The opening of AMI’s second Paris store this week cements the fact that the brand is rising rapidly. Designer Alexandre Mattiussi launched AMI in 2011 with the simple aim of making refined, quality clothes for friends – at prices affordable enough to stand out in the luxury-swamped French market. Stand out he has and on a global scale at that, his FW14 collection picking up a slew of new retailers including Harrods, 10 Corso Como (Shanghai), Santa Eulalia (Barcelona), Beymen (Istanbul) and Tsum (Moscow).

Situated in the heart of the Saint Germain des Près neighborhood, the new location was designed with Mattiussi in collaboration with the KO architecture agency and nods to the aesthetic of traditional menswear tailoring ateliers. It’s a feature that aligns well with Mattiussi’s own brand of contemporary menswear.

Tempe Nakiska: AMI is growing quite rapidly. How does it feel to you?
Alexandre Mattiussi: It’s funny because I am completely conscious of the success of the brand and it has moved very fast – but in a very organic way.

TN: Is that due to your approach from the very beginning?
AM: Yes. We are of course running a business and want to grow but at the end of the day the first idea when I started AMI was about making clothes for the guys I know and love; my friends, family, everyone surrounding me. Menswear fashion was at a point very divisive in the way that it’s cut into two areas: high fashion, very expensive and elitist, and then the high street, H&M type stores that churn our fast fashion. But in France the latter culture isn’t as established. You have to spend money to look good.

TN: So what you’re offering the French market in particular is an alternative.
AM: I know that while my brand is quite affordable, it’s not the cheapest. But I wanted to be a very democratic brand. The energy we are putting into the brand is very honest and sincere, we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We’re trying to craft a poetic story, very French in a way but the success of the brand really comes from the simplicity of what we’re doing.

The new Boutique AMI is located at 22 rue de Grenelle, 75007 Paris