The word ‘couture’ literally means ‘sewing’ in French. But when we say ‘haute couture’ (or high sewing) we are talking about the most exclusive hand-sewn garments. Only about a dozen certified fashion houses worldwide are allowed to use this protected term in an official capacity. The word couture is just one example of how the French language is woven into the history of fashion, and how learning French brings us closer to understanding many chapters of fashion history.
Alex and Tom established their online French school in 2020. Two native Parisians who in the middle of the Covid pandemic, pushed to build this project. Five years went by, and AT Frenchies has over five million followers across social media platforms and over a thousand members who have joined the AT Frenchies club to learn French with no books, no boring lessons, and bringing people from all around the world to practice French in real-life situations.
Alex is a Leo while Tom is an Aquarius. Leo is enthusiastic, and Aquarius is innovative. Leo is fire. Aquarius is air. But besides the zodiac signs and the social media posts, the friendship and partnership between Alex and Tom goes back to when they were 12 years old. Political Fashion's Javier Luna sat with them to speak about the origins of AT Frenchies, French fashion and so much more.
Alex and I —during the pandemic, we had a choice to make. Tom explained. Either to go back to France and probably be stuck because all of the airlines stopped flying, and it was hard to move with everything that was going on around the pandemic. We could either try to stay here in the US as long as possible or go back to France because all the borders were closed. So we decided to stay and go on vacation together. And when we were in Charleston, South Carolina. We asked ourselves. What else can we do? So we created a social media account together and had some fun and just went for it and told our stories. We just talked about everything that we were doing. Then we wondered if there was anything special that maybe we have? Alex said: "I mean, I guess we're French, and we can pronounce words, and we can teach people how to live the ‘French Way, teach people how to dress the French way, how to be French and make it humorous, and hopefully people will like it." And that's how it started for us. We love doing it, so we just kept going and just kept making content every single day since 2020.
It was never really us that chose to become AT Frenchies. It was really the people who chose us to become AT Frenchies, because they really saw those two French guys having the potential to share everything.
Tom and Alex are teaching classes, traveling together, going to events together, generating content together. It is very clear that you are both very mature and you get along very well.
Tom: Since we were 12 years old, we played soccer together back in France, and ever since we were friends, he was a goalkeeper and I was a striker, so we were playing on the field. And since then, we've been friends, and we've done everything together. We graduated at the same time. We went to the US at the same time, high School as well. Yeah. So everything that we've done since we were 12 was kind of parallel. And then when we decided to go to Charleston during the pandemic, then we created something together.
Alex: I'm more of the guy who always want to do something, always have these ideas, always want to like be too spontaneous. Tom is the calm and I am the storm to put it one way. We are like the ying and the yang.
One of the reasons why I wanted to start learning French, is because there's a lot of French history that is only written in French. When you translate it to other languages, it just doesn't come up the same way. What other reasons have you heard from people who are learning French?
Alex: When you learn French, it is one of those languages where you don't just learn a language, you learn a lifestyle, you learn a culture, you learn how to live. And the beautiful thing about the French language is there's so many expressions and words that are very philosophical that you can apply to your daily life. Recently, we've made a video about the expression ‘I miss you.’ How in French, we say you're missing from me, or that, for example, we aren't our age. We have our age, because that's something you can control.
Tom: Lots of words from the English language are taken from the French. I believe 35% of the English language is composed of French words. There are words like Dépaysage. It means for you to be lost in a new kind of landscape. So it’s a word that’s not translated in other languages.
Alex: There’s also the word 'biffler', which means slapping someone’s face with one’s penis. It’s a very popular word.
In an aggressive way or in a sexual way?
Alex: Any way you’d like! It’s a very funny verb.
I wanted to ask about your experience with French fashion, because i feel that from an American perspective, we are uplifting and worshiping French fashion. From the way they protect it from the legal standpoint, to the source of inspiration for many artists across the world. How do French people interact with fashion in the day to day?
