Ten Questions with Noémie Jouas
Words by Helen Jorgensen, Head Writer . Images courtesy of Noémie Jouas.
In her second-year at St Andrews, alumni Noémie Jouas started her brand Noé Dresses, creating formalwear pieces for students. As an undergraduate student her work was featured at fashion shows including Catwalk Charity Fashion Show and Edinburgh Charity Fashion Show. She also created costumes for several theatre and music theatre productions. After graduating with a degree in Management this year, Noémie moved to London as an independent fashion designer., where she is currently working on client work and various freelance projects. In this interview, Noémie shares with us her journey as a fashion designer, her accomplishments, and what her time at St Andrews taught her.
When and how did your passion for fashion design begin?
My passion for fashion design stems from my love for creating. At a young age, I was knitting, crocheting, paper-machéing, scrapbooking - anything I could get my hands on to make something, I did. I started sewing when I was 16 and haven't really stopped ever since. The passion grew over time and after I did a summer at a fashion school, I decided this is the career that I wanted for myself.
You currently have over 200k followers across all your social media platforms, and have been featured by several fashion organisations including Teen Vogue, Vogue, ABC (AU), and Yahoo Lifestyle. When you were a university student, how did you balance coursework and growing your brand?
For me, the growth of my brand came quite naturally when the pandemic hit and we were all at home. I often commit to a lot of projects such as fashion shows and making costumes for shows as well as being on committees for societies, that’s when everything came to a halt, I found myself with lots of time to focus on growing my brand and my voice as a designer. The growth on social media came quite slowly, but showing what I do everyday online has allowed me to cultivate a lovely community of people who also share a similar passion.
Most people would agree that life after university is quite an adjustment. What did you think it would be like as a full-time fashion designer before graduation, and how is it different from your experience?
I think I used to imagine my life as a full-time designer would be filled with parties and photoshoots and making a new piece everyday but it's definitely a little more calm than that. There’s a lot more that goes into fashion design than sewing pretty dresses everyday. The admin, the social media, the time management, etc. has been a lot to do, but it’s definitely worth it!
There’s a really big difference between sewing when I want to and having the time to versus sewing everyday because it's now my job but so it’s been a big adjustment but I've been trying to make the most out of all of the time that I’m able to dedicate to fashion design now.
What is the typical day in the life of a fashion designer?
I wake up everyday at 7:30, drink my tea and go through my social media/do some admin. I usually get to work around 9 am and sew until about 1pm. I then take a long afternoon break to have lunch and do some content creating. If I need to buy anything like fabric or just my groceries, I’ll usually do that at this time. Then around 3pm I do another few hours of sewing and in the evenings, I usually see some friends or relax on my own.
It differs quite a lot day to day, sometimes I go meet a client for a fitting, have a photoshoot, and if I need a mental health break, I definitely prioritize those and go on long walks or to a park, anything outdoors usually freshens up my mind!
Can you take us through your design process, from finding inspiration for your work to going through the technical process?
I often find inspiration from the fabric that I find. Since I buy a lot of my fabric second hand, I find a lot of unique textiles that inspire me. The actual design of the fabric comes to me quite naturally while I’m thinking about it. Often, when I’m cooking or taking a shower or on a walk, I’ll think about the design or what kind of techniques I want to try or incorporate in my next look with the fabrics I want to work with. I also quite like being given direction, so I love working with a prompt or a challenge as I think of the challenge like a puzzle and try to find the perfect design/fabric to work with. This was the case with the Met Gala Challenge look or the Vogue Couch Couture look, and also why I had so much fun making them! Other times I’ll make designs based on something that is meaningful to me. For example, I am currently working on a dress inspired by mt. Fuji, and the techniques I am using are my style but I am also trying out fabric paint, so it’s all a mix of old and new, spontaneous and planned.
What do you do when you feel uninspired? Do you have a process to help you reconnect with your creativity?
I love going through my fabric stash and seeing the fabrics that I bought when I was feeling inspired and revisiting those old ideas. I actually always have lots of ideas I want to bring to life so I don’t often struggle to find inspiration. When I have too many ideas I’ll write them all down in a big list so if I am feeling uninspired or a little bit lost, I’ll have a look at that list and see what projects I had forgotten about!
What are some valuable lessons you have learned about the fashion world, yourself, and your career path since graduation?
Everyone has their own path and journey and it’s silly to compare yourself to others. Being on social media a lot, it's easier to see other designer’s journeys as better than mine, or on difficult days I feel as though I’m not working hard enough compared to others online. But what we see on social media is not at all an accurate representation of real life, and I am going at my own pace. Trusting my own process and path has been my biggest lesson so far.
What is your greatest accomplishment so far as a fashion designer?
I think the Met Gala Challenge has been my greatest accomplishment so far! The actual dress was fun to make but the online traction that it got was incredible. I think having Lana Condor share my dress on her Instagram story was pretty spectacular, as well as Instagram buying my photos and being written about in many fashion magazines. For me personally though, the reason why I am so proud of that challenge was because while I was making that dress, I was not doing very well mentally but I still set myself the goal of making it and was able to complete it. Being able to create beautiful garments even on dark days is something that I am very proud of because it wasn’t easy.
Where do you see yourself in five years? Do you want to continue growing your brand or potentially work for a fashion house?
I would love to work for another designer or a fashion house in the future. I’m currently testing the waters with growing my brand but I’m hoping to continue to take some classes early next year and once I feel as though I’ve learnt everything that I need to learn from school, then my plan is to work for somebody else. After that I want to go back to working on my brand with my new skills, knowledge and experience. I’m quite flexible with my journey though, unexpected opportunities come about all the time so I’m open minded about how I can get to the end goal!
What advice would you give to university student fashion designers hoping to make it in the fashion world?
My advice would be to get involved in as many fashion related societies or activities as possible. There are so many opportunities in St Andrews and I’m sure there are many more at bigger universities. I think this is the time to explore what you want to do in your career, make connections and gain lots of experience. My first client in London was making a costume replica from a movie and I am so glad I had that experience making costumes for Mermaids and Just So productions. All of that experience becomes the building block for your career, not to mention great things to put on your CV.
You can see more of Noémie’s work at @noemie_jouas / @noedresses (IG and TikTok) / https://www.noedresses.com