In Creative HARMONY

Sharing a combined HOME and STUDIO SPACE, the design duo behind the SIZE-INCLUSIVE label ESTER MANAS show why they're a PERFECT FIT

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IN LATE AUGUST, the designers Ester Manas and Balthazar Delepierre were married in the countryside just outside of their home in Brussels, Belgium, surrounded by close family and friends. It was a sweet and intimate affair, one that the couple say felt like a blending of their two families but also a "reunion" of old friends. Manas and Delepierre-together for 11 years and business partners for nearly five-are the duo behind Manas's namesake womenswear brand, which over the past two seasons of Paris Fashion Week has had one of the most talked-about shows, thanks to its wildly cool, authentically size-inclusive designs. Now, the designers, both 30, are entering into a new phase of their relationship, expanding their label and embracing a new personal chapter at the same time.

Post-wedding, Manas and Delepierre seem to have settled seamlessly into married life. This is not at all surprising: They are a couple who supported each other as students coming up through the esteemed local visual-arts school, La Cambre, and who have chosen to live where they work and work where they live. The Ester Manas logo even depicts intertwined hands. Seated together in their hybrid home-studio, which is serenely decorated in a modern style but dotted with antique bits and bobs they've amassed from their regular visits to the nearby flea market, the pair seem almost incomprehensibly in sync in a charmingly real way.

The signature pieces for Ester Manas have a sensibility to match, with highlights including ruched and ruffled dresses with cutouts that hug the body perfectly. Consciousness around body positivity and sustainability are the core messages of Ester Manas. For Fall 2023, 90 percent of the collection was made using deadstock fabric, and the designers have also developed their own sizing system that runs up to a 3XL and includes a one-size-fitsall category.