interview + post-mortem
FRANCK MESNEL: THE RENÉ LACOSTE OF RUGBY
MONTREAL LAUNCH. APRIL 25, 2012. HOTEL SOFITEL MONTREAL GOLDEN MILE
Franck MESNEL didn’t enter fashion via the typical route, but then Franck MESNEL is not a typical fashion entrepreneur. EDEN PARK was founded 1987, a year of gloire.
This success story began with a French championship final at the Parc des Princes in 1987, when MESNEL and his team-mates made a name for themselves by arriving on the pitch wearing a bow tie. A few months later, he created EDEN PARK, with the bow tie as its emblem. Pink. Rose.
That very same summer, Le Quinze de France (the French Rugby National Team) with Franck MESNEL won the Rugby World Cup Final in the … Eden Park Stadium in Auckland. The New Zealand team did their Haka dance at the beginning of the game; I had my pink bow tie in my pocket.’ the famous pink-bow-logo of the brand. It ended 19-12 (June 20, 1987).
Franck MESNEL is a showbiz sportsman, endearing and authentic. The spirit of rugby drives EDEN PARK.
On the occasion of its launch in Montreal on April 25, 2012 at SOFITEL (which hoisted the brand’s flag in cock-a-doodle-doo!), we talked about Montreal, women’s and children’s fashion, Zidane, painting, his Racing Club, Pitti Uomo, and Twitter.
First surprise: Emanuella Lolli, of Lolli Communication, public relations and event manager, was EDEN PARK’s accessories designer. A Montrealer by adoption, she is the natural ambassador for this Franco-Quebec rapprochement.
Montréal is a reflection of the values we hold dear at Eden Park: open-mindedness, tolerance and cosmopolitanism. A common and parallel trajectory that we want to tell in our own way through our collections. What’s more, it’s an extremely polite city. I smile. Yes, the people are welcoming and kind.‘
Just before, you claimed the ‘butterfly’ spirit of the Spring Summer 2012 collection. You know, we started the adventure with our bow tie. Back in those days, we formed a group called SHOW BIZZ BAND, made up of rugby players from Racing Club de France (Philippe GUILLARD, Yvon ROUSSET, Jean Baptiste LAFOND, Éric BLANC, with him in Montreal, and Franck MESNEL), and we used to sing on TV. One of our hits was “Quand tu marques un essai”, a song about passing a rugby ball around. It’s this return to our roots that is the spirit of our collection (PE 2012) more than twenty years on. Paris, gaiety and joie de vivre’ .
I notice that this collection evokes in me the complicity of the schoolgirl gentlewoman rubbing shoulders with a seducer who’s a bit giddy, a bit of a student. They are both exquisite because of their insolent liberties. Insolent liberties! I love it! A seduction, beyond complicity, that dispenses with conquest but ultimately conquers. ‘
While other designers do little more than plunder a tired series of late 20th-century youth fads, EDEN PARK alone has stayed true to his roots. True enough so that each new collection can still register revolutions in contemporary youth culture — as well as inspire new ones. Yet how does Rugbywear stand out in the world of sportswear? The markings? (He smiles at my provocation) ‘Et voilà (smiles), la vraie question du rital (Italian, that’s me), toujours soigné, toujours sophistiqué. ‘
I smiled at Franck’s coolitude. In soccer, for example, the fusion with the public is not the same as in rugby. We provoked the crowd with our Basque berets and champagne served at half-time.
Eden Park is also this insolent rebellion in an esprit de corps. In the end, it commands respect. Coming back to soccer, this rebellion is asserted by the champions, the individuals – I’m thinking of Zidane, who was the emblem par excellence. I love Zidane! Me too, Zizou succeeded in combining the values of humility and modesty in a context of international notoriety. Eden Park embodies these same values: fighting spirit, pride, attachment to tradition with a humble, very British extravagance. Pure Frank MESNEL.
