#MCCOTInterview {39}
Catherine Miran, the Parisian Avant-garde Communication and PR specialist who brings magic into the Fashion industry
Most of you have probably already watched one or more episodes of the popular, funny, and with any doubt, very hollywoodian American TV series 'Emily in Paris'. If by chance you are dreaming of working in a famous Parisian communication and Public relations agency for Fashion like fictional character Emily and her eccentric and tyrannical boss Sylvie Grateau, you are interested in discovering more about the real daily 'behind the scenes' of this job, meeting Mrs Catherine Miran would surely be a blessing for you. As the proud, bold and successful founder and owner of the Parisian-based eponymous PR agency opened in the early Eighties', the Avignon-born and Parisian by adoption for over 4 decades, could be the perfect mentor you need to ensure your young Fashion brand or Maison a well-deserved place in the sun in this glamorous and competitive field. After moving very young to the big city, Paris to study at the prestigious school EFAP and start a new exciting personal and professioal life from scratch, Catherine, who is a brilliant, intuitive, sensitive and life-enthusiast person, has indeed managed to build a solid and internationally-renowned entrepreneurial reality. She has done it putting human beings first and choosing to support and work in sinergy with promising and talented creative visionaires who share her positive and avant-garde values and colorful vision of the world. Not chasing money and success at any cost. But at the contrary, taking time to do things in the right way with no rush and pressure just having fun doing it. Let's talk business and life with a genuine female girlboss who is grateful for all the milestones she has reached together and thanks to her little community. A free and eclectic spirit who resolutely stands out of the crowd. A magician of communication and public relations who believes in team work. A generous mind with a big heart who cares for her family, her team and her clients. A leading, skilled and experienced female role-model who has proven that both having fun and success at work and reaching personal blossoming is not impossible for a woman in this society.
By Hélène Battaglia
Who are you?
A boxer in love, an entrepreneur who loves all kinds of creative energy. A pleasant and emphatic provincial who came to Paris.
Which background brought you to work in the press and communication field?
I spent my childhood and my teenage years in Avignon, mostly by the Sisters, at the cours Saint Michel, and Les Trinitaires and I attended the University of Montpelier to study Law and economics and then moved to Paris to study at the Efap. I must confess that skipping classes was my daily life. Travelling in the whole world, spending time at the terraces of cafés and in night clubs had been much more formative and educationnal... Like in any provincial town, in Avignon, we use to devour books, magazines and listen to radio and TV programs, but above all, every July, there was the international theater Festival, a great melting pot of Parisian actors, directors, bourgeois, intellectuals and artists, as well as the first hippies who returned from Nepal and Afghanistan. From a small, quiet provincial town, we would suddenly live in a City of Light, bringing together a set of brilliant cortexes, such a gap in lifestyle between the Parisians who devoured every play and dance, partying non-stop and us. I was captivated by the freedom of morals of this free-spirit hippies, Babas and women who were walking bare feet into the streets and wearing shirts and transparent blouses, belts made of little mirrors. All this new world, prancing and defying the usual conformism, joyfully gathered in this urban hodgepodge in the name of Art, creation, freedom of body and thought, was a unique moment. In fact, it was my university... the one that showed me the way, seeing all these people alive, festive, joyful, active, greatly expanded my universe... I'm a self-taught person who's had the heart to wander through many worlds, and who's been lucky enough to meet great friends that have helped me along the way...
How and when did you enter the Fashion Industry?
By changing my destiny when moving to Paris in 1979/1980 and opening a real office in 1982. I've always been very sociable, admiring creators, beautiful projects, artists, entrepreneurs and the world of nightlife too. From The Bains Douches to The Palace, from The Sept to The bus Palladium, from Club 54 to the Danceteria or The Limelight... in NY... All these nightclubs were my temples...
