Nelly Saunier, Plumassière

Nelly Saunier is most often to be found perched in her tiny atelier near the Parc Montsouris in Paris surrounded by an exotic array of peacock tails, ostrich plumes and radiant-hued hummingbird feathers. The 40-something Parisian is a rare bird herself, one of a disappearing breed of plumassiers who preserve the traditional art of featherwork, painstakingly steaming, trimming, heating and dyeing the exquisite, fragile feathers that once adorned imperial bedchambers and elegant women’s headgear, but which are these days largely restricted to the fantasy world of haute couture. Saunier has handcrafted extravagant one-of-a-kind flights of fancy for major fashion houses including Givenchy, Nina Ricci, Castelbajac and Paco Rabanne, and she has enjoyed a 17-year collaboration with Jean-Paul Gaultier, for whom she once created a dazzling parrot-feather bolero that required more than 300 hours of work. The plumassier’s craft demands manual dexterity, endless patience and enough physical stamina to survive the inevitable series of nuits blanches in the run-up to the twice-yearly couture shows. Saunier often has to play the role of interpreter, too, translating designers’ creative vision into a working maquette because only she knows how feathers will actually move on a dress. The Paris-based plumassière, who has won a number of awards for her work, including the 2009 Prix Liliane Bettencourt, regularly shares her experience and savoir faire with the next generation, teaching the fine art of feathering at the Lycée Octave Feuillet in Paris.

5 ave Reille, 14th, 06.60.95.67.31