- Could you present yourself in a few words ?
My name is Marianna Szeib, now Szeib-Simon. I grew up in Poland until I was 21 years old and I went on to join the international ESCP course through which I lived in London, Madrid and Paris. It’s France that became my adoption country because it’s in Paris that I discovered my passion for creativity by working in marketing development perfumes at L’Oréal and then at Dior. However, large groups did not attract me in the long run. Being the daughter of an entrepreneur father, I inherited his fiber and the desire to develop my own projects. I founded Face to Face to share my vision of fashion : authentic, committed and refined.
Face to Face is a project of a new kind. Halfway between event sales, e-commerce site, and independent brand accelerator, our goal is to put the human at the heart of creation and offer a selection of designers working for a new way of designing fashion.
- Where does your interest for fashion young designers come ?
I’m part of this generation who wants to express itself and, I think that creation is one of the best ways to do it. I was naturally surrounded by friends who were leaving the workforce to create their own brands. I have helped several times in the construction of the launch strategy for these brands. Their commitment, transparency and stories touched me so much that I began to find the marketing discourse of the already established brands quite obsolete. So I decided to highlight the human commitment behind the objects we buy.
- What do you think about current stakes linked to the fashion industry and the environment ?
Today we are flooded by terrifying news about the state of our planet. I had the choice, either relay this type of information on social networks to but doing nothing with, or undertake another direction. Fashion being the second most polluting industry on the planet seemed like a good start. Ethical fashion is a natural continuation. With Face to Face I don’t stop on the fashion, we also promote other objects that surround us in a “conscious” way as yoga mats in organic cotton, organic cosmetics, handmade design products. The goal isn’t to make others feel guilty, but to offer an alternative. After putting the organic in our food, the next step would be to put it everywhere with a conscious way of consumption.
- How would you define slow fashion ?
A lot of confusion! I think there is still a lot of amalgames and green washing about it. For me slow fashion appeared in response to the scandals unveiled around the disproportionate production in countries like Bangladesh without respect to the condition of human life, with mad rhythms of luxury brands that slowly kill creativity just for a lack of reflection time. And also a kind of overdose of the culture of overconsumption. The answer is that we need to slow down and rehumanize some trades that have always drawn these sources in the savoir-faire, in the crafts and in the handmade.
- Could you please tell more about the Face ti Face pop-up store that will happen in Paris from the June 5th till the June 9th ?
We are going for a tour of the world this time to gather French designers alongside Brazilian designers all in an amazing apartment in the heart of the Marais in Paris. The selection will include French brands such as Atelier Zu (ceramics), Escrin Paris (hand-dyed silk kimonos), Darris Paris (hand embroidered bags), Prescription Lab (organic beauty box) and your beautiful selection from you e-shop The Other Shop or artists-illustrators such as Atelier Levan or Dada Galerie. On the Brazilian side, we can’t wait to welcome brands such as Pirei no chapeu (straw hats with hand-made paintings), Estudio Iris (the fashion brand with fabrics designed by the designer) or Botti Sao Paulo ( the shoes with a beautiful design for the summer) we would be in total a 30-year of designers. You are all welcome !
T/O/S.
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