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- French entrepreneur Olivia Gurdjian, one of the two Bubble-Mood creators, is based in Shanghai.
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- A Japanese kimono is used as a base in this Bubble-Mood creation called Allure. The new Bubble-Mood collection comes out mid-February.
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- Two other creations from the 2013 collection by Bubble-Mood using a Japanese kimono as a base using various prints.
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- Navarange Kimono by Bubble Mood for the 2013 Spring-Summer collection.
Bubble-Mood is a new Shanghai-based fashion brand created by 3 young Parisian entrepreneurs in 2009. Olivia Gurdjian, one of the 3 creators of the company arrived in China in 2006 after media studies at the Sorbonne in Paris. She quickly realised that Shanghai was the perfect place to start a fashion business. With her business partner Margaux Painvin and her husband Lucas Gurdjian, the trio created Bubble-Mood which is now attracting an increasing amount of attention from fashionistas. In the following interview Olivia tells Nicely Made in China (NMiC) how it all started.
What is Bubble-Mood?
Bubble-Mood is a ready-to-wear designer fashion line for women. In addition to the clothing, we also design some accessories – bracelets, leather belts and purses. We insist on using only natural and high quality materials and fabrics.
Why the name Bubble-Mood?
I always wanted to do something with “Bubble”. I find that word festive, light and feminine. As for the word “Mood” I wanted to use it to illustrate and reflect the fact that a woman may want to wear different styles at different times of the day – for example, something casual for the day and something more sophisticated for the evening. So, we have decided to have two lines: a casual line and a more sophisticated one, giving women the possibility to choose between different types of clothes according to their mood and still remain within the Bubble-Mood brand.
What is the base of your collection?
It can vary, but recently the kimono has been the base for our collections. We turned it into a jacket, a dress – a short and a long one – and we’ve used flashy colours as well as jungle print, leopard print and various ethnic prints.
Why the kimono which is very Japanese?
I chose the kimono not so much for the reference to Japan but to take a very traditional and feminine shape, mix it with different fabrics and colours and turn it into ready-t0-wear clothing in its own right.
Who designs Bubble-Mood creations and how many collections do you make each year?
Margaux Painvin and I work together on designing the collections and on the production side. We create 2 collections a year – autumn / winter and spring / summer – but we like to keep the flexibility to be able to introduce a few more models between July and October. My husband Lucas – who runs Warehouse Studio – takes care of the visual identity of the brand.
How long does-it take for a garment to reach the stores?
Usually it takes about a month between the moment we think about a model and the day it is delivered to the store.
Where do you make your creations, and what quantities do you produce?
We make the first models in a small workshop here in Shanghai and then when it is ready, we do the final runs in a factory. At the moment we carry about 10 models. Each model is produced in about 30 pieces across different sizes. The next step for us is to choose just 3 or 4 models and make about one hundred pieces of each.
Where do you source your fabrics?
We source our silk in the south of China, Korea and Thailand. We keep an eye on the street trends of these 3 countries.
Where can NMiC readers can buy your products?
We have an online shop and our clothes are in stores in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Florence (Italy) and soon we hope to have a presence in London and Paris. Our new collection comes out mid-February. Please check our store-locator.
