Ecole Lesage - School of Embroidery

By Patricia Chornenky, MBA in International Luxury Brand Management 2015-2016, Canada

We the class of 2016 have just finished off our first month of classes – and what a month it’s been! We’ve arrived, started classes, finished classes, completed challenging assignments, attended the 20th anniversary round tables (phew! What a busy month) and to top it all off we’ve even been on  a field trip to Ecole Lesage.

You may already be familiar with Lesage, but just to cover my basis…Lesage is an embroidery house here in France that embroiders for many of the top fashion houses and couture collections. 

Now back to our field trip - the early morning start couldn’t stop the excitement and buzz that surrounded the day to come. We arrived at Ecole Lesage in time for our 9:00 a.m. presentation, we were warmly greeted and welcomed into a very modern space that was decorated with samples from various projects that Lesage has worked on. 

The presentation was engaging and a lot of information was shared. We were treated to an oral history of Lesage, fashion and the different types of ateliers. With everyone having a passion for luxury (why else would we be in the program!?) we were very eager to learn and probably asked too many questions for our own good but they were happy to respond to all of them. Once that was wrapped up, we were whisked away by a bus to visit the actual workshop, where the true meaning of savoir-faire was waiting for us.

From the moment we entered the atelier we were surrounded by art and beauty. We were very privileged to see the embroidery and craftsmanship that was in the middle of production – and because we were there just before Paris Fashion Week we had the opportunity to feast our eyes on some exciting things (but no sneak peek here – we gave our word!)  What I can say is that it was all exquisite, the attention and care that is put into each stitch is overwhelming and we all appreciated the beauty even more now!

After we had the grand tour we were taken back to the Ecole, where we all had the opportunity to try our own hand at embroidery. After a painstaking 3 hours we all had our own hand made masterpiece and while I’m sure the professionals could have completed what we did in half the time, we were all very proud of what we accomplished. 

All this to say, that seeing savoir-faire in action gives you a whole new appreciation for the quality and care that goes into luxury products .If this is how we ended month 1…bring on the next!