On the third floor of a typical Alsatian building in Strasbourg, a door opens on to a bright atelier, dotted with mannequins draped in bridal wear. This is where James and ViviAnn Du Fermoir-de-Monsac live and work, designing couture wedding gowns watched over by their cheerful mascot – a yellow parakeet named Adam. And they do it in drag.
The pair say seeing clients in their drag personas creates an atmosphere where people can be accepted for who they are. They know the traditional experience of buying a wedding dress is not always easy for everyone in a world where the vision of an ideal bride is often still someone thin, white and able-bodied.
“That’s why we chose to open in drag, because we wanted to say to everyone that you are welcome, no matter who you are,” ViviAnn says.
Dresses start at €1,500 (£1,290), and are designed after a two-hour consultation with the client about their needs. ViviAnn’s influences include Jean Paul Gaultier and Christian Dior, while James is a devoté of Coco Chanel and the flapper era; ViviAnn is “obsessed with shoulders”, and takes inspiration from the sparkly costumes she wore back when she competed in dance contests, while James focuses on fine-detailed embroidery work.
James says the different approaches complement each other.
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“I calm her down a bit with all the rhinestones, she pushes me to go a bit further,” he says.
But, they say, their main focus is on what their clients want, whether that’s a cape that works for a wheelchair user, or a style that other designers wouldn’t attempt – a recent customer came to James and ViviAnn after a wedding shop told her she couldn’t get married in trainers.
“The marriage industry is still a little bit classical, and there are many people who are forgotten,” ViviAnn says. “No matter what your taste is, no matter what shape your body is, we love everybody and we want everybody to love themselves.”
“We want people to be the best version of themselves on their wedding day,” says James.
Du Fermoir-de-Monsac’s first client was a four-year-old boy who wanted to wear a dress to a wedding, but whose mother feared doing so would attract negative attention. So the pair made him a kilt, which ViviAnn says he now wears to school. “It’s the cutest thing ever,” she says, holding up a picture of the tiny boy in his purple tartan.
James, a chocolatier for Pierre Hermé, and ViviAnn, a hairdresser, met at a drag competition in 2019 – James was a judge and ViviAnn a contestant. They bonded over the fact that they had both made their sisters’ wedding dresses. ViviAnn had studied fashion in Paris at the École Duperré. James is self-taught – he started sewing at the age of 13 on his grandmother’s machine.
When France locked down for the first time in spring 2020, and with no work to be done cutting hair or making chocolate, James called ViviAnn and asked her if she wanted to open a wedding boutique. ViviAnn said yes, as long as they could name it Du Fermoir-de-Monsac (after her father’s pet name for her mother) and as long as she could do it in drag. James decided to join her and quickly got to work on his new persona, named after his favourite childhood film, James and the Giant Peach. (They asked that the names of their drag personas be used for this piece.)
The boutique opened in April and in June they launched the first Du Fermoir-de-Monsac collection in a runway show – a riot of lace, leather, spikes and tulle tailored to a variety of body types.
After the show, James and ViviAnn’s drag personas got “married” in a faux ceremony (though in life they remain friends and housemates).
ViviAnn wore a striking white gown with a ruffled neoprene shoulder piece, James a plunging black jumpsuit and train held in place with a studded leather belt.
“We are close friends in our lives, and we decided, as we were building a bridal dress company, to marry James and ViviAnn,” ViviAnn says. “We married in the name of couture.”
In the year to come, the pair will be presenting their designs at bridal shows, seeking out new clients and, they hope, hiring a small team. At a time when the economic outlook is uncertain and the future of the pandemic unknown, they exude a rare sense of optimism.