Tom: It's funny that you ask this question because we recently asked ourselves that question. For us, it's completely normal to interact with fashion because it's, I mean, we were born in Paris, we are seeing those brands all around the city and people wearing them. People dress very uptight and very neatly.
It's very special for us to recognize that other countries see it (fashion) as a format of art, see it as a form of reconnection for our country, because it shows that what the French are doing in fashion is the right way to do it, or that it inspires other people to try and do the same thing.
And it's something that I guess I'm very proud of, because it shows that our culture is very neat and special and focused on things that other culture would not be able to do as well
Alex: When you grow up in an environment, you don't realize how different and how good it is until you travel. Which is why we always encourage people to travel, to grow, to understand how the world works. And so, for us we're very minimalist when it comes to fashion. I think that there's the stereotype that sometimes French people have this talent of wearing things that no other people can.
I just like a nice little white shirt with jeans white sneakers and a clean pair of sneakers or chelsea boots. I think that French fashion is being recognized by French people who can wear whatever they want to wear and look great in it because of the attitude that they are showing around. I see people sometimes dressed in a way where I'm like, Oh, you can tell that this is out of character. In Paris. I cannot tell you one person like, for example, today, if they're dressed the way they are usually dressed, or if they're maybe out of their comfort zone, it's just so natural. Everybody's so pretty in the street because it's so natural.
It’s very common to see people being more interested in clothes from other countries but their own. Latin American countries who prefer American brands, and then American brands who prefer European brands. From your perspective, do you believe French people like French brands?
Tom: We love French brands, but we also like other ones! I guess it’s because you want to discover other people’s culture and clothes are a way to do that.
Alex: You have two different type of people, You have people that are gonna buy expensive piece of clothes, but maybe save more money. So instead of going to the mall every weekend and going to H&M and Zara, you have less of people doing that, and more people saving and buying an expensive piece of clothes. And so I think in the US, it's the opposite. You have more people being leaning towards going on Shein, going on Asos and buying cheap dresses instead of maybe going to the thrift store. So I think that there's also ways of shopping that are very French, but I don't think the French are trying to buy French. They're just trying to buy quality.
What about the rivalry between Italy and France? In terms of fashion, coffee, and wine?
Tom: That’s just social media. We love Italians, we are basically cousins.
Alex and Tom have been outspoken about how they want to keep their personal life private. They are not seeking to be in the cover of a specific magazine, win an award, or receive a check for a certain amount of money. As AT Frenchies continues to grow and evolve with the continuously volatine digital world. How does success look for Alex and Tom in the next few years?
Tom: I would say success for me, is mostly when we are happy with what we're doing and we'll still enjoy it. We love the school, we love the club that we have, we love teaching, we love posting on social media. We love going to events. We love meeting new people. So as long as we love doing that, that's success to me. We also love to have our free time on our own and be with our friends, be with our family, travel and being together, and having those moments where we can laugh and we can chat and we can just be ourselves. So it's really just about staying true to who we are, but also being able to grow what we already have in our business. And I guess that's what success is to me.
I don't have any like goal in mind of where to be in 10 years, but as long as we're happy and we're having fun together, that's success to me.
Alex: The most French thing about Tom, and I is that we're not that money driven. We don't wake up in the morning thinking 'You need to make this amount of money.' 'We need to be super rich.' Yes, of course, we all want to be rich, but we also all want to be happy. We all want to have a stable mental health. I think that that's what we're prioritizing, making sure that we're happy in our lives, that everyone around us is healthy, and that's what makes us happy, and that's what we define in success. The money will come by doing things that we like, you know, the French club, social media events. We know we will never do something for money, if not Tom and I will just build an only fans and we'd be really rich. Will that make us happy? I guess we'll never know, but I'm pretty sure our friends or our family will be like, What are you guys doing? It's nothing related to French. So yeah, keep doing things that are making us happy as the key to success.
Follow Alex and Tom at @atfrenchies
Learn more about the ATFrenchies club at atfrenchies.com
