Sophie Mechaly: Biography and Background

Sophie Mechaly (born 1967), previously known as Sophie Albou, is a Paris-born designer best known as the founder of the Paul & Joe clothing line. The daughter of Yvan and Nicole Haggiag, a clothing company executive and designer respectively, Mechaly worked for the clothing company Azzedine Alaia in 1983, and was later educated at the Sorbonne and the Institut Français de la Mode.

In 1995, she started a menswear company called Paul & Joe, adding a womenswear line in 1996. The first show in the United States was opened in New York City in 1996.

Mechaly opened another store in Notting Hill, and also has a store in Covent Garden. The London stores were closed due to what was rumoured to be financial trouble – they reopened in 2009, with the explanation that it was simply restructuring.

Mechaly partnered with American apparel company Urban Outfitters to produce a female casualwear line, Rendez-Vous, in 2011.

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