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The founder of J.Charle, Julie, is born in Brussels and lived in a huge family house, the so-called « castle of Dieleghem » as her family used to call it - referring to the fact that is was actually a real castle, owned by her family for two generations. She was living there with her parents and two brothers, other relatives - aunts, uncles, and cousins - and most of all, with her great grand mother, whom she refers to as « the woman of her life ».
Julie therefore grew up in this context where she was always surrounded by children as well as wiser ones. After school, she was usually playing with her brothers and cousins in the common garden, never stopped sharing ideas and creating new games. On the evening, more instructive times occured when Miche - as the children used to call her great grand mother - told her about her travels, big events of the past she assisted to, etc.
This helped her to stimulate creativity continuously while establishing links with all the knowledge her mother of heart gave her : culture, anecdotes, way to behave, and most of all : the taste for refined things. It is in that context that Julie announced an early passion for art, first developed in writing. She loved the French language that much that she spent most of her time reading, writing fairy tales, and taking part in grammar competitions. As a matter of fact, her teachers were convinced she was going to become an author.
Later on, at the age of 12, this passion for writing slowly turned into passion for fashion. Her two grand mothers initiated her as they let her try on some of their haute couture clothes. Since they had both good taste and a deep interest in fashion, Julie was able to have an up-close look to the new haute couture collections. Her paternal grand mother even worked in a shop selling haute couture dresses, which reinforced her knowledge in that field.
During her teenage years, Julie was then immersed in the magic of fashion. As she usually wore street wear styles, she nonetheless was often surrounded by people wearing more formal apparels. Indeed, many ceremonies were organised in the castle of Dieleghem ; some of them were even attended by the Queen Fabiola - who was a friend to her great grand mother - or participants of the famous « Queen Elisabeth competition ».
A decade later, when Julie decided to launch her first collection, she wanted it to reflect the « true her ». It means that she designed a collection that tells a story - referring to her first passion for writing -, a collection composed by festive looks - referring to the castle of Dieleghem and its habit of celebrating -, and a modernising touch to every look - to revisit clothes as she used to do when she was a teenager.
As a conclusion to all these different elements that shaped her personality and her career path, she decided to reflect the story telling itself in the apparels. Consequently, every item is composed by different pieces, slightly differentiating themselves from other by visible stitchings.
This is a wink to all the experiences and choices that made her, and to everyone who will wear a J.Charlie’s dress made by a passionate but chosen by the customer and adapted for her, to make her personality reflected in the dress. This is a deep J.Charle’s belief : the « fashion identity » as she calls it.
