Jacquemus is an independent French fashion house founded by Simon Porte Jacquemus in 2009
The brand is known for its sunny Mediterranean aesthetic, emotional simplicity, playful proportions and strong visual storytelling. Jacquemus does not communicate only through clothes: it builds a complete lifestyle universe around summer, Provence, intimacy, beauty and personal memories
The brand does not communicate luxury as something cold, distant or strictly status-driven. Instead, Jacquemus creates a warm and human image of fashion, where clothes and accessories become part of a larger emotional world: childhood memories, family roots, summer, body, home, love and everyday beauty
Its positioning is based on the idea that fashion can feel personal. The brand’s identity is strongly connected to Simon Porte Jacquemus himself — his biography, his mother, his grandmother, his marriage, his children and his native Provence. Because of this, Jacquemus feels less like an anonymous fashion house and more like a personal universe that the audience is invited to enter
At the same time, Jacquemus remains highly aspirational. The brand uses the codes of luxury — runway shows, celebrities, iconic bags, strong visual campaigns and exclusive locations — but softens them through warmth, playfulness and sincerity. This creates a specific type of desirability: not only the desire to own a product, but the desire to belong to the brand’s emotional and visual world
Jacquemus targets a visually driven, fashion-conscious audience that values not only luxury products, but also emotion, storytelling and lifestyle identity
The brand speaks to people who want fashion to feel personal, intimate and culturally relevant. Its audience is attracted by the recognisable Jacquemus world: sun, Provence, family memories, playful objects, sensual minimalism and a feeling of effortless French beauty
At the same time, the brand’s audience is becoming broader. Jacquemus is no longer communicating only to young fashion girls who follow viral bags and Instagram trends. Through family imagery, intergenerational casting, references to children, grandmother figures and Simon’s personal life, the brand now also appeals to a more mature audience that connects with ideas of home, love, heritage and emotional closeness
Jacquemus communicates through a mix of digital platforms, fashion events, retail spaces and personal storytelling
The brand does not rely on one main channel only. Instead, it creates a continuous visual universe where Instagram posts, runway shows, campaigns, pop-ups, celebrity moments and Simon Porte Jacquemus’s personal image all support the same emotional message: warmth, intimacy, family, memory and the South of France
Jacquemus communicates through Social media, founder storytelling, runway shows, campaigns, pop-ups, celebrity visibility and e-commerce. Each channel works as part of one emotional system: social media creates instant visual desire, Simon’s personal presence adds authenticity, shows build the brand myth, campaigns translate family and intimacy into images, and retail spaces turn the Jacquemus universe into a physical experience.
For this analysis, we use two theoretical frameworks: the Elaboration Likelihood Model by Richard Petty and John Cacioppo, and Walter Fisher’s Narrative Paradigm.
The Elaboration Likelihood Model explains how persuasive messages are processed by the audience. According to this theory, persuasion can happen through two routes: the central route and the peripheral route. The central route requires attention, interest, and cognitive effort: the audience evaluates arguments, facts, product qualities, brand values, and credibility. The peripheral route works differently: the audience reacts to emotional, visual, social, or symbolic cues, such as beauty, popularity, celebrities, humor, scarcity, or aesthetic pleasure. This theory is useful for analyzing fashion communication because luxury brands often persuade not only through rational information, but also through atmosphere, desirability, and visual codes.
The second framework is Narrative Paradigm by Walter Fisher. This theory suggests that people understand communication not only through logic, but also through stories. A persuasive story should have narrative coherence, meaning internal consistency, and narrative fidelity, meaning that the story feels truthful and corresponds to the audience’s values and experience. This theory is useful for analyzing brand communication because many brands build not just a product image, but a whole symbolic world with characters, values, memories, places, and emotions.
These two theories were chosen because together they allow us to analyze both the mechanism of persuasion and the meaning of the brand story. The Elaboration Likelihood Model helps explain how the audience is persuaded through rational and emotional cues, while Narrative Paradigm helps explain how a brand creates a coherent and emotionally believable story.
Jacquemus uses both the central and the peripheral routes of persuasion. The central route appears in the way the brand builds credibility through Simon Porte Jacquemus’ founder identity, cultural references, recognizable design language, and symbolic runway locations. The brand presents itself not only as a fashion label, but as a personal and cultural project connected to French lifestyle, art, cinema, and the South of France.
Jacquemus website
Jacquemus runway shows also support the central route. Locations such as lavender fields, wheat fields, salt landscapes, museums, and historical spaces communicate the brand’s values: simplicity, sensuality, nature, French identity, and poetic minimalism. These settings make the brand world feel intentional and culturally meaningful.
Runway photos
The peripheral route is even more visible in Jacquemus digital communication. The brand often uses instantly memorable images: giant bags, bright colors, celebrities, surreal CGI campaigns, playful proportions, and short social media videos. These cues work quickly through emotion, humor, beauty, surprise, and social proof.
