When Daphné Ducasse, the pretty wedding dress designer, welcomes me to her studio in Quatre Bornes, which she opened five years ago, I discover a delicate, perceptive and determined young woman… perfectly at home in this hushed, fairytale world.
I have a series of questions with me, but I won’t ask any, so spontaneous and fluid is the exchange. I love these moments, which make me realize how lucky I am to meet people who are as exalted as they are talented! Intuitive, Daphné tells me about the feeling she must have with her clients, whom she sees five or six times over a four-month period… right up until the wedding, to dress them personally and make any alterations. “The bride chooses who will make her dress, I choose who will wear my creation! I instantly feel how complicated the detachment is when a piece of work leaves the workshop, for someone who puts so much of herself into it! “I’ve worked on myself for this,” she laughs, before adding: “I don’t say my creation, but our co-creation! It’s a collaboration!”
The first appointment reveals the bride-to-be’s expectations, but also her morphology, her posture, her personality… all sources of inspiration for the artist. “You have to give brides time, otherwise they get lost and frustrated, and all my work is called into question! Understanding and symbiosis are important! Confiding in me that our dress defines us, Daphné adds: “We all dream of wearing THE dress of our dreams on that day… but without realizing that not everything is made for us! It’s hard to visualize cuts and materials on a sketch, just as it’s hard to realize that dressing all in white isn’t your usual style!”
Looking back on her six years of styling and design studies in Paris and Krakow, Daphné tells me that brides have been a passion since childhood, when she wore the Sunday creations of her seamstress grandmother, who also made wedding dresses for her relatives. In her workshop, Daphné and patient Paméla form a trusting, close-knit team, making, undoing and redoing! But the core of her business remains the education of Mauritian women, combining made-to-measure with exorbitant pricing! Her unique designs are luxurious yet affordable (from 35,000 rupees). Timeless, too, so they can be deconstructed and reused. What a chic idea!
Daphné accepts three projects a month. Her colors are brown, for the earth, and red for feminine power and passion! Aware of the harmful effects of the large-scale textile industry (pollution, treatment of employees…), this nature-lover loves organic materials and dreams of one day offering dresses made entirely of linen! What feeds her? The complicity and kindness of her customers, some of whom have become her friends.