Léa Germano (FD ’15) opens her online renting platform ‘Studio Paillette’
Léa Germano grew up between Paris, Madrid and New York. She graduated from Parsons NY in 2015. Now living in Paris, she recently opened an online renting platform called Studio Paillette to create a new way of consuming fashion: a solution that combines renting, buying and reselling into one use.
What did you study at Parsons Paris and when did you graduate?
I graduated with a BFA in Fashion Design from Parsons New York in 2015. I studied at Parsons Paris in the Fall of 2013 because I wanted to experience the possibilities of Parsons in a different fashion city, a different scale, different settings, inspirations, raw materials, different kinds of contacts. I also studied at Central Saint Martins in London in the Spring of 2014.
What was the subject of your final thesis project?
‘The Sweet Insanity’ echoes an idea of confinement, in a medically soothing environment. A fantasy muse escapes her nest of inner captivity, where she was unable to interact and limited in her movements. She floats away from her ties and progresses frantically in a new fantastic world of acutely sweet color-coded hues.
A soothing pink, mauve and lilac environment guides the patient, but her insanity bursts through saturated pops of acidity and shine. Lime green, yellows and dark purples strike her path, as she makes her way through dripping color splashes of dementia. She is calm and enlightened but seems lost. Hallucinating, exhilarated, she slowly reclaims her body movements looking aimlessly for something.
Photo at bottom left by Rodin Banica, for WWD.
Did you do any internships during your time at Parsons?
I completed four fashion internships while at Parsons, mainly as a fashion design intern in very small companies, which allowed me to gain experience with a lot of different tasks. I first interned at Gustavo Lins, an Haute Couture house in Paris; then Plein Sud, a slightly bigger Parisian brand; Sophie Theallet, a French designer based in New York; and Concepts Paris, a lingerie trend forecasting company in London. I sourced fabrics, assisted design, sales, PR, executed technical drawings, and even designed prints, garments and lingerie.
What was the first thing you did when you graduated?
I networked through my old contacts and found an internship at Alexander Wang. I decided to intern for a month at Marc Jacobs while waiting for that position to start. At the end of the month, Marc Jacobs offered me a position as a full-time designer assistant, so I accepted and stayed in New York.
At Marc Jacobs, my responsibilities included sewing samples, researching imagery, layouts and artwork, placements on the form, fittings, fitting corrections, developments with suppliers, sketches, etc.
What was your experience moving into the professional world?
I really struggled to get my different designer jobs. I got turned down a lot after many interviews, sometimes with no explanations at all, sometimes after a few positive rounds and even a time-consuming project for a brand, but I never gave up. I did feel very lonely at times. It is a cruel industry. But I didn’t take no for an answer. It is a bit dark, but it’s the truth and it’s what makes me reach for my goals today.
Where are you currently working?
For the past three years, I have been working in Paris at Balmain as a womenswear fashion designer, reporting directly to the artistic director, Olivier Rousteing.
In November 2020, I left this position to start my own company Studio Paillette. I was craving the feeling of actually making a change in the industry and transforming it from the inside. There is a Parsons blog article that sums up Studio Paillette pretty well. ‘Renting clothes has never been more fashion: discover Studio Paillette’.
In a few years, I want to re-use some of the clothing that can’t be rented anymore in a diverse up-cycling brand, never having to follow the collection “seasons” any more. Trust the craft, the product, the organic creative cycles.
Are you enjoying being an entrepreneur?
I am loving my entrepreneur journey. It is a lot more exciting than reporting to somebody and performing tasks for them. I never loved the work culture in big fashion houses, people tend to feel entitled which I never understood as we aren’t saving lives. I was craving some intellectual connexions.
Starting a business is harder, but my brain is more stimulated, and I find myself more creative than I’ve been during the past 6 years that I’ve been working. I feel that creating a way of consuming fashion is design in itself, and I will start designing clothes again once the social habits and the fashion system have started their much needed drastic change.
Is it what you expected?
My personality has always been more of a team leader than a team executor, so in a way it is what I expected. I am my own boss and my expectations are high. In a way I always knew that I was going to start a business, I just never knew when. Sometimes you have to trust the process and the random encounters on your way; they all mean something.
I always felt like I had to accomplish some sort of undercover mission within the fashion industry. I want to reconnect with design but I don’t want to do it as a part of a super wasteful system, knowing that truly innovative design can only be anchored in a world where resources are used wisely.
What are the challenges?
Building a company is pretty much a long list of challenges including teaching yourself how to do everything, since you can’t possibly learn that in school. I love the fact that I depend on how much I contact others, put myself out there, reach out to people I don’t know…
I am shy and sensitive, so it makes me a better person to have no other choice than talking to as many people as I can. I don’t see the days go by and I feel excitement all the time. I think I have found my spot.
Have you had to adapt your work routine due to covid?
Yes, I started the company when covid started. It gave me the time I needed to take a step back and build my ideas one after the other. I love working from home and being super efficient, no time wasted in transportation and chit chat. I like how it allows us all to work together wherever we are, separated or not.
I find this new way of valuing the quality of work rather than the numbers of hours worked in the presence of others a more healthy perspective. I can take a yoga break in the middle of my day, eat if I’m hungry or work for 6 hours straight with no interruption if I want to.
It also makes us value the time we do spend together for a reason, organising an event, shooting photos. The time spent in front of a screen can now be spent at home. I believe it gives people some much needed freedom that helps creativity.
Are you in touch with any of your classmates?
Yes, with my best friends who I graduated with: Liz, Isabelle, Xinyi, Yve, Sarah, Matt…and many others.
Elizabeth Bastian has started her knitwear brand (Bastian KNTWR).
Isabelle Levine started her own business of all-in-one sewing kits, custom sewing patterns (Forest and Thread).
With an alumni perspective, what are the greatest takeaways you got from studying at Parsons in NY and in Paris?
My Parsons degree helped me think outside the box, how to work my hardest, be excited, push the boundaries, dream and be creative. Working very long, difficult hours at school was an important learning experience before having to deal with the daily responsibilities of the industry.
I crossed paths with a range of different people at Parsons, studied in both locations, which are very different settings, met great faculty on both sides, and participated in networking alumni events both when I was a student and now as an alumni.
Photo at left: Léa Germano, Duo, Michael Cheng. Photo at right: Elizabeth Bastian, Léa Germano, Janet Yeung, Matthew Wallace, Carmen Gama.
The most important part is the people you keep in your life, you keep in touch with afterwards (faculty, internship teammates, students from other programs, etc). As an entrepreneur, I see them as valuable resources I can contact for pretty much anything that comes up.
I got my first internships from Parsons Paris. I feel close to the school, and want to stay in touch, be a part of the events, help younger students, etc. In a way I stay in touch with what’s current in fashion education and it makes me feel connected to that time of my life.
What advice would you give incoming students?
Looking back to when I graduated, I wish I had known that it would take me years to understand what kind of roles I am longing to play. I would tell incoming students that careers aren’t linear. They are bumpy and unexpected. It’s the way you catch an opportunity or respond to a certain situation that will shape your path. I would also tell them to immediately give up on the perfect image of what they think they should be doing, and pay attention to the things that make them vibrate on the spot.
@studio_paillette
@lea_germano