HARPER’S BAZAAR JULY 2018 47
On the occasion of Maje’s 20
th
anniversary, its Founder
and Artistic Director shares with BAZAAR how it has
grown through the years. By Gracia Phang
Conident, chic and quintessentially French, Judith Milgrom is
all smiles as I congratulate her on Maje’s 20th anniversary celebrations,
themed “Dream Tomorrow”, in Beijing. The Moroccan-French
designer launched Maje in 1998 when she saw a gap in the
industry for an accessible ready-to-wear label with feminine, fun
and bold pieces. Twenty years
on, the brand continues to
allow women to express
themselves through versatile
standout pieces like pink satin
pantsuits and fringed leather
mini bags.What have you learnt from
being at the helm of Maje?
I’ve learnt that you have to
believe in your dreams and live
your passion; follow your
instincts. Most importantly, you
have to learn from your
mistakes in order to move
forward. I’ve also learnt you do
not necessarily need a particular muse in order
to create something. I’ve always wanted to design
for diferent types of women—diversity inspired
me then and continues to inspire me now.Why did you decide to hold the brand’s
20 th anniversary celebrations in Beijing?
This is actually my irst time in Beijing! Doing
so gave me the opportunity to learn and be
immersed in a diferent culture, which is very
inspiring for my creative process. Of course, Asia
and especially China, are key markets for Maje.
I’m very happy to see how Chinese women
have adopted Maje’s Parisian sensibilities and
made it uniquely theirs.What is your take on social media platforms and inluencers?
Social media has allowed Maje to communicate directly to
our customers, and I like this special relationship we’ve built with
them. Inluencers are part of that unique system, so much so that
it has created a new job for them, where they provide their
followers with advice and tips. Today, a brand like ours can work
with inluencers to reach a diferent type of audience, while still
advertising in magazines. The digital world has changed many
“rules” that deined the fashion system and industry for decades,and the avenues to tell a brand’s story
and communicate with our
customers have been broadened—
I’m not complaining.Maje has collaborated with
names and brands such as Alexa
Chung and Schott NYC. What
have these projects done for the
brand?
Collaborations provide freshness and
novelty to what our brand already
has to ofer—an element of surprise,
some may say. It gives us and our
customers a sense of exclusivity, and
I like that. These projects usually
happen organically, where we see
eye to eye with our collaborators and sparks just ly! Will there
be another collaboration in the near future? Let’s wait and see.Tell us about Maje’s fall/winter 2018 collection.
Checks, tartan and lorals are patterns that have been brought over
[from the previous season], but expressed in a very diferent way.
The fall/winter 2018 girl is modern, urban and versatile. She takes
diferent inluences, fuses them together and makes them her
own—expressing her personality and mood through her style. ■From top: Judith Milgrom.
Maje’s 20th anniversary
Asian campaign face,
Ouyang Nana. Ouyang
in a satin pantsuit