MAN OF THE PEOPLE
In the world of fashion, accessible is rarely synonymous with desirable but Alexandre Mattiussi’s AMI is breaking the mold.
By JON ROTH
You know those people you see on the street: talking together under the eaves of apartment entrances, sprawled across cafe chairs, barreling off on bicycles toward their next appointment. They are young, and beautifully dressed, but they’re never trying too hard. Their knit caps are tilted just so, their jackets are oversized, their pants are loose, tapered, and perfectly cropped. They don’t radiate the buffed and highlighted polish of Instagram influencers. They don’t have the edgy, alien gawkiness of most runway models. They’re just kids with an ineffable, easy-going style you can’t quite reproduce. Many of them are wearing AMI.
That’s the fashion house founded by Alexandre Mattiussi- the Normandy native who’s managed to distill the unstudied cool of Parisian style into an export that’s adored the world over. Those kids in the cafes are his tribe - muses that inform his designs because in many ways he is one of them: a handsome 39 year old man with an unpretentious attitude, an apartment in the buzzy Pigalle district and a trademark red knit woolen cap. He speaks with the straightforward approach of a merchant. He is here to make clothes for you to wear, not to incite a fashion revolution. And because of that, he’s become something of a oracle all the same.
To look at his resume, you wouldn’t expect Mattiussi to design for the everyman. At 24, he was already working at Dior - creating looks for the storied house’s 30 Avenue Montaigne line, a sedate counterpart to the razor-thin suits Hedi Slimane was turning out at the time. After that, he moved on to Givenchy, another house with a long history and a luxury cache. Then it was to Marc Jacobs - more accessible, but still wrapped up in a jet-set lifestyle that traded on glamour, wealth, and exclusivity. It was there that Mattiussi had his own personal revelation. He was designing a sweater that he wouldn’t be able to afford himself, and that felt wrong to him. He didn’t just shrug and keep sketching. He decided to try something new.
Mattiussi decided to make clothes for everyone. He founded AMI (the name combines his initials, but also means ‘friend’ in French) based on a simple proposition: that men, by and large, don’t yearn for edgy, conceptual fashion. They want handsome clothes that are cut beautifully and don’t necessarily raise eyebrows. He took his inspiration from those cool kids he’d pass on the street, and he turned out a line based in beautiful-but-unpretentious overcoats, easygoing knits, and roomy trousers and denim. He cast his models from the sidewalk, and he adjusted his looks to fit their personal style. The fashion world, perhaps fatigued with menswear designers that reliably made too much of too little, responded to Mattiussi’s work with near-unanimous acclaim.
Reviewers have described the clothes as “artfully thrown-together” and “masculine,” “comfy” but also rooted in a “progressive classicism.” And all along, AMI has maintained price points that make it possible for his inspiration - those fast-talking, easy-going, chic-but-friendly kids - to actually afford his pieces. Eight years since the founding of AMI, Mattiussi’s label is only growing stronger.
Inspired by the droves of women who entered his stores to purchase menswear, last year he decided to introduce AMI’s “menswear for women” concept - a line of clothing that’s firmly rooted in the core men’s line but adjusted ever-so-slightly to fit the shapes and sensibilities of women. If there is a groundswell now toward familiar, comfortable, easy dressing, then Mattiussi is certainly at the forefront. He has been for years. He recognizes that beautiful clothing doesn’t have to be weird, or challenging, or rarefied. He knows it can be found in the everyday, subtly improved.
Who is the man you design clothes for? What is his relationship to his clothes?
AMI offers everyday menswear that can be worn by all types of guys. The AMI guy is myself, my friend, the guy I see walking in the street. I’m proud of the fact that the end customers are from a very broad age bracket. His relationship to his clothes is neither intellectual nor too conceptual.
We often think of ‘beauty’ as something that’s rare. Can beauty be for everyone?
Beauty for me is anything that is awe-inspiring. It can be rare insomuch that it can be very commonplace. Beauty in nature being an example of that. Ironically, I think a platform like Instagram has shown us that you can find beauty in even the most mundane of objects.
I think of the AMI man as being very self-aware and comfortable in his own skin. Whether he frames that as beauty or not is secondary to this sense of confidence.
What to you is the mark of beautiful dressing?
Something that is elegant and casual at the same time in which the person feels at ease.
Your clothes are more wearable than they are ‘conceptual’ but are there ways in which you stretch men’s perceptions of what they could wear?
The AMI wardrobe plays on the tension between timeless classics and more fashionable, seasonal pieces. We like to challenge the guy who walks into the boutique to find a T-shirt or sweatshirt, by proposing him our carrot-fit pants or an oversized jacket. Getting people outside their comfort zone is the challenge but once they are there, they tend to like it! So, if we are stretching perceptions, it’s at a very comfortable pace, one step at a time.
You’re a native of Normandy. Is there a particular style native to that region? Has it influenced your designs?
Our Spring-Summer 2019 collection, currently in store, is inspired by Normandy. I felt like taking a pause from Paris; going back to my roots for some fresh air. There is so much going on in fashion, so much noise. I wanted to do something more poised, quieter, considered. The show was set in the enormous field of wheat; it had a really poetic feel about it.
Dressing like a ‘cool Parisian guy’ has become a goal for men across the world. What is it about Parisian style that men find so appealing?
I am constantly inspired by Paris so I’m naturally influenced by its streets, its people and its energy. I think people find Parisian style so appealing because it’s so honest and genuine, and never forced or exaggerated. There is a nonchalance, or coolness without the sense of trying too hard.
What governs your women’s designs? Is it truly menswear for women?
My menswear for women designs are a declination of men’s looks, adapted and adjusted with female clientele in mind. It’s really about researching the structure of the garment, the silhouette. Keeping that AMI ‘easiness’ that translates into a relaxed yet elegant silhouette on a woman.
Why is it that we find men’s clothing on a woman so appealing?
For me, the strength of seeing a woman wearing menswear is in the attitude that comes from men’s clothes. I also think that womenswear is getting more comfortable and relaxed too: sneakers, backpacks, and a movement towards less restrictive ready-to-wear means that the men’s market is now an on-trend option for women too.
Who, to you, is the epitome of male beauty? Female beauty?
I find beauty in every single person. It’s hard for me to name one person as more ‘beautiful’ than another.
What to you is a beautiful work of art?
Art for me is something that stirs emotion, incites a reaction. A beautiful work? Something that lifts me.
If you were not a designer, what would you be doing?
I’d be dancing. I started dancing at a very young age but stopped at around 14 after an audition at Opéra de Palais Garnier, when I realized that type of competitive environment wasn’t for me. But the love of spectacle and the theatrical ambiance rubbed off on me. Particularly the costumes and set design. Fashion for me was a natural extension of that world.
What was the most important thing you learned at the houses where you worked in the past?
The importance of quality and longevity of a garment. Something that is not only beautiful, but that is constructed to last. But I also learnt the importance with connecting with what you are designing – it needs to be relevant to you. If it’s something too detached from your own reality, for me it loses purpose.
In your opinion, how has fashion changed our understanding of beauty and masculinity?
It’s hard to say whether fashion is a cause or a result, but there are definitely boundaries being broken down between men’s and women’s fashion so that beauty is becoming more of a gender-neutral concept.
What’s one thing you’ve done in the past year to make your life better?
I’ve been listening to my intuition more.
What’s something you think we should all do to make the world more beautiful?
Be grateful for what we have.
