Faconnable Women's Fashion Brand

Façonnable is a high-end women's clothing brand founded in Nice, France by Jean Goldberg in 1950. Jean Goldberg, from a master tailor heritage family, opened a boutique-atelier on rue Paradis in Nice - the birthplace of the brand. Heir of a tradition and know-how of the great artisans of Eastern Europe, he very quickly became a staple of the French Riviera, and the results of his work were to dress the movie stars of this era with his unique form of classic style with a twist, which helped quickly establish the brand in all France.

Notice what kind of founding that is: not a runway house, but a tailor's atelier that grew. The classic style came first, cut by a master tailor's heir for customers who wanted Riviera elegance without costume; the twist kept it from stiffness. A women's shopper reading this page should hold that order - tailoring, then ease, then polish - because it still describes how this label's women's clothing is meant to be judged: by the cut first, and by everything else after.

Albert Goldberg and the Jet-Set Years

Albert Goldberg took over the family atelier in Nice in 1961. His know-how and artisanship, inherited from his father, resulted in a supreme art of cutting and finishing for luxury garments, and he created a new lifestyle for the jet-setters of his time, reflecting the essence of the French Riviera. That sentence carries the brand's second act plainly: the atelier's craft, aimed now at an international travelling customer whose wardrobe had to work between a yacht deck, a hotel terrace and an evening in town.

The women's line itself arrived later, and by a deliberate route. In 1995, Façonnable created a unique womenswear style for the American market - in line with the men's collections, this new line offered style, tradition and authenticity with a very feminine twist. Following the success in America, the women's collection was launched in Europe in 1999, and the brand was then at the peak of its success, epitomizing the French Riviera art de vivre. America first, Europe second: the womenswear was a tested idea before it came home.

New Owners, and Shopping the Label Well

The ownership changes form a plain sequence: Nordstrom, the giant U.S. retailer, acquired Façonnable; the Lebanon-based M1 Group then acquired the brand - M1 Group is a diversified investment holdings group based in Beirut, Lebanon - and Façonnable entered a new era bringing a long-term vision to increase brand equity. In 2016, Pepe Jeans Group took over the management of Façonnable. Dates are given where they are known.

Shop the label by its founding skills. Tailored and Riviera pieces should show the atelier inheritance: clean cutting, careful finishing, luxury cloth handled without fuss. Judge a blazer or trouser by how the seams sit and how the fabric recovers, and judge the feminine twist the 1995 line promised by whether softness has been added without surrendering structure. Care is the luxury routine - rest tailored pieces between wearings, hang them well, and clean as labelled. A Nice tailor's shop of 1950, dressing film stars, then jet-setters, then American women in 1995 and European women in 1999: that is the whole arc, and the clothes still ask to be bought in that order - cut, cloth, and the Riviera last.