Throughout my life, fate has brought me into contact with a lot of people, creators, entrepreneurs and night owls. As Paquita Paquin wrote in her book about the '80s, "10 ans sans dormir" ("10 years without sleep"), it was really the mood... Disco, rock and reggae in the background. The fashion world was there, from London, Paris or New York, everywhere, at night and during the day... The shows of Viviane Westwood, Jean Paul Gauthier, Yohji Yamamoto, Comme des Garçons, Thierry Mugler, Claude Montana, Azzedine Alaia, Issey Miyake, Kenzo and so many others so talented, changed our visions of fashion. The latter became asymmetrical, minimalist, experimental, perfectionist and so inspiring. They were the greatest ones. I wanted to follow some deserving young designers, support them and make their work known to also very talented journalists who wanted to believe in my story and help me build their careers. It was also a time when the women's press was a visionary and daring bible represented by women who were like priestesses.
When did you know you were ready to start on your own and open your agency?
I never thought about whether I was ready or not... Spontaneity, the lucky star.
Maybe it's a luxury not to be afraid, to follow your own magic path, the one that's right in front of you. I did what I did with all my heart, without counting the cost, and it worked. I was made for living in Paris, going out a lot, meeting people, setting things up, mothering, creating families around "geniuses" and doers, mixing their visions with mine...What could I do better than seeing great destinies for them ?
How did you build your prestigious portfolio of clients?
At first, there weren't really any prestigious clients, but a generation of young designers and up-and-coming brands, all starting out and all wanting to be part of the family we were building. There were young designers like Bridget Yorke and Julie Cole, Olivier Guillemin, Marthe Lagache, Jean Colonna, Isabel Marant, the Hyeres Festival... Bensimon surplus, Sessun, and then more well-known brands like Fiorucci, Charles Chevignon, Chipie, Killiwatch, Replay, Liberto, Schott, Dice Kayek, Carven, Golden Goose, Reppetto, Petit Bateau, Ginette NY, Mellow Yellow, Naf Naf, Morgan, Air France, Merci, Bonton, American Retro, Dawei, Valentine Gauthier, Ventilo, Manoush, Swildens, Hanro, Maison Lejaby, Forte Forte, Courreges, Hugo Matha, Heimstone... and so many more. A whole world coexisting and representing generations of designers and brands over several decades.
French designer Isabel Marant was lucky to cross your way as she started her career. Could you tell us more about this long-lasting partnership of yours?
We were practically two self-taught builders, and our collaboration was brilliant. When we met, it didn't take many words to see her destiny... Isabel was independent, hard-working, friendly, instinctive, as if to the manner born, had been an assistant for the brilliant Yorke and Cole brand and was well educated because Y&C was on the fashion show's official calendar. She had just graduated from Studio Berçot the school that Marie Rucki had founded and it was already a mine of future designers... The art of knowing how to surround yourself with Sophie Duruflé and Nathalie Chemouny, her associates and our office. We worked patiently and assiduously to conquer the fashion world. There were castes that were very difficult to penetrate : the designers, the couturiers, the luxury brands, and then the other brands... and Le Sentier. How many battles we fought to get back in line, how many appointments for small papers written to get to the big portraits one day, from bazaars to full-page subjects.... Overcoming the glass ceiling, getting her into Vogue, Marie Claire, Figaro, fashion specials, designer specials with the best. Fortunately, certain newspapers like Elle, certain journalists like Carlyn Cerf, Brigitte Langevin, Catherine Rousseau, Corinne Nocella, Elisabeth Djian, Karine Roitfeld, Nicole Crassat, Francoise Havan... and so many others always supported us; the collections were for women's everyday lives and journalists came to love her work, Isabel gave us total freedom to build her path. We persevered and, with my whole team of enthusiastics and our pilgrim's staff, we conquered the journalists, the Chambre Syndicale, the fashion world and the designers' club, which were very closed. 18 years of seamless collaboration, a path where we grew side by side... and where she reached the pinnacle.
How important is storytelling for a young brand?
Rather than storytelling, which seems to me to be a little too marketing-oriented, I prefer to tell each person's unique story and to be able to dream, to imagine a future, to plant the beautiful tree... the beautiful story... the culture of uniqueness and difference. Knitting the little thread of sincerity.
By the way, we would love to know more about Catherine Miran’s brand identity.
