CHÂLEsubst. masc.
BLEUadj.
\lœ ʃɑl blœ\ ♥ [ THE BLUE SHAWL ]
1. A square or triangular piece of fabric that women wear on their shoulders by crossing it on their chest. Shawl of cashmere, wool, silk; French shawl, Russian shawl; fringed shawl.
2. A collection of modern tales on fabric that embraces a slower, more humane fashion and celebrates poetry. A collection of creators’ accessories that bring shawls (and tales!) up to date.
3. Blue being the color of dreams and imagination, Le Châle Bleu can be of any color.
Behind Le Châle Bleu you will find its creator Ania Axenova, an illustrator and artistic director who is passionate about textiles and fashion design. In 2015, she decided to enter the world of fashion accessories and designed her first collection of wool shawls. Her creations uncover a universe where disparate worlds meet: her Muscovite origins and Parisian influences are reflected in her designs and choice of fabrics. Her dream: to create shawls and scarves as beautiful as they are warm.
All of Le Châle Bleu’s pieces are dreamed up and conceptualized according to one very precise rule: the design must remain visible whichever way the scarf is worn. These are not simple “2D picture scarves”, but true pieces of art that tell a story. A scarf, of course, is never worn flat. With this in mind, the creator sketches her illustrations according to the form and dimensions of her creations. The result is an accessory that resembles a story-to-wear, a living tale.
Each original pattern has also its own history, an imaginary tale and a design at once. Each of Le Châle Bleu’s pieces comes with a small chapbook containing an original story.
With her heart and soul, Ania founded the Ania Axenova – Paris brand in 2016 and entered the fashion world with a collection of hand-illustrated wool shawls. Printed in Switzerland, the shawls can be made to order with a personalized lining. Ania then sews them by hand back at her small studio.
Next, Ania expanded her horizons and styles, beginning with a range of large silk scarves, delicate tie scarves, and sophisticated make-up bags.
In her next incarnation, in 2019, the eponymous Le Châle Bleu, Ania revealed an evolution in her style of illustration: another narrative, other forces at work. Le Châle Bleu comes from a desire for greater freedom, a desire to see the brand take flight and flourish under the benevolent paintbrush of the illustrator who is evolving with it.
For this second incarnation, exceptionally beautiful fabrics were chosen and hand-picked from Italian weavers. These high-quality materials allowed her to draw up a whole new range of models comprising warm yet lightweight shawls in a luxurious mixture of wool, silk, and cashmere; delicate and contemporary scarves in modal and silk; silk twill scarves with a classic sheen; mischievous and artistic small bandana scarves.
Le Châle Bleu emerged like a modern fairytale: its origins are to be found in the creator’s own imaginary world, located somewhere between Maeterlinck’s play The Blue Bird and Jerzy Petersburski’s Blue Scarf waltz, which is so dear to all Russian souls. Le Châle Bleu affirms her desire to write poetic and enchanting tales on fabric.
Le Châle Bleu’s creations are conceptualized and designed by hand in France. The materials are then produced in Italy’s Como region, the kingdom of fabric printers where the Italian love for silk and centuries of know-how achieve an unparalleled standard of quality. Hundreds of fabric makers and printers from the region work with the world’s biggest fashion houses to offer up the best from the Italian textile and printing traditions.
All of Le Châle Bleu’s creations are made in accordance with an ethos of slower, healthier, more ethical, and more responsible fashion. The fabrics are carefully chosen; the manufacturing is carried out in keeping with and by valuing local know-how and existing resources. All of our pieces are carefully packaged by hand in France.
