Jeanne Damas may be one of Pinterest’s favorite French girl style icons—a photograph of Damas in high-waisted jeans and an elegantly grown-out bob is one of the first to pop up when you search for any Parisian-inspired aesthetic—but the designer and founder of fashion label Rouje and beauty brand Les Filles en Rouje tells Glamour that she finds the quintessential French look found on mood boards all over, actually quite boring.
Which makes one wonder: At a time of rapidly proliferating sartorial cores, who and what does influence Jeanne Damas? It’s cinema, people-watching, and travel—particularly her trips to New York City. “There is a lot of creativity in NYC,” she says, noting it’s the city’s unique vibe and unbridled sense of style—it’s where she first discovered her signature slip dresses—that her and her team love to draw inspiration from. “They looked like pajamas!” she jokingly says.
It’s this kinship that also brings Damas now more permanently to NYC for the launch of Rouje’s first flagship stateside. Nestled in the heart of SoHo—and not too far away from Parisian counterparts like Maje, Sandro, and Zadig & Voltaire—the boutique officially opened doors on August 28. It’s the fourth one Damas launches; Rouje currently has outposts in Paris, Bordeaux, and London. (She’s also previously held pop-ups in Los Angeles and New York.)
Although Rouje is a digitally-native brand built on its founder’s online presence—Damas has 1.5 million followers on Instagram alone—she says she always had plans to open brick-and-mortar stores. “Rouje really is a lifestyle brand,” she says, adding that it’s not just about the clothes and seeing people wear them, but about sharing her universe. The Broome Street boutique is proof of concept. New season collections—complete with her all her favorite pieces—hang neatly in front of a vibrant mural reminiscent of Swedish artist Hilma af Klimt’s abstract paintings. Stacks of jeans (including Damas’ go-to fit) line one of side the wall; accessories, boots, and loafers glow on backlit shelves on the other. At the back of the space, on a white table in an intimate nook, there are rows upon rows of Les Filles en Rouje makeup and skin care products for people to play around with.
An avid uniform dresser with a well-documented affinity for polka dots, big flowers, and leopard prints, Damas says she’s had found her style since forever. “I know the jeans that fit me, the shoes, the dress; I know my colors and fits.” What she wears—and by extension, what she designs—has changed over time, though, especially after the birth of her son. “At the beginning of Rouje I was obsessed with mini bags that would just hold my my phone and red lipstick. But since I had my baby I needed a bigger bag, and so we created a new style for that that’s launching this September.” She’s also embraced stretchier pants, saying they’re great with kids at the park, as well as sneakers, despite always being a ballerina girl.
