THE JOURNAL
The Decade Collection: The Founder Of Jacques Marie Mage On Crafting Luxury And Beauty
Every so often, in the fashion industry, one comes across a character so idiosyncratic, so confident in their own distinct vibes, that it causes us to completely question our own internal style quotient. If this person is stylish, then what the [expletive] am I?, one might think.
Jerome Jacques Marie Mage is just such a modern icon. The purveyor of ultra fine eyewear dresses in sharp CELINE HOMME suits, has a strong French accent – even after 30 years spent living in Los Angeles – and a deep knowledge of fashion. He speaks of Hedi Slimane’s collections for SAINT LAURENT and CELINE HOMME as though he could identify every look that’s ever come down the catwalk. And he probably can.
“Authenticity is such an important factor. The idea of caring and consistency”
Mage initially moved to Los Angeles because he loved action sports (motocross, skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing) of all things, which were enjoying their freshman heydays in the 1990s. Once there, he started a product design company that specialised in creating hard goods for some of the most famous sports companies in the world. He worked, for example, with Jack Burton, the snowboarding pioneer and founder of Burton Snowboards, as well as with brands such as Quiksilver, Vans and No Fear. “My studio had a reputation for being great at mixing product design with good graphic application,” he says.
But towards the end of the 2010s, he needed a change. “I grew a bit tired of hearing that I was a little too crazy, a little too creative, a little too forward,” Mage says. He felt that he was being asked to copy too much, that individuality and innovation was no longer a priority. “It was pretty clear to me that my studio would disappear because my strength was creativity – pure creativity – and I had no intention of making knockoffs.”
He also had an interest in exploring luxury. Specifically, luxury eyewear. “It was time for me to find out what I could do on my own, and the field of design that I had the most experience with was eyewear.” He wanted to create a product that had a point of view and was meticulously designed and gorgeously crafted. His eponymous brand was founded to “bring rarity, authenticity and storytelling” to the market.
“Authenticity is such an important factor,” he says. “The idea of caring and the idea of consistency in your product.” As a matter of fact, he mentions brands that many would consider high luxury – and pans them. “I’m always shocked to see a luxury store in an airport, OK? I think that’s when you know luxury is dead.”
Jacques Marie Mage, the brand, wouldn’t be like this. Mage envisioned small-batch eyewear, made from carefully sourced materials that would have a profound impact on the wearer. He wanted to honour the craft of handmade eyewear, to challenge himself and the industry to level up. “It was a little bit of a quest to give the eyewear market back some real value. I wanted to make an object of true luxury – which I think we’ve done.”
Of course, it was not a given that glasses retailing at this price point would be successful. But Mage bargained that seekers of quality and exquisite craftsmanship would be willing to invest in heirloom-worthy eyewear. He also didn’t really care about price, thinking, literally, nothing of it. “I didn’t even know the price my glasses would be when I started doing the project,” he says. “It was completely uninteresting to me, because I wanted to do the best of everything. I wanted to work at the highest possible level.”
The brand does just that, by partnering with craftsmen in Japan. “Craftsmen in Japan are doing things that are virtually impossible to do in other countries,” he says. He works with small ateliers and pushes them to deliver a product that toes the absolute limits of the industry.
Jacques Marie Mage’s sunglasses and optical frames are, indeed, the ultimate (though he does not like that word) objets. They are heavy, but not too heavy; weighty in the hand, but light on the bridge of the nose. His frames tend to be significantly thicker than one typically sees, ranging from 4mm sheets of acetate to a whopping 12mm. “They have physicality which allows the material to be really luxurious,” Mage says. The 12mm frames were designed for the brand’s 10th anniversary – yet another quest for Mage to embark upon. Richly hued and channelling similar mid-century Americana vibes of his previous collections, the new collection is something one must hold to believe.
“It becomes a really wonderful item to hold,” he says. “I think these are the most imposing sculptural frames ever made.” Mage envisions his glasses as hand-me-downs, something a father might pass on to a son, like a watch. He takes pride in each pair, maintaining the small-batch principles he started with, but now with a much higher demand – the brand is set to open its first UK store on Chiltern Street this month.
“That quest for beauty or the perfect pair of eyewear sort of never stops,” he says. “And I feel all our customers are on that journey with me. I’ve heard many times [from customers] ‘We buy the mystique, we buy the stories’. Everything is encapsulated in our frames. They buy a piece of Japan, they buy a piece of a different time or a new persona.”
Quite a lot to fit into an accessory that rests on the face, yet Mage has managed it for a decade. What could the next possibly bring?