Biography -
In 2026, she founded XOA, named after her Vietnamese grandmother, who moved to France in the late 1940s and worked as a seamstress at Balmain. The name pays tribute to her family heritage. Primarily a menswear label, XOA proposes a contemporary vision of men’s clothing that combines elegance, originality and wearability: carefully crafted garments, distinctive in their cuts, volumes and choice of fabrics. One guiding principle underpins this approach: clothing should never constrain the wearer, but bring out the best in them.
Her first collection, Back to Black, inspired by Amy Winehouse’s song, exposes the construction of the garment by revealing elements that are usually hidden. Unlined pieces, transparency and construction details become part of its aesthetic. Wool, leather, organza, tweed and denim come together in shades of black, where contrasts in texture and layering create a structured, minimalist aesthetic. Selected as one of ten finalists at the 2025 « Festival International des Créateurs de Mode de Dinan », Daphnée presented eight silhouettes from the collection.
Interview -
Please share a bit about your journey to embrace fashion design as a career.
I have always been drawn to the way clothes are built, not just to how they look. What interests me is the relationship between an idea, a silhouette, a fabric and the way everything comes together through construction.
As I studied fashion, that interest became more precise. I realised that I was especially attracted to menswear because of its structure, its codes and the freedom you can find in reworking them. I like the idea of starting from something familiar and gradually shifting the proportions, the volumes or the details to create something more personal.
Creating Back to Black was probably the moment when everything became more concrete for me. It was the first time I really carried a collection from the initial idea through to the finished garments. Then, being selected as a finalist at the Dinan festival gave me the opportunity to present that work outside school and see how it was received. That experience gave me the confidence to continue developing my own direction.
How did you learn your skills?
I trained at ESMOD Paris from 2022 to 2025, where I studied both fashion design and pattern cutting. From the beginning, I really enjoyed being able to move between the creative and technical sides of a garment, because for me they are closely connected. During my final year, I specialized in menswear, which allowed me to deepen my understanding of cut, volume and construction while developing my own collections.
I am now continuing to develop this technical side of my work at AICP in Paris (Académie Internationale de Coupe de Paris), where I am specializing in menswear pattern cutting.
Who are you as a designer? Aesthetic? Customer? Brand?
As a designer, I am very focused on cut, volume and construction. I like garments that have a strong identity through their proportions, materials or details, but I also want them to remain wearable. For me, creativity should not make clothes difficult to live in.
With XOA, I am developing a contemporary vision of menswear built around a balance between elegance, originality and wearability. I am interested in creating pieces that feel distinctive without becoming overly formal or excessive.
Pattern cutting is also central to my approach. I do not see fashion design and construction as separate stages: they constantly influence each other, and this dialogue is an important part of the identity I want to build for XOA.
What comes easiest for you as a designer? What is hardest?
What comes most naturally to me is working with silhouettes, volumes and proportions, and then finding the right construction to bring an idea to life.
What I find more difficult is knowing when to stop. I tend to keep questioning a proportion, a detail or a construction because I always feel there may be another way to improve it. Learning to trust the balance of a garment and make those final decisions is something I am still developing.
Where do you find inspiration for new collections? How important is colour to your design process?
Inspiration can come from many different places. It may start with an image, a reference, a detail that catches my attention, an old drawing, or sometimes simply a fabric, its texture or the way it falls. I do not necessarily begin with a complete concept. I often develop an idea progressively, moving from a first visual impression to a silhouette and then to the way the garment can actually be constructed.
What comes easiest for you as a designer? What is hardest?
What comes most naturally to me is working with silhouettes, volumes and proportions, and then finding the right construction to bring an idea to life.
What I find more difficult is knowing when to stop. I tend to keep questioning a proportion, a detail or a construction because I always feel there may be another way to improve it. Learning to trust the balance of a garment and make those final decisions is something I am still developing.
Where do you find inspiration for new collections? How important is colour to your design process?
Inspiration can come from many different places. It may start with an image, a reference, a detail that catches my attention, an old drawing, or sometimes simply a fabric, its texture or the way it falls. I do not necessarily begin with a complete concept. I often develop an idea progressively, moving from a first visual impression to a silhouette and then to the way the garment can actually be constructed.
Colour is important, but it does not always come first in my process. I tend to think initially about silhouette, volume, proportion and material, and then colour helps define the atmosphere of the collection and reinforce its identity.
Frimas is a good example. After the almost entirely black palette of Back to Black, I deliberately wanted to move in a very different direction, exploring whites and ecrus with shades of brown, while introducing touches of olive green and tartan through the linings. That change of palette helped create a completely different mood while still remaining true to XOA.
The collection I will present in Vancouver is called Frimas. It is my second menswear collection and consists of eight entirely new looks.
The name “Frimas” is a French word that evokes the first cold days, frost and wintry mist. That atmosphere is reflected in the collection through a pale palette of whites and ecrus, punctuated by shades of brown, with touches of olive green and tartan appearing in the linings.
The collection is inspired by 1940s fashion, but rather than reproducing the period literally, I wanted to reinterpret some of its codes in a contemporary way. You can see this in elements such as high-waisted pleated trousers, broad shoulders, a fitted trench coat, adjustment tabs and trouser turn-ups.
In terms of materials, I worked with wool, leather, denim and gabardine. Rounded volumes, reworked proportions and contrasts in texture create a visual thread throughout the collection. Above all, I wanted the clothes to feel distinctive, but also genuinely wearable.
Do you have a favorite look in this collection?
I have several favourite looks in the collection, but if I had to choose one, it would be the look that closes the show: the gabardine trench coat with its tartan lining, paired with jeans also made from gabardine.
What I particularly like about this look is the way the tartan plays with the idea of what is hidden and what is revealed. It appears in the carefully finished lining of the trench, on the reverse side of the trench belt and as a bias detail on the turn-up of the pants. These elements are not immediately visible all at once, but they gradually reveal themselves through movement and closer attention.
Where can readers purchase your designs?
XOA is still at an early stage of development, so the collections are not currently available through retail distribution. At this stage, I am continuing to learn, develop my technical skills and refine the identity of the brand while working on new collections and future projects.
Anyone interested in the pieces, collaborations or upcoming developments can contact me directly through my website, Instagram or by email.
My priority is to keep learning and strengthening my technical skills. I have recently started a one-year programme at AICP in Paris, specialising in menswear pattern cutting, which allows me to build further on what I developed at ESMOD and through my workshop experience.
I also want to continue gaining professional experience, discovering different ways of working and learning from people with more experience in the fashion industry.
In closing is there anything else you'd like to share with readers?
Presenting Frimas at Vancouver Fashion Week is a very important moment for me. It is both a real opportunity and a great chance to present my work on an international stage, and I see it as an exceptional experience at this point in my journey.
Creating an entirely new eight-look collection in just a few months has been a real challenge, but also an opportunity to push myself further and clarify what I want to express through XOA.
I am especially looking forward to seeing how the collection is received by an international audience. At this stage of my journey, every reaction, conversation and piece of feedback is valuable because it helps me keep learning, questioning my work and moving forward.
Links -
Links -
- Website - www.daphnee-charot.com
- Instagram - @_.xoa.__
- Email: daphnee.charot@gmail.com
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