Young designer transforms t-shirts

Image courtesy of Mai Jarah’s Instagram account @madeinmai.

At 19, in her workshop room in the suburbs of Paris, she brings old football jerseys to life by turning them into corsets, a colorful, ethical and eco-friendly concept that caught the attention of the fashion dad. The cup is coming. “I do everything myself, from collecting shirts to designing and sewing,” smiles Mai Jarac, pulling his favorite shirt out of the closet, a tunic cut from a Barcelona shirt in garnet blue.

“I don’t particularly need new jerseys, the idea is to do upcycling, that is, without chemical intervention, this is not recycling,” explains this daughter of an Argentine father and a Breton mother.

This is “not at first out of environmental convictions, but rather out of outrage at the mistreatment of the labor force in some countries. I cut my consumption by nine to move towards ethical brands,” she continues.

She originally designed this project for her fashion school, Studio Berçot. May was then spotted by Youssouf Fofana, artistic director of the Parisian brand Maison Château Rouge (MCR), who met her one day while she was wearing one of her corsets.

Excited, he offers to put them up for sale when MCR, along with other creators, invests in an old Tati store in Barbès the following month, in the midst of the World Cup.

“I was lucky to meet a good man who respects my values, Yussuf Fofana,” greets the young designer, who then had to speed up: “I worked all summer in my grandmother’s basement, in Finistere, with her sewing. car, begging for bathing suits from relatives. »

It’s good, football flows through the veins of the family. Like a good Argentine, his father is a fan of River Plate, one of the giants of Buenos Aires. Maya’s younger sister, Luz, plays for the Paris Saint-Germain team under 15 years old. During this diligent summer, the seamstress sewed eleven corsets, but still a very young entrepreneur had to “create a brand in three months. It happened very quickly.” She finds the MAI: logo, creates an Instagram account @madeinmai. “My friends, girls and boys, are posing in the photos, because everyone is wearing corsets, and my boyfriend is taking pictures,” she explains.

But the core of the work remains the production of corsets. Applied to his machine, Mai Jarah stitches together small tubes into which kits are inserted, made from “very flexible and not at all restrictive” cable ties, another “recycled” material.

Luckily, Maya has a white jersey with a red Millonarios bandoleer (nickname River Plate) ready to live a second life. “Otherwise my father will be angry!” She is laughing.

The collection of a young girl living in Le Lila (Saint-Saint-Denis) also has corsets in the colors of the neighboring Red Star club, as well as from Lyon, France, Brazil or Mexico, taking part in the World Cup.

This very young designer still lives with his parents in an old studio converted into a very bright loft. “This is my first time making money,” laughs Mai, who sells each corset for 120 euros.

Emmanuel BARRANGUET/AFP

Source: L Orient Le Jour

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