Christelle Kocher — Contemporary Fashion Where Lines Cross
- AMPM
- Jul 3
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 15
From KOCHÉ to Lemarié, a designer weaving together couture, culture, and the collective.
KOCHÉ signature visual.
Few designers have navigated the space between artisanal precision and urban energy with such quiet conviction. For over a decade, Christelle Kocher has been shaping contemporary fashion, porous and conscious: between the stillness of the studio and the pulse of the street.
Through her brand KOCHÉ and her leadership at Lemarié, she embodies a generation of designers who think as deeply as they cut. Portrait of a woman who sees couture not as a fortress, but as a language of connection.
The Making of a Singular Eye
It all began in Strasbourg, in the hushed landscapes of Alsace, far from the traditional fashion capitals. There, Christelle Kocher discovered fabric as a kind of territory. She left for London and trained at Central Saint Martins: a temple of radical creativity. The school instilled in her both critical freedom and a sharp visual rigor.
She sharpened her eye within houses like Bottega Veneta, Martine Sitbon, and Dries Van Noten. Each experience expanded her vocabulary. Yet what already defined her was the ability to move between extremes: heritage and experimentation, precision and spontaneity — the very DNA of Christelle Kocher’s contemporary fashion today.
KOCHÉ, a Living Manifesto
In 2015, she launched KOCHÉ. Not just a brand, but a proposition. Fashion, she believed, should open itself up: to bodies, to identities, to cultures. The name hits like a beat, raw yet precise, echoing within the world of couture.
From her very first shows, Kocher disrupted the codes: collections presented in malls, train stations, department stores. The casting was mixed and plural. Her garments spoke of convergence: pleated dresses inspired by football jerseys, embroidered sweatshirts, deconstructed tailoring. KOCHÉ merges, but never confuses.
“I wanted to create a brand where everyone feels legitimate. A couture that isn’t exclusive or intimidating.”
— Christelle Kocher, Le Monde, 2018
There is something deeply political in her approach: in the sense of reimagining how we inhabit public space, and who fashion belongs to. A couture that doesn’t exclude, but invites.
Between the Studio and the World
In parallel, Christelle Kocher leads Lemarié, one of the Métiers d’Art workshops under Chanel. It’s a world where time slows, where every feather, camellia, and pearl is placed by hand. For Kocher, this isn’t a contradiction, it’s a foundation. KOCHÉ couldn’t exist without this reverence for the slow gesture, for ornament as a form of narrative.
And yet, she’s firmly anchored in the present. Collaborations with Nike, PSG, Emilio Pucci and Hackett London have expanded her brand’s reach. She doesn’t oppose streetwear and salon, she creates the bridge. Her work is a lab of coexistence: silk and mesh, Paris and Seoul, tailoring and technical fabrics.
And always, the ethic of inclusion: not as a slogan, but as a core practice.
A Designer of the Present Tense
For Christelle Kocher, fashion is not a mirror: it’s a window. Her creations speak of the world as it is, with clarity and care. KOCHÉ was never meant to be niche: it’s a passage, a platform, a couture in motion.
Her garments don’t claim to save the world. But they speak to it, move through it, inhabit it differently. And in that gesture lies a rare kind of vision: where craftsmanship meets urgency, and form remains in service of meaning.
KOCHÉ sculptural portrait.
A Couture in Motion
In a landscape often divided, Christelle Kocher draws a subtle, deliberate line. One that connects: studio to stadium, designer to public, the hand to the idea.
She is, perhaps, above all, a weaver of connection: assembling what the times tend to fracture. And in this living, breathing couture, something deeply contemporary in fashion takes shape.
Credits : Koché, Maison Lemarié
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