Everything you need to know about Mr Simon Porte Jacquemus and his debut menswear collection.

This spring the highly anticipated debut menswear collection from Jacquemus, the eponymous brand from fashion designer Mr Simon Porte Jacquemus, launches on MR PORTER. If you stay on top of developments in the womenswear industry, you’ll no doubt have heard of him already. If you haven’t, well, it’s time you got acquainted. Read on for our primer to the brand and the man behind it.

Jacquemus is Provençal through and through

Mr Jacquemus was born in 1990. He grew up on a vegetable farm in Mallemort, a small village in the south of France, and although he moved to Paris at the age of 18 to pursue his dreams of becoming a fashion designer, his carefree upbringing in the tranquil and sun-drenched environs of rural Provence continues to inspire his work. Newcomers to the brand can expect a range of easy-wearing summer staples with subtle nods to the designer’s native culture, such as breezy shirts printed with sunflowers and sheaves of wheat or le pantalon Massilia, a style of trouser that takes its name from the ancient word for Marseille. It’s all “sans chichi”, in his words, which roughly translates as “no fuss”.

His first men’s collection is dedicated to Le Gadjo

After introducing his female customers to La Bomba, a character inspired by his late mother, Mr Jacquemus followed up with her male counterpart, Le Gadjo. A Romany term for a person with no Gypsy heritage, gadjo has become synonymous with the young men of Marseille who hang around the promenade or play volleyball on the beach. “You have these guys in the matching yellow trousers, hats, wallets – almost too perfect and flashy,” says the designer. “And then those kids who are wearing total-look Lacoste. I’m trying to explore that in a poetic way.” The presentation took place shortly after Paris Fashion Week at the Calanque de Sormiou, a secluded cove just south of Marseille, where towels were laid out on the sand for guests, who had been instructed not to arrive in heels. Many of them had just travelled 500 miles south from Paris.

He took an unconventional path to the top

Mr Jacquemus didn’t last long at fashion school. Shortly after moving to Paris to attend the École Supérieure des Arts et Techniques, he received the tragic news that his mother had died in a car accident at the age of 42. Two months later, at the age of 19, he dropped out of college to start his own brand, calling it Jacquemus, his mother’s maiden name. With no formal training to speak of and hardly any money, he was forced to rely on guerrilla tactics to get his brand some early recognition. One of his first collections, L’Ouvrière, was inspired by the French national pastime of going on strike and was publicised by models standing outside the Dior show holding placards reading “Jacquemus En Grève” (Jacquemus On Strike). His first proper break came when Ms Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons spotted one of his collections in a Tokyo showroom. Shortly thereafter he met her partner, Mr Adrian Joffe, who offered him a job at the Comme des Garçons store in Paris and eventually agreed to stock his brand at Dover Street Market, CDG’s influential multi-brand store in London.

He’s one of the first digital native designers

Social media has been crucial to the success of the Jacquemus brand, and at the heart of it all is the @jacquemus Instagram account. With more than 805,000 followers, it’s still fully controlled by the man himself and offers up a mixed bag of runway images, celebrity pap shots, beach selfies and the occasional childhood photograph. There’s an easy charm, a sense of humour and a sheer joie de vivre about the Jacquemus online presence that’s rarely found in other brands. It’s a sign of the designer’s relative youth, but also of his natural affinity for the medium. “I love blogging and Instagram,” he says. “I do that spontaneously and I’m not ashamed to use it. For me, it’s about sharing. I like sharing my vision.”

He’s a key advocate of this season’s summer knitwear trend…

…As exemplified perfectly by the Pablo knitted linen sweater, which is available now on MR PORTER and was worn with board shorts and bare feet on the beach during last September’s show. Knitwear doesn’t get more sun-ready than this. Give it a try.

Shop the Jacquemus collection here

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