Léo Lemée, 2023 LISAA graduate, designed France’s Eurovision outfit

Léo Lemée, a young French designer who graduated from fashion school LISAA Mode last year, designed the outfit worn by France’s Eurovision 2024 candidate, singer Slimane. The creator created a look inspired by his final bachelor collection at LISAA Mode.

The designer, who won the jury prize for best designer of the LISAA graduating class of 2023 was also one of the winners of the design contest at the Dinan International Festival of Fashion Designers in October 2023, where he won the Dinan Grand Prix in Menswear.

He contacted by singer Slimane’s stylist based on his instagram profile. The stylist contacted Lemée for a shooting for the French magazine Têtu.

The young designer submitted three items: a shirt, a pair of pants and a coat, all with a print he used in his final bachelor collection.

"He loved the cuts of the trousers, which fit him perfectly, and he liked the jackets because they came up to his waist," the young fashion designer told FashionUnited.

Slimane is immortalised with a flower in his hand, a sign of his peace & love spirit. The collaboration seduced the singer, who asked Léo Lemée to make him an outfit for the candidate who would represent France at Eurovision 2024 [which took place from May 8 to May 11].

And that's where it all came together. Léo Lemée designed a shirt, fastened with a single button at the collar, and a bib, tied at the sides, in a fabric recycled from curtains (and not from a mosquito net, as someone on social network X said), in a weft of fabric found at the Emmaüs charity shops, with a lot of openwork.

Eurovision France design by Léo Lemée respects the planet, promotes community spirit

"To give you the backstory," the young designer told FashionUnited, "the shirt ripped during a rehearsal and I had to find a solution in a hurry."

He continued: "I ran to one of the Emmaüs charity shops where I'd found the two curtain panels, but the second one was gone."

"I looked on the internet, but there weren't any left. I rummaged around in decorating shops and, in the end, I found almost the same fabric," he said. "I sewed up the shirt in the middle of the night".

The magic worked: the shirt, which Slimane chose to wear open, leaving room for a pearl necklace, blended in perfectly with the foggy scenography that the artist had chosen. He then went on to perform three choice pieces: a message of peace and love during the rehearsals, and an acapella performance worthy of an opera singer, which is likely to go down in history.

At the finals, France ended up in fourth place, one of the highest scores ever for the country in the singing competition, which has reached far beyond the borders of Europe.

This article was originally published on FashionUnited.FR. Translation and edit from French into English by Veerle Versteeg.