A boy appears at the entrance of L’Orangerie at the Palace of Versailles and opens the door. He stands in for Simon, a kid who dreamt of translating everything around him into a vision of fashion.

Born of Simon’s childhood in the South of France, “Le Paysan” is a love letter to the people who shaped him early on, to his family’s rural heritage, to the quiet poetry of everyday life, and to his dreams of fashion. Like a fantasy rooted in his lived experience, this melange of memory and imagination guides a collection where humble yet storied garments are honoured anew, interwoven with the past and future world of JACQUEMUS.

L’Orangerie is a building connected to the earth and to agriculture. It is where the chateau’s fruits, vegetables and trees are protected and maintained at their finest.

In this way, the location is also a link to the Jacquemus family and their culture of harvesting fruits and vegetables – and to Simon’s greatgrandmother Claire Jacquemus, who Simon referenced in his early collections.

“Le Paysan” channels intimate inspirations: Simon’s family albums filled with photos of the harvest; his grandmother’s way of dressing up; the feel of ironed cotton on a Sunday.

There is an honest, inherent elegance to it all; a simplicity that comes through with sophistication and playfulness. At the heart, a woman and a man whose clothes bridge rustic and refined in a palette of milky white, cream, black, fresh shades of blue, pink and yellow like sugared almonds and Berlingot stripes.

Forms for the woman are explored through jupons in volumes of poplin; aprons in inverted tulle; jackets with constructed sleeves and blousy designs built around inner half-corsets. Poplin is further transformed in circle, square, triangle and calisson shapes delicately finished like vintage tablecloths and linens – from tactile dots to the single embroidered J of a family monogram. Dresses are further enhanced with the exceptional handcraft of ‘tulle bobbin,’ a rare English tulle woven on an old vertical loom. Here, it is constructed as a billowing tulle dress finished with 700 metres of cord. A sheath in sheer mousseline is arranged with an elaborate motif of silk taffeta diamonds. Several looks are adorned with custom tassels, some in leather, composed of small sculptural crafted balls.

The man, a figure drawn from the pages of Marcel Pagnol, wears cropped jackets and wide-legged trousers with unstudied ease, his from warmer leather with shearling to an ultra-fine variation, essential pieces are sublimated. Fabrics feature subtle details: the herringbone of a summer linen, topstitching as a striped motif, or the new Jacquemus label.

Throughout, reimagined depictions of the shepherdess and the craftsperson from the perspective of a child; artworks such as Van Gogh’s farmers. Kerchiefs, berets and the Arlésian shawl offer joyful winks to Frenchness. Espadrilles ground the looks with a summer spirit, whether as a platform, a wedge, or a slingback. Even for men, espadrilles are classic slip-ons and mules with wide grosgrain ribbons tied around the calves.

In keeping with the Provencal spirit, “Le Turismo” returns in woven raffia; “La Pochette Salon” is woven to suggest rosemary springs; and “Le Spiaggia” is crafted in intricate crochet. “Le Valerie”, a new handheld bag, named after Simon’s mother, is defined by its lady like shape and streamlined ring closure.

Accessories deliver a trompe l’oeil of fruit and vegetables: sculptural metal jewellery like green beans, eggs and calissons ; animal shaped bracelets; leeks in leather and garlands of garlic. Familiar market baskets are paneled in leather; a fresh way to carry bags with a pop art twist.

“Le Paysan” completes a deeply personal circle. Beyond an homage to Simon’s upbringing, the collection also reinterprets silhouettes from earlier collections – now with an enhanced level of savoir-faire that follows the evolution of the House.

As the dream Simon has chased through his life, the realisation of “Le Paysan” is proof that a boy raised in the countryside can find himself at Versailles; and that beauty, once rooted, can reach anywhere.