the designers
Eric Bergere was born in 1960. His aesthetic tastes were honed by his childhood surroundings in a town dating from the 13th and 14th centuries.
His first contact with fashion came through his father, who was a children's clothing salesman. Eric and his three brothers accompanied him to boutiques and his first designs were drawn on old computer paper in the basement of the family house. “I was allergic to many things”, he says, “and so I would watch television and design better clothes for the singers he saw”.
He graduated from the Paris fashion college of Esmod with the first prize, in 1980.
He trained briefly with Thierry Mugler and then he was hired by Hermes to design their women collections and modernized the venerable house by making jackets out of frog and toad skins, and covering shoes and handbags with its famous logo.
In 1986 he moved to Italy to take up the reins at Erreuno.
He was later, in 1991, hired by Lanvin to create their prêt-a-porter and helped Ines de la Fressange to launch her own label.
In 1995 he finally decided to set up his own label. During his 1996 collection, singer Elton John popped by and bought almost every piece of his menswear.

He realised that he wanted to produce clothes with the spirit of medieval times. Shoulders are small and rounded, sleeves flared, jackets and dresses nipped in tight at the chest rather than the waist. His clothes are exquisite, but at first glance they may appear slightly austere. A closer look reveals a host of details to marvel at. His friend photographer Mario Testino says he has great respect for elegance and quality, as well as a great sense of modernity. Francoise Lacroix (wife of Christian Lacroix) and former design director at Hermes believes that he would have been perfect for the jobs at Dior and Givenchy where Galliano and McQueen currently design.

Elton John