Inspired by the spirit of time, a certain point of view on the world, to be non-conformist, free, a family spirit, curious about the generation, its customs, impregnated with the mix of cultures, music, photos, art, poetry, films, and being eager for everything...
How did the business of communication change with the growth of digital and social media?
It's obviously evolving very, very fast with digital media and social networks, everything is systemic. Recruitment and knowledge of networks are essential points. I'd say that for me the perfect mix is to build with the "classic" media, digital media and social networks. All channels are interesting to explore. All the people behind these media make up the uniqueness, the depth of the communication campaigns, the interaction with journalists and stylists, the intelligence and talent of the beautiful written or photographed subjects and also the beautiful communities of singular, well-chosen personalities, the beautiful mechanisms that make up the beautiful memory, It's a whole, a winning combo, a yin and a yang.
How did you and your agency adjust to this new reality?
I myself (as well as my teams) am highly addicted to all kinds of media and social networks. We systematically monitor all networks and information on a daily basis. My office has 40 years of experience in brand support, creative development, brand strategy, solid experience and, above all, a point of view that stands out from opportunistic choices.
As slow and clean fashion is growing, are you scouting for more sustainable brands to represent and support?
Yes, of course, it's even become THE Goal. Remarkable brands such as Sessun, which has just been awarded the "Société à mission" label, Vilebrequin, Skall Studio and Tergel, all of which have an extremely concerned approach, are avant-garde. These companies have truly transformed their way of doing business, creating and producing radically differently from before in order to have as little impact as possible on resources. They are inspiring examples, pioneer brands, more natural for the younger brands and remarkable for the better-known ones, who are sincerely working on this colossal task.
After over 40 years as head and mentor of one of the Parisian most powerful and successful PR agencies, what are you now dreaming of?
To continue... defending the talented, to train new teams, to grow more, to learn, to pass on, that's my destiny... There are so many fine minds out there, so many sublime projects to take on... I'm ready.
Which is your daily routine at the office?
Currently Instagram, tea, yoga, press review, office, mails, meetings, lunches, appointments, Call, Visio, teams, exhibitions, Dinner, reading, TV, games, TikTok, WhatsApp...
As most of the successful founders, you surely can rely on a strong and skilled team. How did you choose every member of it?
One can't do anything on his own, the strength is in the group. The human factor is the most important factor for a serene and successful company. Each member is chosen for its team spirit, for having a vision for a project, for being unique, for living the group like a family, for its solidarity, its tolerance, for helping each other, for loving each other's differences; all of this matter in order to create a multiple, diverse, varied, strong world.
Which kind of girl boss are you?
I'm a brain agitator who is aiming to see as far as possible and help everyone succeed.
As a female founder and entrepreneur, which good tips could you give to a young woman who is choosing to follow in your footsteps?
Build your own point of view, assume your own uniqueness, nurture it, be curious, love a lot, go out a lot, meet people... See the world.
By chance, as an insider did the popular tv series ‘Emily in Paris’ featuring Lilly Collins working in a Parisian PR agency, make you smile and laugh?
Yes, it's always interesting and amusing to see what others see from one's culture... a postcard ideal, the sanitized nature of relationships, the Eiffel Tower, chic parties in evening dresses... Champagne, baguettes and berets are always very amusing clichés... in the 1st degree I love them. Fortunately, reality isn't quite so cliché, this smooth, this bland hierarchy, everything I don't want to be... Not a Parisian, not a hipster. Just being you, much more complex than looking like a postcard.
Which is the funniest thing that happened to you in whole your career?
I don't know if it's the funniest, but I've laughed about it for hours with my teams... At the time, I was working for a very, very very popular brand (Kiabi) which was selling at very very low prices... like a little lurex sweater for 9€95... This little sweater was so pretty that the journalist had "fallen in love" with it and photographed it without looking at the brand and social statut...for the cover of Vogue… And I can still see myself answering the price request and the manager telling me that it wasn't expensive enough for a Vogue cover and that she was forced to add two more zeros to the price that was given to the reader... A story of status
All the pictures are Courtesy of Mrs Catherine Miran
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