THE JOURNAL
The original Le Mont Saint Michel Factory, near Le Mont Saint Michel, France, circa 1920. Photograph courtesy of Le Mont Saint Michel
Mr Alexandre Milan of Le Mont Saint Michel explains how the chore jacket became a wardrobe essential.
Here’s an easy sell: the French chore jacket. As far as looks go, it speaks for itself – it’s understated but stylish, smart yet relaxed. In other words, it sums up that ineffable charm peculiar to the French. Still, there’s much more to the jacket than meets the eye, and its many merits go far beyond appearances, especially when it’s made by a quintessentially French brand like Le Mont Saint Michel.
As part of MR PORTER’s Vive La France campaign, partnering with 14 of the best French brands, we have collaborated with Le Mont Saint Michel on a capsule collection of moleskin chore jackets in a variety of colours, and it seems that everyone in the MR PORTER office has one on their Wish List. We spoke to Mr Alexandre Milan – the creative director and fourth-generation textile manufacturer behind Le Mont Saint Michel – to find out more.
What is the history of the workwear jacket, and what is Le Mont Saint Michel’s relationship with it?
“The French workwear jacket was first designed towards the end of 19th century, when high-quality clothes were being made for workers when industry started to develop. The tools and machines became bigger, and manual labourers needed tough clothing. By the beginning of the 20th century the purpose changed slightly, to offer customers the best-quality clothing possible because they wanted to keep and care for their clothes for many years.
“The Le Mont Saint Michel chore jacket was designed in Pontorson at the border of Bretagne and Normandy in 1913, and it is one of the oldest jackets of its kind. It became quite legendary over the years and was known as the ‘Breton work jacket’, due to the unique quality of its fabric, which is specially woven to give maximum strength so that it lasts for decades. Nowadays, one can find Le Mont Saint Michel jackets from the 1930s and 1940s in second-hand shops or vintage stores, showing how durable it is.”
Advert from the 1950s showing the strength and quality of the Le Mont Saint Michel work jacket: “Mont Saint Michel workwear: 3 times more resistant”. Photograph courtesy of Le Mont Saint Michel
How do you make the jacket, and what is special about it?
“The jacket is still made with the same fabric that has been used for more than a century: a very heavy and strong moleskin. When the jacket is cut and sewn, it looks so stiff that we need to wash it to give more comfort to the fabric. The great difference with some other workwear fabrics like denim is that Le Mont Saint Michel decided to produce its chore jackets with the highest quality that mills could produce, fully dyed, very strong, woven to be almost water-repellent, made with multi-end combed cotton.”
How should we wear the jacket? What does it look good with?
“The Le Mont Saint Michel jacket can be worn every day and in all conditions. It is essentially uniform wear: a type of minimalistic garment that can be mixed with many different outfits – worn above a simple white tee in summer or under a coat in winter, for instance. It’s also versatile enough to style as you wish: all opened, all buttoned down, or collar up with the two upper buttons down. In addition, its unique fabric offers very good wind protection and is almost completely water-repellent as its weaving is very tight. The high strength of its fabric provides very good protection in every use. Plus, it’s versatile enough to make it appropriate for almost any situation, and it’ll last you forever. Essentially, it’s a pretty unique garment.