And the international Franck?
We’ve chosen the partnership route rather than the licensing approach. We have decided to turn our partnerships into signatures. Our values are our pride. So it was logical that they should reflect our partners. EDEN PARK dresses the XV de France, an unrivalled ambassador to the world, and we’re very proud of it. Our partnerships with Team England (October 2010), Team Ireland (May 2011) and the Wales Rugby Team (since 1999), Land Rover Automobile and Cycles Lapierre, all bear witness to the values of excellence and prestige that we always want to emphasize for our products and in the staging of their surroundings, as in Montreal and Quebec City. We hope to open our first flagship store in summer 2012. More good news!
EDEN PARK is international because we built an ability to compete on a global market. Our mixed creative designers have an ability to interpret different cultures. EDEN PARK means a fighting spirit world without borders, understanding traditions, embracing their language and bringing them together.
‘As you may know (Franck is addressing l’Italiano), every year, we are part of the Pitti Uomo fair (part of Pitti Immagine, an Italian company devoted to promoting the fashion industry worldwide). This year (Pitti Uomo 82 will take place 19 to 22 June 2012, Stazione Leopolda in Florence) I am hoping that Donatella (Donatella Santi of Pitti Immagine’s Strategic Marketing Team) will help us getting closer to the center. Il centro!’ Smiles.
Frank MESNEL is like that. He pushes, he pushes. The opener-player has become an entrepreneurial scrum-half.
Roughly speaking, the Women’s and Children’s lines now account for around 17% and 2% of ready-to-wear business respectively, compared with the Men’s line. EDEN PARK advocates fashion in terms of global male lifestyle, in a striking spirit for building relations among different classes, generations and cultures; they are a choir of different languages and voices. We want to go further introducing the style for the women and the children. The colors followed current fashion’s whimsy, including the worn and faded look.’ As the shirt settled into an enduring style for sport and casual wear, EDEN PARK brought out its own variations with six-button plackets and own symbols in the Spring Summer 2012 upscale rendition.
Finally, I point out to Franck MESNEL that EDEN PARK’s twitter account @Eden_Park is completely inactive, whereas @EdenParkCardiff is more customer-centric. He agrees , ‘We’re working on it right now. Cardiff is a fabulous city! ‘
The pursuit of the refinement, authenticity, ‘the sartorial we know best’ drive EDEN PARK aesthetics.
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My impressions. Post-Mortem.
Unlike soccer, French rugby took a different path: true-false amateurism or false-true professionalism. You name it.
Let’s face it, Franck MESNEL is taking this commercial exploitation of rugby to the extreme, except that he’s also helping rugby, the sport.
With another former Racing Club de France champion, Éric Blanc, Franck is the pilot of a success comparable to LACOSTE shirts.
Founded in 1933, the crocodile brand is now sold in over 500 boutiques in 90 countries, including Montreal. The brand with the pink bow tie is on the same path in all commercial forms.
EDEN PARK clothes contain the showbiz spark of the healthy-preppy, the revolutionary potential that builds up during the sport of our adolescence. Perhaps more than any label today, the pink-bow-logo brand maintains a commitment to celebrated youth — not the youthful vigor fetishized by biceps-and-pectorals or Ivy labels, but real youth, all our life, as in Britannia’s rugby fair play.
With a touch of raffiné, Paris oblige.
To rebuild his life, the top sportsman must forget his past glory and accept to seriously question himself. Franck MESNEL is the René LACOSTE OF RUGBY. He turns up the collar of his navy-blue jacket and shows me the pink bow tie on the lapel.
Ambition is not a flaw. So is humor.
Alessandro Berga | Mode Diplomatique
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http://www.eden-park.fr
pr : Lolli Communication | Hotel Sofitel Montreal Golden Mile
credit photos: Sebastien Roy + Nick Lafontaine | collage photo: Alessandro Berga
Cette publication est également disponible en : Français (French)
