“I want to empower the woman, whatever her body type, shape, fit. It’s really about inclusivity,” says France-born, London-based designer Valeriane Venance
- Who is it? Indépendantes de Coeur is the label from France-born, London-based designer Valeriane Venance
- Why do I want it? Meticulously crafted garments from antique textiles that champion the complex beauty of female bodies.
- Where can I find it? Indépendantes de Coeur is available directly through the designer and will be launched with the opening of Dover Street Market Paris early next year
Who is it? After a “chaotic” start at a hospitality management school, where she was sent by her parents, France-born designer Valeriane Venance followed her heart to study fashion at the Parisian school Atelier Chardon Savard. “I always wanted to do fashion for as long as I can remember,” she muses. “My grandma used to make dresses for me all the time, I was the first grandchild. So perhaps it was being around all these handmade dresses that attracted me.” Two years at school was enough before she headed to London to work for several designers and, eventually, launch her own label.
If her brand’s name, Indépendantes de Coeur (Independents of Heart), could well encapsulate the headstrong path Venance followed to becoming a designer, it’s in fact borrowed from the infamous French courtesan Valtesse de la Bigne. De la Bigne came from an impoverished background but climbed the ranks of 19th-century Parisian society, charming men into buying her castles and other extravaganzas. “She wrote in her will that, despite the constant judgement from society for being a woman and a sex worker, she was always indépendante de coeur,” explains the designer. “She was free, in a way.”
Freedom has been the label’s underpinning manifesto from the get-go as Venance crafts garments that challenge proprietary standards, in terms of body image and behaviour, that have flattened womanhood throughout history. “It’s the sizing problem that I find really atrocious in the industry right now,” she says. “I want to empower the woman, whatever her body type, shape, fit. It’s really about inclusivity.” Her signature is a heart-shape detailing sewn onto the backs of her designs as a testament for her “love of women and women’s bodies” and as a way “to add a little volume on your back, as a protective talisman. It’s protecting you, it’s not an invitation for someone to put their hands there.”
Each of her collections begins with a feeling, and her Spring/Summer 2024 collection, presented as part of Paris Fashion Week and styled by AnOther’s fashion director-at-large (menswear) Ellie Grace Cumming, was born from a contemplation of feminine rage. “It’s something that you have to repress, suppress, hide,” she explains, “but I wanted to give my version of it. To make rage rhyme with beauty.” Her debut runway show was styled by Cumming and choreographed by movement director Ryan Chappell who helped define a gait to “rageful metal music” that was grounded and slow like “you’re owning every step, every breath. Like a late-night walk on the streets as a woman.” Some models’ bodies were protected by metal caged corsets crafted by CC Steding as Venance looked “to put femininity in the face of the spectator. But then it’s like a finger in your face. ‘Yeah, you can look at my body naked, but what can you do when it’s protected by a cage?’”
Why do I want it? Venance’s garments are potently voluminous in both meaning and craftsmanship. Her singular design vocabulary strikes an alluring harmony between a fleshy femininity and a textural hardiness. Where the body is exposed – cleavage, legs, midriffs – it is offset by meticulous ruffled detailing and a form-flattering draping of weighty antique linens and jersey. It’s a fierce, full-bodied reclamation of women’s bodies and character via its sexualisation; to reveal skin is not an invitation to be objectified, it’s a revelation of the complex beauty that lies beneath. Similarly, the contrasting silhouettes of her designs, which can be both boxy and figure-skimming, allow the body to speak its truth through the garments, rather than being contorted to fit external ideals of womanhood.
The runway show also featured otherworldly sculptural headpieces, for which the designer has a special affection (she has notably crafted pieces for Comme des Garçons’ A/W23 and S/S23 shows). For her latest collection, Venance confronted the idea of hairpieces as a simple decorative element, a superficial frivolity. Drawing inspiration from weaponry carried by women for both hunting and self-protection, Venance and her team “collected materials off the streets of London and then just melted everything together.” “I just love making headpieces as there is so much freedom,” she says, “and from working with Comme, I’ve learnt that anything is possible.”
All of Venance’s pieces are made from recycled natural textiles, like antique linens that she collects at markets and then manipulates in-house. Her passion for these fabrics is twofold: they allow her to both dream of the previous lives held within its threads as well as adding a uniqueness to her designs. “It brings a preciousness to the piece because you know that the design can be remade, but the fabric will never be the same,” explains Venance, “I can find more antique bedsheets, but the story lived in it, and the story you add to it, will never be exactly the same.”
Where can I find it? Indépendantes de Coeur is available directly through the designer and will be launched with the opening of Dover Street Market Paris early next year.