INTERVIEW WITH MARION BOUCARD FOUNDER OF FRENCH GIRLS DO IT BETTER
Miss Marion Boucard, a Creative Director and Founder of BRAND CONTENTE, is a woman of multi-talents who specializes in delivering immersive and wild event productions aimed to reach specific audiences. She is professional, creative and artistic, all crucial qualities needed to create extraordinary event productions. Anne Trompette, a past client of Miss Marion, described her as “enigmatic and beautiful...she unveils a parallel world like a magician”.
WHAT QUALITIES HAVE HELPED YOU BECOME SUCCESSFUL AS A CREATIVE DIRECTOR?
I like telling stories and offering memorable experience to the guests, so I would say the first quality is being creative! Creativity is about being curious and inspired by what you see around you. 3 to 4 times a week I am out to see theater and performances plus all kind of exhibitions about art photography or architecture. I have specialized in Immersive and interactive events: I can create an ambiance or narrative that can be bold or subtle to push the audience into a situation that firmly blurs the lines between theatre and real life.
I also do digital content, which is also about story telling. So I read a lot about it and take classes and workshops regularly. Then I analyze both entries and link them with current trends so I can come up with interesting ideas.
Secondly you have to listen to the client brief and match your ideas with their needs and finally deliver elegant and efficient slides describing the mood and the story telling of what you have in your head so they can visualize it. Nothing is more rewarding than seeing a live performance or tableaux-vivant I imagined months ahead.
I collaborate mainly with luxury brands so it has to be high standard because I have worked in the fashion industry for 10 years (I was Vivienne Westwood PR in Paris), people trust my acute casting and styling capacities. My corporate mantra is “Glamour and Humour”. Perseverance is key and I meditate to smooth the stress.
In your opinion, what makes a great Creative Director?
Think big; don’t be scared of the word impossible. Also, a good sense of humour, staying focused on the brief and cherishing your network!
Can you please tell us about 'French Girls do it Better' (FGDIB). What inspired you to create the group?
The community is about the French Attitude. The series consists of short films, with a cheeky and provocative tone, topped off with a sleek and playful retro twist to celebrate the best - and the worst - of France.
In the past 5 years I was amazed by the number of books published in English about the myth of the French women, considered icons of femininity worldwide. You have probably heard of the best seller “How to be Parisian Wherever You Are: Love, Style and Bad Habits” translated in more than 30 languages in a few month after its release. Nothing similar was on line so I decided to produce some content about it and invited my girlfriends, some of Paris’ finest contemporary burlesque performers, for a tea, to brainstorm. This was a year ago.
Shortly before this, in 2014, I designed the concept and produced 80 videos for the YouTube channel ROSE CARPET, launched by M6 Web. It targets female teenagers between 15 to 25 years old and has now 674 k followers. When my job was over there, I wanted to produce my own digital content for my generation of women between the ages of 25 to 40. I have been a performer for 10 years and met a lot of amazing burlesque dancers and have always thought it would be ideal to work with them. They are self-taught beauty experts and strong independent ladies focusing on women empowerment. Et Voilà!
How will FGDIB help re-imagine the image of French women through contemporary burlesque?
I have casted la crème de la crème of Paris burlesque dancers, who have been bringing elegance and tease back into Parisian night life for years. Confident and Charismatic, they are gifted and seductive characters ready to selflessly give away their timeless secrets to those who can benefit from style and art of tease advice. They are my muses or ‘ambassadresses’.
Sucre d’orge, Emilie Loison, and Louise de Ville, were there from the beginning, then Lolaloo des Bois and Maud’Amour have joined the crew for the first shooting. New guests will continue to join the collective to keep the FGDIB message and experience lively.
So far we have produced 2 kinds of vidéos :
a) Playlist “Paris Mon Amour” to discover the girl’s best tips or fails. The videos range between 20 seconds to 1 minute.
b) Playlist “French Lessons” sexy alphabets to help master your French and attitude. The videos are 15 seconds long.
The Alphabet videos were originally produced for Instagram (15 seconds maximum) but they are doing so well on Facebook that we are writing some more with my co-author Ambre Larrazet Llop. I have read somewhere that 15 seconds is the magic time to catch people’s attention nowadays and it is so true! We are now looking for brands or partners to help us produce more episodes.
You recently planned Jean Paul Gaultier's (JPG) 40th dinner at 'Le Grand Colbert' in Paris. The evening included a singing performance by the amazing Beth Ditto. Where did you get your inspiration for executing an extravagant dinner for one of the biggest household names in the fashion industry?
It is funny because first I have met Beth many times when I was working at Vivienne Westwood, I am a big fan! Secondly, I have worked for JPG last year for the launch of the perfume Intense, in a short film in which I deliver glamour tricks. You can find the video here: http://brand-contente.com/filter/digital/JPG-glamour-lessons. This year, the event agency ‘Black Lemon’ called me to help with the scenography and casting of the artists for this wild dinner party. The inspiration was French art de vivre, with a popular twist, and a lot of craziness. You can find the video for this here: http://brand-contente.com/DINER-40-ANS-JEAN-PAUL-GAULTIER
MAY TOUMA is a Youth Worker who has a Bachelor of Social Work from Ryerson University in Toronto. She is a bit of a rebel who likes to challenge the status quo. She is passionate, boisterous and wears her heart on her sleeve. May has a personal style blog at www.boldlycurvy.blogspot.ca. She loves experimenting and having fun with fashion.
