How Jacu Emus BECAME THE MAIN CHARACTER OF french fashion

Thanks to viral designs, destination runway shows, and a cosy relationship with fame, 35-year-old fashion-school dropout Simon Porte Jacquemus has grown his Mediterranean-inspired indie label into the buzziest brand in French fashion. Now, historic maisons and big tech are circling.

-  SAMUEL HINE

SIMON PORTE JACQUEMUS is about to tell us a secret. It's early June and he's with a small group of journalists in a villa perched on a cliff on the Italian island of Capri, where the French fashion designer is about to stage a runway show for his namesake brand, Jacquemus. There's a fierce sun baking the runway outside, which is, in a way, very Jacquemus, synonymous as the label is with modern Mediterranean style. A few rooms over, models are getting their hair touched up and pulling on bright, leisurely looks. But first, an appearance designed to make the internet go wild will unfold. Porte Jacquemus knows he shouldn't spoil it, but some names are too iconic not to drop.

"Gwyneth," he says in his syrupy southern French accent. He pronounces the name like Gwinnett, but there's no mistaking who he's referring to. Porte Jacquemus pauses and wiggles his eyebrows.

"She is coming." From the window we can see the impossibly blue Tyrrhenian Sea stretching to the horizon.

Somewhere out there is a speedboat ferrying Gwyneth Paltrowthe pure embodiment of holiday chic-to her front-row seat. One journalist lets out an astonished giggle. In the luxury fashion industry's escalating war for celebrity cameos, brands go to enormous lengths to lock down top-tier names at their shows, sending private jets, cutting million-dollar cheques, and dangling even more-lucrative endorsement deals. Porte Jacquemus doesn't pay celebs to attend his events, even those held well off the beaten path, as most of them are, and yet he was about to pull off the coup of the season: Gwyneth Paltrow at the height of a Talented Mr. Ripley cultural revival and more widespread Goop-mania, sitting front row at his plucky indie label's splashy destination show.