NATACHA MORICE: FRANCE'S SMARTEST INFLUENCER?

From her hometown of Aix-en-Provence to the front rows of fashion-week shows, Loïc Prigent's funny and rigorous assistant finds herself in front of the cameras today. And tomorrow, the smartest arbiter of elegance in France?

When it comes to talking about professional trajectories, one of two possible scenarios is that they are written as a family. Naturally, we think of music and the Dutronc and Higelin clans, even of fashion with Versace or Fendi. At the Morices, it was through the father, Philippe Morice, that it all started: “Dad was an assistant director for cinema and television. I went very early on shoots. At the age of eight, I decided to take acting lessons, which marked me; I loved the backstage atmosphere. “For almost ten years, in parallel with school, Natacha has fun on the boards; without forgetting her main passion: fashion. "  When I was little, I disguised my stuffed animals with bits of fabric... I never thought I was going to become an artistic director or a designer, but I I was fascinated by this game." When asked if she was a flirtatious child, Natacha recounts what she calls her "first fashion whim". A revelation much more than a sudden and passing desire: "My mother had bought me yellow jeans. On paper, these pants promised a super beautiful chick yellow, magnificent... When the thing arrived, it came out a mustard color: filthy! I remember very well that I refused to wear it. That's when I thought I was screwed. We have an eye, maybe, but we're dumb. »

IDEA FIXED

From her very first internship, at the age of 14 – still thanks to the family lever –, the schoolgirl joined a luxury brand, the time of two weeks of observation: " The cousin of my mother worked at Dior Parfum. She found me this job which consisted of following the person in charge of training Dior official make-up artists and masseurs. I spent my days on the same floor as the marketing department, so I could see a bit of everything. At 14, Natacha already had a first idea of ​​​​the environment and the strings that must be pulled to move to the next level.

What's next? At 17, the teenager finds herself propelled to the designer Pierre Hardy, specializing in the creation of luxury shoes. Again, thank you dad: “Before becoming an assistant director, he worked at the Paris Opera. Pierre Hardy also worked there, he took care of the jewelry inventory. They connected and Pierre suggested that I come to his company for two weeks. As part of the press service, Natacha goes from observation to action. Responsible for preparing the shopping bags, that is to say, responding to requests from magazines that want to organize shootings, she multiplies the round trips to the showroom (Ali Baba's cave of fashionistas).

Determined, she then joined Sciences Po Lille, motivated by a fixed idea: to specialize in fashion show production. With her head in books (on socio' and philosophy of art or aesthetics) and in the magazines (Vogue, Dazed & Confused, i-D, WWD, Madame Figaro), Natacha is perfecting her culture of the milieu .

“MY MOTHER’S COUSINE WORKED AT DIOR PARFUMS…”

For her final rehearsal, she headed to Eyesight, a Parisian production company specializing in fashion show production. Enrolled in an internship as assistant project manager, Natacha is at work for "  all stages of the events: from the search for places to the launch of the models on the podium". She continues: " It was really what I wanted to do for years. At least that's what I thought... After six months, I realized that this work was too limited to the executive aspect. I thought about it, and I thought about Loïc's documentaries again. What charmed me was not the parade itself, but rather to transmit all the magic around it. “It turns out that the answer to his questions has only one name, Loïc Prigent. During one of the Fashion Weeks on which she intervenes, they finally meet: “I went to see him and I forced fate: “Hello, I am Natacha Morice, I would like to make documentaries in fashion, except we have a little problem. I only want to do it with you, how do we do it?" ".

FACE CAM’

An excess of zeal that sealed his arrival at Deralf, a documentary production company – co-produced with Bangumi – founded by Loïc Prigent. Her new mentor believes in her, although she "knows nothing about the world of television". In six months, Natacha fills this void and learns to film, edit, tell a story, create a rhythm... in short, to make the link between brands and the public. A "punctuated training (the 60-minute Les Dessins d'Yves Saint Laurent, or the trip to Venice to accompany Xavier Veilhan during the Biennale). Jack-of-all-trades, influential and now indispensable, her boss is reassessing her position. In the middle of summer 2017, she became its producer and Loïc Prigent involved her from A to Z in the preparation and then the distribution of documentaries: from the editorial part to post-production, from writing to the briefing of the teams: everything pass by her.

At the beginning of 2021, it's the consecration: Natacha goes from the backstage to the screen. Loïc Prigent decides to found a new format facing the camera for his pupil, Les Codes de la mode. The principle ? Ten-minute explanatory videos (" great little stories often forgotten ") on the big luxury houses: why is Dior's Saddle bag called? Where does the Vuitton monogram come from? All posted on Loïc Prigent's YouTube account. Result ? Millions of views for capsules broadcast directly in digital – making Natacha, working among more or less interchangeable influencers, the most necessary fashion “passer” of these years of vertiginous transformation for the sector.

By Jacques SimonianPhoto Alexandre Lasnier