Spirited, bright and full of joie de vivre, Sophie Méchaly (above) perfectly epitomises Paul & Joe, the brand she launched 27 years ago. When we speak on Zoom, she has recently returned to Paris from London where she showed her forthcoming AW22 collection in Farringdon’s Charterhouse Square. “We love being in the UK and coming to London – it was so cool. The energy was amazing. We had a really good time,” she says with genuine fervour.
Sophie launched Paul & Joe womenswear in 1996, following the success of the menswear collection she created just a year earlier. Her parents were behind cult shirt brand Le Garage, which was hugely successful in the 80s, so she naturally fell into men’s fashion.
“My mum was a great designer. She always had good ideas and a lot of energy. She was my muse. I saw her working very hard, always trying to find new amazing ideas everywhere. She was very curious. My dad was more in the commercial part
