Alexis Mabille

It's the brand's whole idea, so this is the most on-brand thing you can buy. Mabille set out to reinvent the bow tie — which in France had been seen as old-fashioned — and turned it into his logo and the common thread running through both his menswear and womenswear. The pieces drew praise from figures as exacting as Karl Lagerfeld and Mick Jagger. If you want one signature object that captures the house, the bow tie is it.

Mabille trades on couture-trained craft and a witty take on dressing-up. He came up through serious houses and reinvented the bow tie as his calling card, then built ready-to-wear collections "lauded across the fashion world". The make is rooted in real Paris couture discipline, so expect refinement and detail rather than throwaway fashion — the appeal is taste and craft over loud branding.

Both — that's the point. When Mabille launched his label in 2005 the designs were unisex, and he chose the bow tie precisely because it could be the common denominator between menswear and womenswear. So a Mabille bow tie isn't strictly a men's neckpiece; it's a unisex signature meant to cross wardrobes, which is exactly what made it feel fresh.

Alexis Mabille is a French fashion designer, born on 30 November 1977 in Lyon, who is the creative director of his namesake label. He grew up in a middle-class family with a fashion-minded mother who taught him to use a needle and thread; as a teenager he already designed clothes for the Lyon opera and a growing list of clients. The name on the label is a real, hands-on couturier.

At the heart of Paris fashion. In 1995 he enrolled in the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne and graduated early, in 1997, thanks to his precocity at couture design. He then trained at Ungaro and Nina Ricci before moving to Dior — strong houses that shaped the refined, couture-grounded sensibility his own label is built on.

Yes. At Dior, then-creative director John Galliano noticed Mabille's talent and appointed him to design the 1997 accessories collection for the house — a major success. He also collaborated on the men's jewelry collection with Hedi Slimane, who would go on to head Dior Homme, and worked alongside houses including Yves Saint Laurent and Lancôme. It's a serious pedigree behind a young designer's name.

He launched his namesake label in 2005, beginning with those unisex, bow-tie-led designs. The couture milestone came in 2008, when Alexis Mabille showed at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week for the first time — the step that placed his house among the most rarefied tier of French fashion.

Thoroughly French. The designer was born in Lyon and the house is a Paris label — Mabille himself lives in the Marais, the historic district at the centre of the city's creative life. Everything about the brand, from its couture training to its reinvention of a very French accessory, is rooted in that heritage rather than imported style.

It was a deliberate provocation. In France the bow tie carried an old-fashioned, slightly countrified image, and Mabille wanted to reinvent it — making it modern, unisex and his own emblem. By adopting it as his logo and a unifying motif across men's and women's collections, he turned a dated accessory into the instantly recognisable signature of the house.

Gently, since silk and delicate construction reward a light touch. Keep a bow tie flat or loosely shaped rather than over-tightened, store it away from direct sun to protect the colour, and have anything silk dry-cleaned by a specialist rather than washed at home. For couture-level garments, professional cleaning and careful, padded storage will keep the hand-work and structure looking as intended for years.