Part of our first collection in 2019, our hand pleated plissé is now Azur’s signature. It was born from our meeting with two sisters, Véronique Arbué and Claire Raphaël, craftwomen, embroiderers, pleaters, and much more. The workshop was founded in Marseille (South of France) by Joséphine Pulvérail in 1900, where their mother Hortensia Arbué worked from 1957 to 1998, the year Véronique and Claire took over the family business, perpetuating a savoir-faire handed down from mother to daughter for generations.

The plissé is made entirely by hand, without molds or machines, and without the use of chemicals. The garment is placed on a table and sprayed with water. The pleats are folded one by one with the fingers until the piece becomes a closed fan. It is then rolled into a ball, wrapped into a piece of cloth and placed in a steam oven at 120 degrees for one hour. After the steaming, the garment is gently removed from its cloth wrapping and left to dry for a day or two. This artisanal process takes from 2 to 4 days to complete.

The result is a vibrant, irregular plissé, like sheets in the morning and wrinkles on the skin. It reflects light and enhances the silhouette. The body gives life to the garment, shaping it into unique living sculptures.

The earliest form of pleated dates from ancient Egypt and can be seen in a linen garment known as the Tarkhan dress, which is over 5000 years old and is believed to be one of the oldest dresses in existence. Differences in class and status in ancient Egypt were demonstrated by the fineness of the cloth, with many garments laid out in the sun and bleached white, before being enhanced with pleating.