Interview de Marie-France LeCoutre dans Sacreé Planète - Février/Mars 2009
Nous ne pouvions nous empêcher de mettre en ligne le très bon article de Sacrée Planète de février/Mars 2009 de Marie Johanne Croteau.Avec leur accord, nous avons récupéré cet article et mis directement en ligne sur notre site.
Découvrez vite cet article de presse qui raconte bien l'histoire de l'Etoile de Marie au travers de l'interview de Marie France LeCoutre ....
English version
Merci à Sacrée Planète pour l'autorisation de diffusion sur notre site et merci à Marie Johanne Croteau pour l'attention qu'elle a su porter envers l'Etoile de Marie au travers de son article.
English version :
A Star in Provence - Interview by Marie- Johanne Croteau from Sacrée Planète
Romantic and feminine from head to toe, Marie-France LeCoutre-Blachère is a business women who runs a compagny in the heart of the Luberon, combining organic, ethical fashion, « weel-being » products and artistic creation.
SP : - Who are you Marie France?
MF : I’m a Luberon girl, nourrished by its light and perfumes. I grew up in the heart of the small town of Apt, in Provence. Very early on I became interested in the respect of the environment. At te begining of the 80’s I set up a organic produce section in my parents grocery shop which was quite « avant-garde » at the time.
At the same time and for my own personnel development, I studied naturopathy in Paris. I am fascinated by the language of colours, sounds and fragrances (natural of course !) It was during this period that I met my husband, Philippe. He’s an editor of « well-being » music and runs the website www.zentunes.fr.
Today we are bringing up our children, still in the heart of the Luberon.
I try as much as possible to be reponsible in my everyday actions and to be careful of the state that I might leave the planet for the future generations. I’m very sensitive to the « sacred » and the « beautiful ». I put my feminine creativity to work by writing stories for children and also with my collection of organic linen clothes –Lin Bio, l’Étoile de Marie.
SP : - Your first contact with fashion?
MF : To be at the same time feminine and to correspond with my demand for respecting the environment, was a real challenge which led me to the following conclusions. Fashion should be at the service of our inner beauty, at the same time respecting the heart which carries us and nature that surrounds us. From these thoughts which maturated within me, came the idea of my own fashion collection.
SP : - It is possible to combine « couture » (Fashion) and « respect of the environment »?
MF : - Yes I think so. What I call « la couture bio-éthique » (ethical, organic fashion) is the result of associating creative talents with quality expertise as well as the use of « noble » materials that respect the chart for ecology and ethics.
For example, my catalogue and all my communiction work are printed on recycled papier using natural inks according to the recommendations of « imprim vert » (green printing).
Fashion from the workshop can rhyme with simplicity and accessability, as soon as the fondamental value is quality.
SP : - What material do you prefer?
MF : - Linen ! It is a cloth with ancestral virtues. It is a material that allows the body to breathe and regulate its temperature. Its little blue flowers is not greedy at all, it grows with humidity, without draining the soil. Its transformation is no more demanding as the extraction of its fibers happens uniquely trought decomposition without intervention of chemical products.
It can be noted as well that the cultivation of linen does not exhaust the soil, it even favourises rotatives cultivation. Planting cereals after a linen crop increases the yield by 10 to 20%. Lastly, these are no waste products from linen cultivation as all pasts of plant are used or transformed into derivates e.g paste for paper, seed and linseed oil. Further I have discovered a 100% organic linen and have fallen in love with it. Like good wine it matures with age but it does’nt grow old it becomes more « noble ».
SP : - Linen 100% organic, what does this mean exatly?
MF : - As soon as it is planted linen, 100% organic, presents many ecological advantages as it needs no polluanting treatment of any kind. The linen that I use is cultived respecting entirely the rules of organic agriculture. The coloured linen that I ue is dyed with eco-friendly dye which has a feeble ecological impact.
The weaving method gives the winter linen that I use for my designs a wonderful, soft, sating, smooth texture, whereas the summer linen is lighter and fresher.
SP : - Marie-France, where is your fashion collection made?
MF : - I am happy to say that my dreams have come true as I have managed to find the ressources which mean that my clothes are handmade in the Luberon, each article being made specially for each order. The Luberon is i the heart of Provence. It’s the most beautiful region of France ! (I’m completely chauvinistic but I’m working on it !) (laugh).
I want to prove that the Luberon is not only an attractive tourist destination where people come to find sun, blue skies, the breath-takind colours of the lavander, the heady scents of « garrigue » (scrub-land), the lime-stones houses and the hill top villages, but also a region where people of ideas and values live and work.
Working with local population has several advantages, notably favourizing the local economy but also moderating ours ecological impact. Thanks to these initiatives (ours inclued) this enobles villages continues to survive after the cicadas have stopped their summer song. Respecting the environment is envidently a good thing but here it goes in hand the respect for work and local life.
SP : - How do you describe your signature « l’Etoile de Marie »?
MF : - Ever since I was small I have always my head in the stars, much that my parents dispair, and they have always been my celestical friends. A star like Venus, which thanks for its brightness, showed the way to the three Kings, is the symbol of light, schowing the way. Here the way is that of wiseness, of responsability and conscientious duty towards the Earth.
« Marie », simply and before anything else because that is what my family and people I love call me. It is thanks to their support and encouragement that my label has seen the light of day and also because it suggest like my collection love, purity, simplicity and feminity.
SP : - Where does your inspiration come from ?
