VOLUME II / ISSUE VII / JULY 2018
STELLA JEAN
The Commander
She dreamed of being a politician, specifically the president of Haiti. At almost six feet tall (an inch shorter than Michelle Obama), 39-year-old self-taught, HaitianItalian designer Stella Jean would make a commanding head of state, bespectacled in bold-faced frames with her hair slicked back into a no-nonsense chignon, with the ability to articulate in four languages. Although Jean passed on politics to deal in pins and pleating, diplomacy is, in a way, threaded through what she does. She’s coined “wax and stripes” as her design philosophy — “wax” for the African wax prints emblematic of her Haitian mother’s roots, and “stripes” to signify striped dress shirts, her Italian father’s wardrobe staple. “The first collection was just to show people [that] I can put Italy, Haiti and Africa in the same look. I don’t tell you the history. I just show you,” she says. “At the same time, those cultures can communicate, one beside the other, without one suppressing the other.” The egalitarian pairing of Jean’s parentage was thoroughly embraced in the playful loud printed pieces in the eponymous line, launched in 2011. Growing up biracial in Rome was another story. “Italy wasn’t ready,” she says. “I felt Italian, but other people didn’t allow me to be it.” From age 16 to 18, she tried identifying as Haitian. Haitians knew she wasn’t, but they asked fewer questions about her family tree so she felt more at ease, which pushed her to study her mother’s homeland and its history, culture and art. Bursting onto the scene in 2011, the former model’s colorful button-down shirts, graphic skirts, and bold printed dresses have steadily gained traction. Why? Jean’s juxtaposition of traditional tailoring and modern global influences is completely captivating. Her designs reflect her Creole heritage, page 110
and she often works with Haitian and African artisans incorporating their work into her fashions. Through her use of native craftspeople, she seeks to support struggling countries and communities and preserve their ancestral arts and traditions. Jean began receiving attention at Italian Vogue’s “Who Is On Next?” contest in 2011 when she won second place. In 2013, Giorgio Armani asked her to showcase her designs in the Armani/ Teatro space during Milano Moda Donna for Fashion Week SS14. She collaborated on shoes with Christian Louboutin for her FW14 collection, which featured her first menswear collection. For FW18-19 Jean’s immensely successful collection, continues to wow, inspired by the unlikely friendship struck by the African-American athlete Jesse Owens and the German Luz Long at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which gave her the idea to fuse her trademark multicultural aesthetic with the world of sport. Her brand is based in Rome but is stocked in specialty boutiques worldwide.