PARIS — Jacquemus, the French brand known for staging cinematic runway displays in spectacular locations including a lavender field and a salt mine, is heading to the Palace of Versailles for its next fashion show on June 26, as a part of a brand elevation strategy that features plans for a world retail rollout.

Designer Simon Porte Jacquemus, known for his Mediterranean aesthetic and slick use of social media, follows within the footsteps of mega-brands like Dior and Chanel which have used Versailles as a backdrop for shows and promoting campaigns, capitalizing on its association with Louis XIV, the Sun King, considered the daddy of French luxury. 

“Having the ability to do a show in Versailles has all the time been a childhood dream,” he said in an announcement shared exclusively with WWD.

“I used to be so inspired by this historical place in the course of the design process that it led me to explore many latest creative possibilities, different from my past shows, but still very Jacquemus. I’m really honored and proud to have the option to do a show there, as an independent fashion house. It’s going to be a really special moment for Jacquemus,” he added.

Bastien Daguzan, chief executive officer of Jacquemus, said it was a part of a long-term technique to elevate the accessible luxury brand, whose bestselling Chiquito handbags sell for prices starting at 490 euros. But he pledged that Jacquemus would treat the regal location in a spirit in line with its repute for frolicsome and unexpected settings.

“We are usually not going to take a literal approach, so it’s going to be a rather more poetic Versailles than the classic Versailles extolled by the large French houses,” he told WWD.

“The aim is to create, within the collective unconscious, increasingly strong luxury brand signifiers around Jacquemus. It might not be luxury in the normal sense of the term — perhaps it’s a latest way of approaching luxury,” Daguzan added. “We also desired to signal a more cultural, artistic, long-term approach that places the brand in a distinct ecosystem.”

While Jacquemus may not have the identical budgets as luxury conglomerates like LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, which owns Dior and has helped to finance necessary restorations at Versailles, it has one other powerful currency: youth appeal.

“What’s necessary to me, on a private level and almost in a civic sense, is for a brand like ours, which has such a powerful connection to youth, to assist reconnect Versailles with individuals who might not be interested by it,” Daguzan said. 

It was the third big announcement this week for the brand, following its partnership with the Indie Beach restaurant in Saint-Tropez on a short lived boutique and beach club featuring custom sunbeds and parasols, and the reveal of a search for the Marseille leg of Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour.   

Jacquemus has an outsized presence on social media due to its founder’s engaging personality and crowd pleasing initiatives resembling the viral video of cars shaped like Bambino handbags whizzing past the Paris Opera. The work of 3D artist Ian Padgham, the clip has garnered 45 million views on Instagram because it was posted in April, based on Daguzan.

Browsing on its rapid growth within the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the brand signaled it was able to vault into an even bigger league with the opening last September of its first ever boutique on Avenue Montaigne, one among the world’s most exclusive shopping streets.

Jacquemus recently signed a long-term lease on the two,150-square-foot space, which was initially set to stay open for no less than five months and features quirky window displays including a large popcorn machine or an oversize lemon squeezer.

Along with opening summer pop-ups this 12 months in Portofino, Como and Saint-Tropez, the corporate is scouting for everlasting locations within the U.S. and the Middle East, with plans to open several stores overseas by 2026 because it seeks to rebalance its sales channels within the face of a worldwide slowdown in e-commerce, Daguzan said.

“Ideally I would really like to open five very beautiful Jacquemus flagship in ultra-selective locations,” he said. “There’s a shakeup within the channels. Our online was powering ahead and now we feel that brick-and-mortar is making a comeback, so now we have to mitigate those risks.”

Jacquemus posted gross revenues of 212 million euros in 2022 versus 102 million euros in 2021, he reported. Daguzan declined to supply a forecast for 2023, but said one other doubling of revenues was out of the query. The chief previously said the corporate has a medium-term ambition of reaching 500 million euros in revenues by 2025.

“At once, we’re in a phase of stabilization,” he said. “I feel this 12 months requires adaptability.”

At present, 40 percent of the brand’s revenues comes from its direct-to-consumer business, and 60 percent from wholesale. “The target is to reverse the split in 2025, to be 60 percent direct and 40 percent wholesale,” Daguzan said.

Jacquemus continues to search for quality partners to drive its expansion. It recently launched an exclusive summer capsule with Saks Fifth Avenue and is claimed to be finalizing a partnership with Chalhoub Group, the biggest luxury distributor within the Middle East.

“The aim of the brand is to have all the time a really strong editorial voice, with surprises and emotion, but at the identical time to have the strength to begin developing retail spaces according to a really long-term luxury brand development strategy. It’s combining a short-term, intuitive mindset with a more stable business development mentality,” Daguzan said.