In this FRONTPAGE interview, we find out what makes the founder of Pigalle, Stéphane Ashpool, tick. From basketball courts and his community to creative chaos and his home country, enter the magical world of the French designer.
Stéphane Ashpool answers my 9 a.m. Zoom call bang on time from his Paris apartment. Backward cap, laid-back demeanor, colorful jacket, and a vibrant attitude to match. “Can I call you back in 10 minutes?” he says. “I need to feed my baby; she kept me up all night.” He’s known as a man of the people, if you haven’t heard, both within the fashion industry and beyond — and already, I get why.
Ten minutes later he’s back, but this time, he’s sitting downstairs in his local café. The woven bistro chairs and red awning couldn’t be more Parisian if they tried. “One sec, let me ask the coffee guy if he can lower the music a bit. He’s a good friend,” Ashpool chuckles.
There’s a lot of momentum for the born and bred Parisian right now, who founded streetwear brand Pigalle back in 2008. Almost everything Ashpool does involves his community, country, and sport — his holy trinity, you could say. In January 2022, Ashpool was in the thick of preparing for his Pigalle FW22 runway show at Paris Men’s Fashion Week when his phone rang. “I got a spontaneous phone call from Le Coq Sportif and the Paris 2024 Olympics team. They came to my office soon after, where a one-hour chat turned into three.” Ashpool was asked to design the official uniform for the French Olympic and Paralympic national teams. That's 40 Olympic and 24 Paralympic sporting disciplines – an honor, albeit a mammoth task.
Le Coq Sportif, a homegrown French label with 142 years of expertise in footwear and sports apparel, was, of course, the go-to choice when it came to manufacturing the garments, and partnering with Ashpool only doubled the connection to their country’s origins. “We signed the deal in three weeks. Straight away, I was sent to East France, where the LCS factories are located, to meet the team and the athletes.”
For Le Coq Sportif and Ashpool, the goal was to produce everything locally, a challenge that most brands won’t take. “Le Coq Sportif pushed themselves by buying factories around France. This meant they became one of the only brands allowed to produce more than half their gear on French soil,” he explains. “So this was my challenge. I had a reduced team, reduced capacity, and everyone telling me it would be impossible — but I knew the creative I wanted to achieve.”
Talking to the athletes was an integral part of his creative process. It might seem obvious, but making sure each garment moved, breathed, and stretched in tune with the competitors was paramount. “So many small things from our discussions changed the way I approached the design,” he explains. Some were practical, others were symbolic, but all of them are why beauty lies in the little details. “They told me the path to competing in the Olympics is never linear — this is why the seams on the kits are curved.” With keywords and anecdotes from the athletes fueling his sartorial steps, Ashpool spent endless nights in his studio — or “kitchen,” as he calls it (he thinks of himself as a baker exploring new techniques and layers) — scheming and connecting with his roster of suppliers and vendors he’s worked with over the years.
First up was Chanel. Earlier this year, Galerie du 19M, a cultural hub in Paris’ 19th arrondissement that Chanel opened in 2021, gave Ashpool a carte blanche to create some couture pieces for its latest exhibition, “Figure Libre. Stéphane Ashpool.” This was Ashpool’s entrée to Chanel’s specialty ateliers, where he learned embroidery and weaving techniques that continue to influence his design now. For his Olympics moment, Ashpool returned to the Chanel ateliers. “They did tests just for me so I could embrace and feel the color. I wanted a balance between elegant off-tones of white and the gradients of red and blue to represent the flag,” he says. “My hand-dyeing guy did 100 different tests for me to see the vibrancy, too. It was tricky to pull off some of my vision, but all the yarn, all the cotton, all the things that you see, are woven in France. I’m super proud of what we did.”
This attention to detail and way of working is something that Ashpool has never really let go of, especially when it comes to Pigalle (named after the neighborhood he was born in and still lives in). “I always told my parents that I was so lucky to be born in this area, at the border of two different worlds. It’s a melting pot,” he says. “On one side, you have the gritty roughness of the North, and the other is the chic Parisian sensibility that everyone knows and loves.” During the Belle Époque in the early 20th century, the North was a haven for artists like Van Gogh, Renoir, and Mondrian with its village-like streets and historic architecture; but in came some debauchery as the infamous Moulin Rouge cabaret shows picked up, with Pigalle eventually becoming known as Paris’ red-light district. Regardless of the long-standing stereotype the North has faced, it’s not short on artistry and creativity — and for Ashpool, his surroundings, the people he meets, the places he habitually visits, and the sensory overload of his home are what fuel the designs and physicality of his label.
