PFW SS25: BAÉ

Combining luxury materials and intentionally timeless elements, BAÉ is an industry shifting project. Forefronting the notion that special occasion garments do not have to exist in stagnant spaces. Life-long friends and business partners, Katya & Marina are here to showcase that sustainability is also incredibly fashionable.The shared vision sits around an ever present goal to celebrate special moments. Though, the duo aims to do so in a way that allows each cherished dress to be reintegrated into one’s wardrobe over and over. They achieve this with removable accessories, allowing the wearer to constantly re-customize the capsule collections. 

I sat down with founders Katya and Marina to learn more about their vision for the newly established brand and to gather a first-hand account of their practices. 

Can you give us a breakdown of the inspiration behind your brand?

Introduced a year ago, we aim to create dresses for “special moments”. The whole focus of the brand is incorporating removable accessories, like flowers and bows. The newest collection which we are showing in Paris, is called “Queen of Hearts”.We want each of our customers to enjoy the dress on various occasions, not just once. So the garments could be worn with an accessory for a special moment, but then it could be removed. Making the dress appropriate for everyday life.

We do a lot of styling shoots to showcase how the formal dresses can be worn and then recombined for different street style looks.

When it comes to conceptualising the removable accessories, is there a beginning point? 

Basically each of our customers has a choice, they can just buy a plain dress without any accessories, or they can purchase accessories separately with it. 

We had this idea of transformation. We are not in support of fast fashion, the core idea is for the pieces to be worn repeatedly in different contexts. We keep our base silhouettes and add new accessories each season, introducing more colours and designs. This allows customers to add to their wardrobes, reusing the base silhouettes.

Do the collections come out as capsules?

Yes, we have our core collection, No. 1 which we introduced last year. “Queen of Hearts” is an additional collection that we’ve now added to the previous works. Every season we will be introducing new capsule collections which all can be combined with our core collection. 

Tell us more about the narrative behind the newest collection, Queen of Hearts?

It's been inspired by Alice in Wonderland, this is where the Queen of Hearts theme comes from, including heart motifs as well as roses. It’s a classic story, everyone knows it and it blends nicely with the brandWe believe that all shapes are beautiful, encouraging our customers to find their perfect dress in line with their style and preference. We created a guide to help our clients find exactly what they’re looking for.

Is this the first time that BAÉ is debuting in Paris?

Yes.

Regarding the showroom event you’re participating in this week, what do you envision getting out of it?

Ultimately our goal is to find wholesale clients and to collaborate with buyers. We feel that the brand is really strong and appeals to quite a big variety of boutiques and bridal stores. Not only this, but also evening wear and RTW boutiques.

The price point is very reasonable, especially for bridalwear. We’re hoping the capsule collection and accessories will appeal to potential buyers. We do a lot of street style photoshoots, especially with bridal to show that these dresses can be adapted after the wedding. We like to educate our customers on how you can repurpose each piece.

Do you have any specific big picture ideas when you imagine the brand’s further expansion?

You know, that’s a funny question because initially we were only envisioning one collection. The industry pushes you to constantly introduce something new. We are constantly thinking of something removable to play into your wardrobe.

We have an idea as we’ve begun work on a t-shirt dress series with sayings. The next collection may have dress tattoos which you can remove.

When you imagine the ideal reaction to your garments in the street, what do you hope passersby think?

We actually had a photoshoot this morning and lots of people were taking pictures. It was a nice moment. People were even taking pictures from their cars, our work caught the eye of many onlookers.We are in such a hurry every day - sometimes you don’t have time to think what to wear. The goal is to show to women that if you wear something slightly different, it has the power to change your attitude. As you feel yourself become more confident, you won’t hurry as much, adding value to your sense of self.

We want every girl to feel special. We want to remind our buyers that every moment can be special, that you don’t need to buy an occasion dress for an event to be meaningful. There are so many moments in our lives that we don’t always appreciate.

If you could go back and tell your younger self advice after what you know now… what would you say? 

To be honest, it’s not like I would want to change anything, running your own brand is a learning curve. Every up and down is important, It’s about growing and what I would say to myself is to enjoy. Enjoy the moment and be present.After rain we have rainbows, remember that if you have difficult moments, it will pass - just believe in yourself and continue.

Are there any final thoughts you want our readers to know?

We are childhood friends, we've known each other since we were 12, we’re growing together. The story of the brand is not just another big corporation, not a mass market brand, we put our hearts into this project. Our customers can feel that. It is an important point of our journey.It’s so important to us to see our creations on the brides on their special day. Seeing them in our dresses is a nice way of sharing their special moments with us, it's such a prize for the designer.

The garments are produced in the European Union. Co-founders are meticulously working to choose low-carbon-footprint materials, ensuring that each work is crafted with care. The brand is committed to zero-waste practices, transforming leftover materials into superbly curated accessories. 

Embracing sustainability into their everyday practice, they are eco-conscious and considerate of the fact that other brands may advocate for repurposing formal wear but in a less-than-realistic way. BAÉ’s removable accessories can completely change each base garment, allowing the wearer constant customization. Reimagining the garments as they can be worn over and over at future events and special occasions is one of the most interesting parts of their practice. 

The brand is clearly a force to be reckoned with in the way of sustainability and efforts to move away from fast fashion. As our social consciousness continues to raise about the state of our planet, I find these garments particularly well-crafted and beautifully curated. I’ll be curious to see how each new collection of accessories allows the capsule works to be reimagined as trends shift and timeless pieces stay relevant.