Cinabre’s Grand Unbuttoning: From Presidential Silk to Parisian Streetlight.

There are brands that follow trends like shadows at dusk - always behind, always mimicking the form of something brighter. And then there are maisons like Cinabre, who are the streetlights themselves - casting their own glow, illuminating not only where fashion walks but how it dances.

For over a decade, Cinabre has played the role of the well-dressed provocateur in the world of men’s accessories - a quiet artisan whispering secrets of silk and structure in a marketplace shouting polyester slogans. Its ties and bow ties, crafted with monastic discipline in the Loire Castle Valley, became objets d’art, threading together politics, pop culture, and play. Indeed, the French President’s ceremonial aides, known for their shadowy omnipresence in state affairs, now move through marbled corridors wearing Cinabre’s pristine white bow ties - sartorial punctuation marks in the language of power.

And yet, while most brands might cling to such institutional validation as a laurel to rest upon, Cinabre instead sees it as a springboard. Like a character stepping out of a still life, it is now loosening its collar and walking boldly into the world of ready-to-wear.

This new direction is not a reinvention but a continuation - the natural next chapter in a story where tailoring meets imagination. The house’s first full collection of men’s garments gestures toward the 1980s, an era often remembered for its excess and bravado, yet equally for its quiet elegance: wide lapels worn with quiet confidence, the looseness of silhouettes that allowed both freedom and flair. Cinabre has distilled this duality with the precision of a perfumer - releasing blazers with unstructured ease and contrast-collar shirts cut from double-twisted poplin, as if James Baldwin had borrowed JFK Jr.’s dinner jacket and wandered into a Saint-Germain jazz bar.

Each garment speaks in fluent contradiction: high collars that still allow space for rebellion, sharp lines offset by seams that arc with the body’s natural movement. The pointed “Cocteau collar” is not named for affectation, but as tribute to a man who bridged mediums and worlds, just as Cinabre straddles the line between tradition and subversion.

The brand’s Parisian identity is not just in its label - it is sewn into its worldview. Cinabre isn’t merely made in France; it is infused with France. It is as much a mood as it is a maison: part surrealist salon, part Left Bank rendezvous, part 2am stroll past the shuttered neon of Pigalle. Its boutique on Cité Bergère exists like a hidden verse in the city’s song - humming quietly above the din of the Grands Boulevards. Here, upstairs, one finds Les Suites Cinabre - a heady cocktail of cocktail bars, creative salons, and mirrored fantasies that defy classification.

Even the fabrics are love letters to legacy. The house’s signature vermillion-red twill lining is dyed using traditional Lyonnaise techniques. Lapel pins are made in a Parisian workshop founded in 1727, a place where artisans have shaped silk flowers with the same patience one might use to carve cameos or age Cognac. The atelier's team - led by Catherine, whose mother and grandmother were also bow tie makers - stitch time itself into every loop, every fold, every unexpected flourish.

To wear Cinabre is to resist the tyranny of occasion. One might pair a cap with a three-piece suit, not out of defiance but delight. A pearl necklace with a hoodie is not ironic - it’s an invitation. This is fashion as high play and haute punctuation; where each item worn isn’t simply for style, but for storyline.

In an industry that rewards noise, Cinabre is an elegant murmur - the rustle of silk in a quiet room, the whisper of satin as someone exits a soirée through the servant’s staircase. And now, as it unfurls its first foray into menswear, it brings with it a manifesto stitched in nuance: that clothing should be less about instruction, and more about improvisation.

For those who believe elegance is not about perfection, but about imagination with impeccable manners - Cinabre just became your tailor.

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Words by AW.

Photo courtesy of Cinabre.