MF : - From the stars ! (laugh) But also from nature and from the love that I feel from those close to me, from the joy and difficulties of everyday life. I am also very sensitive to the elfic world, I can feel it, guess at its presence and am aware of a radient inspiration coming from this invisible world.
You can touch and feel for yourself this fairyness, this magic from the invisible world in the stories that I write.
It seems important as well to underline the fact that the realisation of all my projects is the fruit of a long process of gradual maturing within the universe of the organic and the « well-being » (nearly 30 years –laugh !) and not just the exploitation of a phenomenon in fashion at the moment. My professionnel is a logical and natural prolongation of my personal life. All the little and great things in life are for me a source of inspiration. They are for me the expression of a great flow of life that drives us all.
SP : - What has been your creative method for your collection?
MF : - I haven’t really had a method but more ideas, forces like simplicity, lightness, fluidity, and purity. I let myself be cradled by these words, capturing the image that they inspired in me and then try to give them form.
SP : - Your collection is for what kind of person?
MF : - Rather than for someone who goes in for mass consumation it is intended for anyone who prefers somethings beautiful and lasting, to contribute actively to the safe-guard of our planet. When one buys a product it is a chain that one links onto conciously or unconciously. And it’s for that reason that, at my humble level, with l’Etoile de Marie I propose a little more maturity of thought when making the choice of buying an article of clothing ; a garment which one wears against one’s skin, which surrounds one and which one socialise with. The collection is for woman, men and children. The spark in each woman, the brightness of each man and the joy in every child must show trough.
I wanted to create confortable clothing to wear as an « ensemble » for a style both refined and glamourous or to mix and match other article in one’s wardrobe for a more casual look. Also out-fits for wearing Inside, comfortable and soft but always chic and glamourous. The satin-soft white and the elegance of the organic linen that I use makes the design of « l’Etoile de Marie » ideal outfits for « organic » (close to nature) wedding ! wether it be for the bride, the groom, the bridesmaids or the guests.
SP : - Are you hoping to change conventional attitudes in this field? And if so how?
MF : - Oh no, I woudn’t be so pretentious. I just wish to express a heart-fellt dream of hope between man and this planet. I want also to express my gratitude towards the generosity and abondance of our planet Earth which we shoudn’t take for granted, but appreciate it as a good gift. Because of this, L’Etoile de Marie hope to show that the choice of a beautiful garment is not something superficial… it is a conscious act.
I am convinced that it is possible to radiate happiness making choice in line with the fundamental ideas of those that make the clothes with ethics and respect of the environment. A fine garment sould not be catalogued as a « bourgeois » and therfore contradictory to a conscientious broader outlook. The fashion that I have created is not synonimous with superficiality but it is the opposite – a means of expressing and respecting the quality of the person. Internal beauty can and should be visible, also on one’s self. It also a way of respecting one’s entourage in accord with one’s own well-being.
SP : - What projects do you have now?
MF : - To accompagny and intensify the light of l’Etoile de Marie!
And also to propose new collections even richer in experiences but above all pleasant to wear and to live with.
As I love sweet things the colour « chocolate » will bring its warm and toasty virtues into play this winter. Two news musical stories will add to the already rich collection « les contes de l’enfant intérieur *» (www.contes-enfant-interieur.com)
The first one takes you on a journey to the heart of the Wise Inuit people, the love of a grandfather and the help of the little people who serendy prepare and accompagny a young child confronted by the reality of death to understand the event as a natural part of the process of life. The harmonious, crystal clear and profond tones of the voice of Philippe LeCoutre give life and relief to such a difficult and delicate subject which is the loss of a loved one. This CD book will touch the heart of each of us.
The second will transport you into the cosmos where sounds, lights and colours are an explosion of festive joy, celebrating the summer. Lucie, the little star will melt your heart with her innocent facetiousness, which she shares with her family for the Christmas Holiday.
This fairy tale is enriched by the new illustrations and magnificient voice of Myriam Cannas who you can discover on www.myriam-cannas.com, It can also be the occasion to rediscover an extract of the holomorphic music, captured in the stars, out of time and space, by Philippe LeCoutre, whose creative generosity is in perfect symbiosis with the text of the tale. A wonderful album with a booklet of 44 magnificently illustrated pages, where the three major arts vibrates in unisson, to enchant your Relationship with your children and to rediscover the magic of the moment.
For 2010 the fruit of the three years work will see the day, but shhhh – it’s a surprise ! But a scoop for you just the title : « Le Manuscrit secret de l’arc en ciel » (the Secret Manuscrit of the Rainbows).- intended for adolescents and adults.
We are also engaged, my husband and I, in various charities including those for the protection of the planet.
SP : - Where can one see your collection?
MF : - My clothes can be seen on my website Etoile de Marie, in our boutique in Apt or during various fashion shows and now on www.Etsy.com
SP : - Have you a message, a wish in particuliar to leave in conclusion for our readers?
MF : - It is in taking care of one’s own life that one can also take care of life on Earth. In recognizing the sacredness of life in one’s self one honours the sacred of the planet clothes are a second skin. They are the image that we project to the outside world, let’s try for it to be close to the love of life that drives us, with respect for self, others and environment. Each stage of life is important, to welcome it in all simplicity, and to accompagny it with as much love as possible, will allow the conscience to wake.
The only message that I would humbly like to transmit trought each of my creation is a message of love and hope leading to my greatest wish of a Bright, luminous harmony accessible to all.
* Tales of Inside child
** Legends of the rising sun
Unisson
Le: 11/03/09
