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Following rumours that stirred in March after Angelina Jolie trademarked the name “Atelier Jolie,” the actor has announced she’s launching a fashion collective where “everyone can create,” she said via a post on her Instagram on Wednesday morning.
Jolie’s new venture does not appear to follow a traditional business model, according to the statement on the brand’s website. Details are scarce, but the intention is to facilitate collaboration with tailors, pattern-makers and artisans globally; to only use leftover, quality vintage material and deadstock; and spotlight everyone involved in the process. “These makers rarely receive the credit and respect they deserve,” she writes in the mission statement posted to Atelier Jolie’s new website, which for now consists of just this page, and a link to the collective’s newly launched Instagram account.
Celebrity brands are ubiquitous in both fashion and beauty. By placing creative control in the hands of consumers and artisans rather than any one head designer, Jolie puts a twist on the typical model. It’s unclear whether Jolie herself will participate in the design process, though she notes that the idea stemmed from her own experiences with fashion, working with tailors and designing clothes herself.
Potential initiatives include apprenticeships for refugees and “other talented, underappreciated groups”, in addition to upcycling and repair offerings, she shared in the statement on the new website.
The approach looks to be a flexible one. “It’s all new, and I’m more of an artist than a businesswoman,” Jolie writes, ending with: “Bear with me. I hope to grow this with you.”
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