Amina Magazine
Fondé en Suisse par Astou Fall en 2009, AS'FALL est marqué par le goût des voyages et des nouvelles cultures de la créatrice. Les collections sont composées de pièces uniques et intemporelles. En édition limitée, elles sont fabriquées à la main avec des matériaux nobles.
Quel est le model dont vous êtes la plus fière est pourquoi?
Notre robe « Angeline », une robe travaillée en lin sauvage blanc et ornée d’une broderie fil or ou argent.
J’étais en vacances au Sénégal, quand j’ai vu maman porter un sous pagne brodé avec cette broderie. J’ai eu l’idée d’utiliser ces broderies et de créer une robe moderne et ultra chic. J’en suis fière car elle est maintenant une de mes signatures, ces broderies sont utilisées dans plusieurs de nos designs en veste, en top et en robe.
Ma fierté vient aussi du fait que pour les réaliser je fais travailler indirectement beaucoup de femmes au Sénégal.
Quelle est votre source d'inspiration ?
Les personnes rencontrées vont m’inspirer dans mes créations. Il y a aussi les détails de la vie de tous les jours, aussi minimes soient-ils.
Cela fait dix-neuf ans que je vis sur quatre continents. Ma tête est un réservoir d’images, d’idées et d’inspirations. Installée à Singapour depuis 2017, j’y puise aussi beaucoup de détails qui viennent subtilement trouver leurs places sur mes créations.
Avec quels designers souhaiteriez vous collaborer?
J’ai un vif souvenir de ma maman portant un boubou en broderie orange et orné de fil d’or d’une élégance étourdissante.
Ce boubou d’une simplicité ultime, était une création de la Designer Diouma Dieng Diakhate. Travailler avec cette grande dame qui a l’art de manier les matières avec finesse, subtilité et féminité me plairait.
Mais aussi Imane Ayissi, car c’est un visionnaire et aussi un des rares designer d’origine Africaine à avoir compris que travailler du wax n’était pas une fin en soi.
Et enfin Olivier Rousteing, pour l’audace et la liberté de ses créations.
Qu'est-ce que l'élégance pour vous ?
Indéniablement pour moi, l’élégance restera toujours un mélange homogène de subtilité, simplicité, et de pudeur.
Quelles sont vos matériaux de prédilection ?
J’aime beaucoup les matières tissées. Juste avant le début du Covid-19, j’étais allé au Myanmar où j’ai découvert qu’ils avaient les mêmes techniques de tissus tissés que nos pagnes tissés en Afrique de l’Ouest et plus particulièrement au Sénégal.
J’ai l'idée d’une collection capsule dédiée essentiellement aux tissus tissés du monde.
Avez-vous une égérie?
La philosophie d’AS’FALL : ‘’Nous sommes tous nés unique ne vivons pas comme de simples copies.’’
AS’FALL est porté depuis plus de dix ans maintenant par des femmes venant de partout dans le monde, notre boutique à Singapour et notre site asfall.com sont des mini laboratoires. C’est impressionnant de voir que nos clientes sont de toutes les nationalités.
Pour répondre à votre question, les égéries AS’FALL, ce sont toutes les femmes, toutes nos clientes et leurs différences.
Learn Why Slow Fashion Matters With LUXE-Yet-ETHICAL Fashion Brand
Case in point: Anti-fast-fashion brand AS’FALL creates timeless pieces celebrating the Senegalese culture.
“Doing our work properly, with love and by taking the time, matter to us,” shares Astou Montfort, who is the founder, owner and CEO of AS’FALL – and one of this year’s Expatpreneur Award winners. “Generally, three months would have passed between the moment an idea comes to mind, and when it becomes a dress that goes on sale.
Astou’s fashion label has embodied this commitment to craft since it was founded in Switzerland in 2009. That commitment hasn’t changed, with its entry to SG in 2017 seeing it bring in handmade luxury clothing. Its pieces, which range from drapey dresses with embellished details to statement-making scarves and beautiful leather handbags, are all rooted in Astou’s Senegalese heritage.
Read on to learn what makes AS’FALL so unique, and why you’ll want to head to her Haji Lane boutique or e-shop – stat!
Traditional, yet timeless
In Senegalese culture, Astou explains, there is a tradition to having one’s own linens woven. “Having your clothes embroidered for holidays or important ceremonies is part of the tradition, too,” says Astou, who recalls watching dressmakers set up weaving machines in the courtyard of her grandmother’s home, where she was raised. “They would stay for days, until they finished weaving everything my grandmother had ordered.”
Today, she draws on those childhood experiences to create her pieces. One example: She orders direct strips of embroidery woven by Senegalese women and reworks them into her current designs, with a team of tailors based in SG and Indonesia.
Inclusively exclusive
While Astou wants AS’FALL to be “easily worn by all women everywhere in the world”, she doesn’t want it to feel mass-market. “I have always hated that I could buy a dress, and then walk past the same window days later to find the same dress on sale,” she says. Her solution? Ensuring that the brand’s pieces retail at one fair price, while offering loyalty advantages to regular clients.
