Since opening their boutique FrenchTrotters in rue de Charonne, the historical area around the Bastille in Paris, Carole and Clarent, two photographers with a passion for travelling and fashion, realised there was something missing in the French capital, a boutique offering its clients stylish menswear. So, the two decided to explore this new uncharted territory, opening last week FrenchTrotters Homme, a boutique entirely dedicated to menswear offering the latest collections by a wide range of exciting labels and designers, such as Acne, Cold Method, Earnest Sewn, Filippa K and Mads Norgaard.          

Dazed Digital: When did you get the idea of opening a new FrenchTrotters boutique dedicated only to men?
Clarent Dehlouz: Since we’ve opened FrenchTrotters in rue de Charonne three years ago, we have had an ever-growing male clientele and we always received very positive feedback. All our customers often told us they were glad we had opened our store, as it can be hard for a man to find stylish clothes in Paris. Indeed, if you can’t afford luxury designer, Paris offers a limited numbers of options for what regards middle range menswear designers. So we decided to open a space that would carry the best of international middle range menswear designers in the heart of the trendy rue Vieille du Temple in the Marais.

DD: What’s the menswear scene at the moment in Paris? Anything exciting happening there?
CD: The problem with the Paris menswear scene is that it is often detached from ordinary Paris men. It looks like young designers only want to sell in Tokyo. What’s exciting to me right now is rock-inspired brands like Surface to Air or April77.

DD: What do you like about contemporary menswear?  
CD: I think menswear is very rich and exiting at the moment with the 80s/90s revival, especially coming from Scandinavian countries and New York. What we’re trying to do is bring the best to Paris!

DD: Can you tell us more about the designers you will feature in the shop?
CD: Most of them are the ones we already sell in rue de Charonne plus new ones like Acne and Our Legacy, but there will be more in the coming seasons.  

DD: Which designers do you think will be your Christmas best-sellers?
CD: I would say Filippa K and Acne.

DD: Who is the FrenchTrotters Homme typical customer?
CD: So far our typical customer is an active man, simple and elegant, refined but relaxed, with a cosmopolitan culture, interested in fashion, art, design and architecture, a man who cares about his style but wants it to be discreet.

DD: In the past FrenchTrotters launched limited and capsule collections in collaboration with different designers such as Gaspard Yurkievich and Veja. Are there any designers who are going to create exclusive collections just for FrenchTrotters Homme?
CD: FrenchTrotters Homme will have a lot of exclusive collections and products. We even want to go further with the brands we sell and launch co-branded collections, elaborating special products and mini-collections where we would involve our creativity and tastes. I can’t tell you more for now as we are still working on it, but read our blog to keep updated.  

DD: FrenchTrotters also offers an exhibition space, will there be a connection with art also at FrenchTrotters Homme?
CD: We are going to use the front window as an exhibition space. For Spring/Summer 09 we will dedicate our window each month to a different designer who will have the opportunity to express the identity of its brand mixing fashion and art. We will probably start with Acne. For the window that will close the Autumn/Winter season we are organising an exhibition where we are asking each designer to customise a hanger.

DD: Have you got in mind any other special plans for 2009 at FrenchTrotters Homme?
CD: Apart from our co-branding project and our window shop exhibitions, we will also be launching our online men and womenswear shop next year.