotte has a wonderfully relaxed and sophisticated allure to her. Her preferred outfit is a mix of a form hugging little cardigan, a knee length skirt and high heels. She doesn’t care for the battle of the bags. She prefers clothes with pockets. Her home, nestled under the roof of a rather peculiar hotel on the Rue de Grenelle, where other members of her family live, exudes similar elegance. The white walls are carpeted with contemporary photographs. The corridor walls have black and white Méditerranée wallpaper by Fornasetti. The coffee table and office desk are covered with little objects that remind her of her trips. Fond of discovering new places, she never hesitates to hop onto an aircraft as often as she can. Her invariable drop-zone is her family house in Morocco, where she loves going for walks and biking in the Atlas Mountains. When in Italy in her workshops of Pouilles or those in the north of Rome to develop new weaves and stitches, Charlotte doesn’t miss an opportunity to visit as many European cities as she can.

As for now, Charlotte is busy with the upcoming collection. For her Molli is not a fashion house. It lives to complete women’s wardrobe, who like to dress but look for comfort over everything else.

From the September 2017 issue of L’Officiel India.