Quality over quantity
Ten years ago, AS’FALL chose to propose collections with limited quantities, so that each item would enhance a customer’s uniqueness.
Astou elaborates on how her heritage inspires her in making her brand items different: “I think of the dyeing, the beading, the embroidery. I also choose to always work on very timeless collections and not to get trapped in the frenzy of it,” she shares.
This mindset allows AS’FALL to pursue its ethical policy of fair fashion, which helps prevent overproduction of cheap clothing – one of the major issues in the fashion world.
In addition, its Instagram page is a space created for international clients, keeping them up-to-date on new collections and offering better customer service through direct messages. “Our content is not based on trends, but [rather] on the clothes we make and the environment they are created in,” she says.
Expatpreneur Awards 2021: Meet Global Nomad Turned Luxe Fashion Line Owner, Astou Montfort
Astou Montfort, Founder, Owner + CEO of AS’FALL
After having spent more than 18 years as a global nomad – discovering other cultures, languages, habits and customs – Astou Montfort moved to Singapore in 2017. Once here, she used this lifetime of experience as well as a degree in accounting to register her luxe-yet-ethical fashion brand AS’FALL that same year.
A Brand for the Future: AS’FALL
Discover with this So Chic article, AS’FALL, a timeless and young brand, for every woman all around the world. Learn about the founder’s, Astou, vision for the brand. The original philosophy was to propose another Fashion state of mind and this spirit is still alive. Continue reading to find out more.
In this day and age, climate change is becoming a major creating more natural disasters than ever before such as the California fires. However, we cannot expect humans to abandon our modern ways. This is why sustainability is extremely important because it strives to protect our natural environment, human and ecological health, while driving innovation and not compromising our way of life.The fashion industry represents 10% of humanity’s carbon emissions, this is more than international flights and maritime shipping combined. emits more carbon. The impact of fashion goes beyond carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. The fashion industry is the second-largest consumer of the Earth’s water supply. Additionally, due to the constantly changing collections, such as Zara with 16 collections per year, 85% of all textiles end up in landfills or in oceans. Another impact on the oceans is due to washing some type of clothes that send thousands of microplastics directly to the sea, thus, polluting the ocean.
However there is good news since brands are increasingly working to become more ecological. Today, there even exists brands that are built around sustainability. For example, one of our own So Chic Brands is an ethical fashion brand: AS’FALL. This is a brand that was born in 2009 in Lausanne, Switzerland and since then has strived to become as sustainable as possible.
Sustainability is based on three pillars: Economic Development, Social Development, and Environmental Protection.
AS’FALL focuses on the social or humanitarian aspect of it. They work directly with no third-party involved with the men and the women who make their clothes. This ensures the highest handmade quality possible in the clothes and that the people working are payed directly and fairly.AS’FALL chooses to associate themselves with men and women who share the same values, passions and respect for the human being. They work with small family businesses and communities who have a long craftsmanship experience since generations. For example, some specialize in embroidery, beading, dyeing or weaving.
They also base themselves on the ecological pillar through these different actions:
- They choose to produce very small quantities of each design.
- They don’t produce fabrics and instead use the fabrics that have been discarded by the world of fashion
- They do not follow the frenzy and the constantly changing fashion trends choosing to make instead timeless
- They make their own dyes, embroidery, beading, weaving and so forth
Another very important action they have taken is to offer alteration services. They especially offer free alternation services for any length with a 48h delay. All these actions are so important as they prevent so many textiles from going to landfills or worse ending up in the ocean killing marine wildlife.
AS’FALL still offers unique and timeless pieces that fit in any wardrobe. You will always find something that works for you. They are available to advise you, help you to add timeless and easy-to-wear pieces to your closet.
Come check out their boutique at :28 Haji lane Singapore
Clothes which fall beautifully.
Shops
Lausanne
Near to AS'FALL
The creator of AS’FALL has always been attracted by fashion and was even a model herself. In her shop in the centre of Lausanne, she shares with you her latest discoveries and will show you the items which are perfect for your style or your desires.
Clothing and accessories are irresistible here, made with gorgeous fabrics and beautifully cut designs. Chic or laid back, the clothes at AS’FALL are all elegant and high quality.
Fashion sélection
D’abord styliste pour ses poupées, qu’elle habillait de ses confections sur mesure, Astou Montfort a ensuite vu plus grand, en créant ses propres vêtements, avant de devenir mannequin. Aujourd’hui, elle a décidé de mettre à profit son expérience dans l’univers de la mode et vient d’ouvrir une boutique au cœur de Lausanne. Ses choix, Astou Montfort les fait selon son humeur et son instinct. Cela donne une sélection de fringues pointues mêlant matières nobles et coupes élégantes. Mailles, petites robes, sacs à main, ceintures et même bijoux, chez As’Fall, tout est choisi avec goût et amour du beau, et présenté dans un cadre chaleureux et harmonieux, comme la charmante propriétaire des lieux.
