Roland Herlory, CEO of Vilebrequin.
“I'm not smart enough to work in front of a computer,” says Roland Herlory. But we believe that it is: you have to be to go live in paradise St. Barth's , where he enjoys, if possible on the Salinas beach, "the touch of the trade winds, humid and hot on the skin" and directs the luxury swimsuit firm Vilebrequin.
“I need to see people, perceive the waves of each place, feel the streets. That's how ideas come to mind. I don't like being at the top of the tower”, he confesses. For the CEO, who he spent 30 years at Hermès , bathing naked is very good... –“if I go to the beach very early or very late and there are no people, I prefer to swim naked, it's true”, he laughs. “I get up very early to talk to Paris and Geneva, for the time difference”–but dressing ad hoc is showing respect for the other and a way of expressing oneself".
“In fact, I love the word ‘swimsuit’, for me it has to do with respecting the other, it is a way of being. Also, many they spend their lives in a dark suit and thanks to these garments they allow themselves to express their sense of humor and show who they are”.
St Barths.
“When you are at the beach or the pool you don't have many accessories with which to show your personality, you have to choose only one piece to make an impression . For me, the beauty of our brand lies in that extreme fantasy of the designs, which is closely related to quality. We have fabrics that, whether the swimsuit is dry or wet, show the same drape, the same allure. That is elegance for me”, explains Roland.
The details are what define the quality, the luxury, in their designs. “For example, if you look at the pockets –by the way, did you know that they are the most expensive part of swimsuits?–, the print respects the pattern. When one looks at one of our garments he perceives a harmony, but does not know why. It's because of those details. And then there's the convenience, of course. It is essential, especially in men. A woman does wear uncomfortable shoes, for example, because she likes them, but for a man this is unthinkable. We are very selfish."
Roland Herlory of Vilebrequin
The origin of Vilebrequin is a love story : In the 1970s, Fred Prysquel, a car journalist, a great friend of Didier Pironi and other F1 drivers of the time, traveled the world to follow the Grand Prix. He saw surfers in California, traveled all over Africa... and fell madly in love with a tropezienne. As she looked terrible in a swimsuit, he designed one with which to look more favored, to seduce her.
The firm has one hundred and eighty stores around the world, some of which are only open seasonally, and it reflects all the glamor of the 70s, of Mick and Bianca Jagger… an elegance already lost? “Well, the world today goes very fast, it is superficial in many ways. It is important to take time to enjoy. retrieve certain values. We do that with quality and details. It's not about buying something for status. If I get that functionality and quality, I'm happy. But also, I love beauty.”
“We have to be able to admire beauty, which is the highest level of civilization. That's why I go to museums so much. I need to go once in a while, when I feel overwhelmed… there is something in your brain that clicks when you look at art. And in Europe... there is so much beauty around us! When I was at Hermès I did it to disconnect, it was my oxygen”.
Among his favorite museums around the world is the Leeum in Seoul. “It is very special, it was done by the Swiss architect Mario Botta, the French Jean Nouvel and the Belgian Rem Koolhaas. It fascinates me that they agreed and combined their styles, it's exciting. In the ceramic part I can spend hours just looking at how transparent and delicate it is."
Leeum Museum.
He also loves the Anthropology of Mexico, "its human history, those civilizations prior to ours. It's like the Louvre, you can go a thousand times and you always discover new things. And the construction is wonderful, those volumes from the '70s. It has an unforgettable font."
And the third on his podium, he tells us, would be the Frac, in Metz. The former curator was a woman who worked with many artists–without proclaiming it, she simply did it, in a very well constructed way–and there she showed her special sensitivity, fragile and strong ", says Roland, and he gets excited to remember it. "As an art lover, I need to be surprised. A whisper, sometimes, touches you more than a scream."
Roland at his home in St. Barths.
Returning to a more 'wearable' beauty, such as swimwear, she explains that she would like Vilebrequin to be recognized as the best swimwear brand in the world. "It may sound pretentious, but it is so. I do not want us to extend ourselves above our essence, but rather remain loyal to our DNA: St. Tropez, what it was like to spend the day at the beach in the 70s , freedom, sense of humor… But I do want us to grow at our natural pace."
Exactly the one that has made them grow 10-20% in the last six years. "That's just what I want. To grow without harm. I believe in the rhythm of nature. This idea is also present in our denim collection, which is very interesting. Denim is a 70s symbol , so it also means going back to our roots. We have looked for a high-quality Italian manufacturer, we know it will take time to gain credibility, but we will get there."
Image from a Vilebrequin campaign.
Patience is not lacking for this Frenchman, who traveled as a backpacker in the 80s to discover that he feels comfortable anywhere. How did he feel without a cell phone, without Internet...? "Well, it was the '80s, so there wasn't any of that yet anyway," he laughs, explaining that he came out of that experience... "the man I am now."
"I learned that you have to open your mind. I didn't know where I was going, I didn't book, I didn't know where I was going to spend the night. I needed to be well received and I learned to receive others. At first it's scary. Then you embrace the other and you realize you could live anywhere in the world , the planet is your home. You can feel comfortable and free anywhere, it's overwhelming."
One of Roland's favorite designs.
And today, when he travels, what does he need to find in a hotel room? “Now I'm older and I travel a lot for work, so I need a good Wi-Fi connection. But I'm attracted to boutique hotels. I want to feel the place where I am. There are people who are reassured to find a uniformity, to know what awaits them. It is frightening for me to find the same thing everywhere. I like to be surprised, as long as there is a good bed."
Piece from the Vilebrequin denim collection.
His commitment to caring for the environment is firm: “My philosophy is to care for the planet. First, as a citizen. Then as an entrepreneur, I believe that simple things have a great impact. But I don't want to use sustainability as a marketing tool . I do not claim that my company is sustainable, but if you ask me, I say that we try to go in that direction”.
At the production level, Vilebrequin uses recycled fabrics. "But beware, I insist, sometimes that is used as an echo symbol, and the footprint in some of these processes is sometimes even worse. Perhaps the biggest challenge today is plastic in the oceans. That is why I love a project that we have with a specific fabric, with a tighter cut, which is made in Spain, precisely, from materials discarded in the sea. The first step, however, is to change people's mentality."
Roland at his home in St. Barths.