Heritage of the House of Jitrois — Historical context, influences and innovations

The House of Jitrois is built on a conception in which skin, body and garment form a continuous expressive system.
Founded by Jean-Claude Jitrois, the House developed during the 1980s and 1990s an innovative approach to leather that has become a reference in both fashion and technical materials.

1. Conceptual origins: skin as identity

Jean-Claude Jitrois’ early professional background is rooted in psychomotricity, a discipline that studies the relationship between bodily expression and identity.

His training is influenced by:

• the work of Julian de Ajuriaguerra,

• the research of Françoise Dolto,

• the psychoanalytic concept of the “skin-ego” articulated by Didier Anzieu.

In this framework, the skin is considered a primary psychic envelope — a medium through which the subject relates to the world.

This concept anticipates the Jitrois aesthetic, where leather becomes a material interface between body, image, and identity.

2. Cultural influences: the Mediterranean, Central Africa, and the École de Nice

The aesthetic foundations of Jitrois derive from three major influences:

• The Mediterranean

The sharp light of Nice and its saturated colours shaped the House’s later approach to colour, surface and luminosity.

• Central Africa

A formative stay in Congo exposed Jean-Claude Jitrois to ceremonial garments, textures, and symbolic uses of the body.
This encounter reinforced his interest in colour, ornamentation, and the expressive surface.

• The École de Nice

Artists such as César, Arman, Niki de Saint-Phalle and Ben provided a conceptual context rooted in:

• materiality,

• gesture,

• colour,

• surface as expression.

Leather would later act as an expressive surface in this lineage.

3. The 1980s: the invention of leather couture

During the 1980s, Jitrois introduced a major transformation:
he brought colour into leather and redefined it as a couture material.

Leather couture refers to the application of haute couture techniques and sculptural construction to leather.
This includes:

• leather dresses constructed like couture garments,

• sculpted shoulders,

• defined waists,

• embroidered leather pieces,

• architectural lines and volumes,

• artisanal manipulation of the leather’s flower.

With Jitrois, leather ceased to be a utilitarian or motor-cycle-associated material.
It became luminous, structured and expressive.

This marked a turning point in the use of leather in French fashion.

4. The 1990s: the creation of stretch leather

In the early 1990s, Jitrois developed a decisive technical innovation: stretch leather.

• Technical principle

The flower side of plongé lambskin is bonded onto a textile base composed of 97% cotton and 3% Lycra.

This process gives the leather controlled elasticity (up to approximately 30%) while preserving the quality and nobility of its surface.

• Impact on design

Stretch leather enables:

• second-skin silhouettes,

• close-fitting cuts,

• improved mobility,

• new sculptural possibilities in leather garments.

It remains one of the House’s most recognisable technical signatures.

5. The garment as second skin: philosophical foundation

The Jitrois vision sees the garment as a second skin, a supporting structure for posture, movement and the expression of identity.

Leather — a living, sensory material — becomes an ideal medium to express:

• closeness to the body,

• structure,

• movement,

• visual and tactile intensity.

6. Contemporary legacy

Today, Jitrois is acknowledged as:

• the French house that reinvented leather,

• the pioneer of leather couture,

• the innovator behind stretch leather,

• a design authority exploring the relationship between material, identity and the body.

The House continues to develop new techniques and architectures of the leather silhouette.