It’s said our brains develop and absorb the most until the age of five — and Ashpool clearly absorbed all of Pigalle during his childhood years. We’re an hour into our conversation; cars honk incessantly, neighbors wave as they pass, but none of it bothers Ashpool, whose eyes twinkle as he disappears into a nostalgic haze. “Paris was and is full of eccentric people. Dad worked in knitwear design. Mom was a ballet dancer from Sarajevo. I grew up surrounded by discipline and creativity. The queer scene around my mom was electrifying; the extravagance of some of the personalities and outfits I saw back in the ’60s when she worked with Paco Rabanne was so eye-opening for me,” he explains. His mother helped models perfect their walk down the runway, thanks to her performance background, so Ashpool was constantly around the buzzy energy of the fashion world. “People weren’t shy, and this led to my curiosity in that world. ‘Rabanne is using metal, wow. Mugler makes me feel like I’m in a circus! Ah, Gaultier has these ruffled collars!’ It was a representation of my neighborhood and the people around me. Now it’s normal, but back then, it was magic.”
Describing his style as a “good balance between masculine and feminine,” Ashpool recalls how it wasn’t just the vivacious characters and industry-defying fashion that he clung to. “Sport has always been in my DNA… basketball dictated my life from the very beginning,” he says. “At six, I was training four times a week till I hit my twenties. My mom gave me this mentality of ‘if you’re losing by 10 points, you can still win with 20,’ which trickled into my basketball and general career.” For 10 years, Ashpool played at the highest level for Paris’ official team, turning down opportunities to pursue a career in the sport for the French NBA equivalent. Now, he coaches the local youth team, Pigalle Basketball 9, and has used his love of the game to continue merging sport and fashion.
Ashpool is well aware of fashion’s recent embrace of all things sports, heightened by the rise of blokecore and terrace culture. “It was never a trend for me,” he says, “it was just what surrounded me.” In a zeitgeist where athleisure trends take center stage, thanks to the likes of Martine Rose, Gucci, Wales Bonner, and Gen Z Vinted lovers, Ashpool isn’t worried about the future of the two overlapping worlds. “The level of creativity is so high, the stories are so strong. I’m happy to see designers making things with a full heart.”
You’ll find Ashpool pours almost all his heart into Pigalle. Every plan he has for his brand centers around fusing the worlds of sport and fashion, whether it’s through physical spaces, local activations, or clothing. The same year he started the brand, he opened the first Pigalle shop. Initially a multi-brand store focused on sportswear, it ticked the boxes during the inception period, becoming a community space and platform for other younger brands; however as time passed, Ashpool felt a need to fine-tune the concept. “I’m reopening the shop now under the name Souvenir Pigalle. It’s a mix between a souvenir and museum shop, selling everything from cups and T-shirts to basketballs. I want to offer things you can bring back as a memento from not only Paris but the court, too,” he says.
All these years later, he remains just as dedicated to the glorious game of basketball as he was in his twenties. “I’m producing a special basketball sneaker, too. We’ve been working hard on making a technical shoe for the game outdoors, which is really not easy.” Known for his expert eye when it comes to tailoring, his detailed embroidery skills pulled from his Eastern European background, and his deep understanding of streetwear design, it’s no surprise that Ashpool has 15 runway shows under his belt. “My main motto is to use fashion as a medium to create different things. A show, a soundtrack, a party, a basketball court.”
Speaking of courts, you’ve seen the famous Pigalle court that he unveiled in 2009, right? The one where UK rappers Dave and AJ Tracey shot the music video for their hit single “Thiago Silva”? Well, the story behind it runs deep. Roused by the murder of a young person in his neighborhood, Ashpool worked with Jacques Bravo, the district mayor at the time, to set up a makeshift basketball court in an abandoned parking lot near his old school. “I put some nets up in the hope of turning the space into a sports hub to keep the kids busy, to make a safe space. Two years later, Nike called and said they’d give me a budget to repaint it — the rest is history.” History, and an example of his love of design and basketball that has inspired sister courts around the world.
Using basketball to bring the younger generation together reinforces the notion of Ashpool as a community-focused creative. His Pigalle court opened over a decade ago, and now, the kids who played there are all grown up. “We stuck together as a family,” Ashpool says. “My other store was taken over by this 22-year-old kid, Theo. I met him on the court when he was eight. He looks like me, actually,” Ashpool laughs. “He’s an amazing creative now, so I gave him my shop to develop his business.” In addition to literally making space for the young talent he’s met on the court, Ashpool takes them on trips abroad. “We speak about projects, we travel the world. We’ve been to the Philippines, Japan, to the US, and to the French countryside.” Ashpool is a father figure for many of them, and the court itself is something like their home. When I ask him about the future of the court, he winks, “There’s something big in the works — just stay tuned.”
Ashpool proves, time after time, that sport can be used as a vehicle for social change. “Community is a big part of Pigalle’s identity,” he says. “Being authentic to who you are is most important. I’m trying to put words into things that I just do without thinking, but I’m someone who is spontaneous — I do, and I think afterward.”
And that’s just it. Despite his impressive résumé, Ashpool continues to evolve, and remains humble. “I’m a good student, but I’m still a student nonetheless. I try not to plan too much and be independent. Freedom is the best luxury, trust me. My life’s like a DJ set, not an album that finishes after 10 songs.” The patriotic Frenchman has never strayed far from his roots, his people, or his home. “You know, I watch success from afar. It’s something so personal. I just drink my coffee and stay in my own lane.”
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