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Paris luxury newcomer Casablanca’s new collaboration with Bulgari, to be unveiled on Friday, is all about leather goods. But, perhaps predictably for those who know Charaf Tajer, the restlessly inventive founder of Casablanca is thinking one step ahead — to jewellery.
The Bulgari collab, titled "Serpenti through the Eyes of Casablanca", is being presented in Paris at the Bulgari store on Place Vendôme as part of Paris Fashion Week, after being teased in its Autumn/Winter 2022/2023 video in January. It’s actually two collections of leather goods (four handbags each) with very different inspirations — tennis, which taps into the apres-sport vibe of Casablanca, and mosaic, which references Bulgari’s home, Rome. “They’re very similar in the shapes, but not in the choice of materials,” he tells Vogue Business from Mexico, where he is on a research trip.
So, what about jewellery? “It's an idea that's been in my mind. We're making jewels but not high jewellery yet,” says Tajer. “There is a lot of panache and surrealism in jewellery, which is very appealing for me.”
Emerging fine jewellery designers, including O Thongthai, Bernard James and Bea Bongiasca, are focusing on Gen Z and millennials, while pioneering new ways of connecting with them.
That’s not all. Other categories on Tajer’s agenda include beauty, beginning with fragrance; and hospitality, with projects mooted for hotels in Paris, Los Angeles and Morocco. Casablanca already sells the furniture to go in them.
For a brand only founded in 2018, Casablanca is not hanging around. Tajer launched with menswear, then added womenswear in 2020, which now represents 30 per cent of sales. A bestseller beloved by fashion stylists is the €1,100 silk robe. Besides the new collaboration with Bulgari, the brand has also collaborated extensively with trainer brand New Balance.
“Casablanca’s popularity is evidence of a paradigm shift in men's fashion, with men dressing more daringly, no longer only in Asia only but also in the US and in Europe,” says Sophie Brocart, CEO of Patou and LVMH Prize mentoring director who mentored Tajer after he was one of the eight winners of the LVMH prize in 2020. “Charaf combines creative and business senses,” Brocart notes.
Wholesale represents 80 per cent of sales through 320 accounts worldwide. Perhaps surprisingly, the brand has no standalone store yet but Tajer has plans to open boutiques in Paris, New York and Los Angeles. “Time for retail,” he says. Casablanca, is incorporated in London under “Casablanca Clothing”, according to public filings and employs around 60 people. “Paris is my city. I wish I had created my company in Paris but London was easier for me and people are well educated thanks to the schools,” he says. Charaf would not disclose Casablanca’s financial performance, but said sales doubled in 2021 — after doubling in 2020, with the US it’s biggest market. Sources close to the brand said revenues are between €50 million and €100 million.
The ambition is clear — “I'd like Casablanca to be the new French fashion house,” he says. Tajer’s parents met in a textile factory in Morocco and Charaf was born in Paris. He participated in the launch of Pigalle Paris with Stéphane Ashpool in 2008, opening Le Pompon in 2010, a nightclub in Paris favoured by creatives from all fields. “It was a way for us to get a great network,” recalls Tajer. “We met the entire world there. It allowed Casablanca to take off very quickly.”
Sarah Andelman, founder of a consultancy Just an Idea, has known Tajer since the days of Le Pompon. “I was very impressed when he started his brand, immediately with a full vision, a great look and fantastic prints. I just don’t get why his brand is in London instead of Paris. We need Charaf here!”
He left Pigalle in late 2016 and created Casablanca two years later with zero marketing budget as a natural extension of his nomadic lifestyle. He claims to have not spent a dime on marketing since then, excluding fashion shows and short films – “not even for one sponsored post” he says. The brand has received plenty of free publicity from celebrity fans such as model Kendall Jenner, musician Burna Boy and actor Jeff Goldblum.
“I am wondering if we should interpret it as literal or as a pastiche. For sure, there's a tanginess, carelessness to its fashion that is welcome” says Benjamin Simmenauer, professor at the Institut Français de la Mode. “I am curious how Casablanca will expand its fashion lexicon.”
“Casablanca resonates so well with our customer, particularly silk printed shirting and intarsia knits,” Matchesfashion head of menswear Damien Paul says. “It’s definitely the feeling of luxury and the big, vibrant and abstract prints give an irreverent edge.”
He has been among the names circulating as a successor to the late Virgil Abloh at the helm of Louis Vuitton men’s. That’s partly because the two were friends, while Tajer's style also fuses streetwear influences and pop culture, and perhaps also because Tajer’s focus on travel could be considered a good fit for the trunk maker. Abloh used to do DJ sets at Le Pompon. “Virgil was unique because of his way of gathering communities. What he was doing was sociology mixed with creative direction. That would be impossible to replicate, it would have to be different,” Tajer says, brushing aside the suggestion.
The designers also shared a vision of their brands as cultural platforms. “If you want to reach people today, your message has to be broader than fashion. Fashion for the sake of fashion is not interesting. Having an impact on society is the most important.” His message? “Travel, culture, homage to all cultures, positivity. We don’t need to live in the Matrix world to be cool. It’s our role to see the bright side, even in dark times like now.”
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