The online vintage clothing store opened its virtual doors a mere three months ago, but Dernier Cri has already garnered quite the reputation for itself.

Going against the French style grain, the e-shop offers distinct styles, with an emphasis on colour and personality. These are offerings you’d normally be hard pressed to find in Paris, a city known as much for being a fashion capital, as it is for having seasonal uniforms.

But that’s how Lucille Durez, the pint-sized blond force-to-reckoned-with, likes it. She and Dernier Cri are poised and ready to take on reluctant French women everywhere.

We sat down with Lucille at Dernier Cri headquarters, a studio nestled just behind Paris’ notoriously lush Buttes de Chaumont in the 19th arrondissement, and chatted about why London beats out Paris on the fashion scene, what "new vintage" is, and why running an e-shop is about more than just the online experience.

 Here in France, we spend so much time matching colors, styles, cuts, brands, materials. People here place more importance in brand names than in the final look of their outfit. Everything has to go together perfectly. It's boring

 WRG?: In a nutshell, what is Dernier Cri all about?

Lucille Durez: The basic idea is to offer more than your average selection in terms of clothing items. The idea came to me 2 years ago when I moved back to Paris. I had been living in London and when I got to France I was shocked at how sad fashion felt here in Paris. It's really expensive too.

So Dernier Cri kind of goes against that idea. We aim to offer anything but the basics. We kind of imagine each piece within the context of a complete look. Every item references a certain style, a certain time, and we play around with the different ways each piece can be worn. That's part of the how we pick the items we sell. Everything is sourced for its overall look and quality. We pay particular attention to comfort too. I mean, we're selling vintage clothing right. It can be really tricky with clothes from another time period. Materials have evolved a lot over the years, and we want everyone to feel good in what they have on.

So, I think that's what makes Dernier Cri different from everything being mass produced these days. All the clothes you see in the store have been very carefully tended to. There's a huge process to it: we examine every detail, wash the item carefully, iron it out and when the item needs a little extra love, we mend it back to life.

WRG?: Vintage clothing is a word that gets thrown around a lot, and in recent years its begun to take on a few meanings. What does Vintage mean for Dernier Cri?

LD: Okay, so the real definition of Vintage is  something that is second hand and that dates back a few decades. Strictly speaking, the time-range includes clothing brands from the 20's through to the 60's. But trust me, you don't actually want to wear those clothes.
They're really closer to outdated antiquities at this point. Pieces from those eras are really expensive too, so unless you're a serious collector who doesn't plan on wearing the items anyway, there's really no point.

But this also technically means that Dernier Cri sells second-hand clothes and accessories. There's such a negative stigma attached to the term because when people hear it, they think of clothes from today and from big name stores like H&M… Clothes that don't have that special quality to them.

"Second-hand shop" has become such a pejorative term. That's why I don't think many people (myself included) use it anymore. I like to think of Dernier Cri as offering "new vintage." Clothes from the 1960's to max mid 90's. But you won't see much 70's era stuff in our store. We're really not very fond of that time period, (laughs.) We also have accessories that are made with real vintage materials. We're all for repurposing. I think what we offer is also quite similar in style to what you might see on any street corner in east London.

What I love about the English is the attitude and style they exude. They seem to pay attention to detail in a different way. They manage to keeping things looking so relaxed, effortless.

WRG?: What is it about London that inspires you so much?

 L.D: I get lots of ideas from current designers, magazines, tumblr and old bands and artists, but London is particularly special to me.

I remember when I was younger and living in Lille, I loved trying to recognize English people in the streets. I would sometimes follow them a bit to see if they spoke English. And I was always right! (laughs) I know that sounds weird, right ?

When I lived in London a few years ago, I noticed that people don't have the same philosophy about second hand clothes that we do here in France. What I love about the English is the attitude and style they exude. They seem to pay attention to detail in a different way. They manage to keeping things looking so relaxed, effortless. And everyone always looks nonchalant.

Here in France, we spend so much time matching colours, styles, cuts, brands, materials. People here place more importance in brand names than in the final look of their outfit. Everything has to go together and there's always so much black, grey or brown. English people mix it up and just try things! There are no rules.

London was definitely a really refreshing experience.

WRG?: Let's be honest though, there is a ton of online vintage shops these days. From Ebay to Pixie arket, to Etsy to independent shops like your own. How do you make sure to stand out from the crowd?

Well, there's the selection like I said, and our prices are quite competitive. It's really important for Dernier Cri to send off items that look good, smell good, and that are nicely packaged as well.

But we also do all our lookbooks in-house. I really love collaborating with designers for our lookbook pictures too. It’s really important to me that we work with different people all the time. Everyone has a different style, a different point of view, and I love that. I don't want Dernier Cri to ever be frozen in any particular fashion moment.

WRG?: What has inspired you style wise most recently?

L.D: Hmm... Well first off, I can't believe we're already on the third lookbook! We're not sure who we're shooting with yet, but I'm really into a kind of beachy California vibe for Spring/Summer 2012. Fun girls, nothing too serious. Lots of colours... a late 60's kind feel with a wink at that whole roller disco phase that swept the states.

The fun thing about working in vintage, and having my store online is that I don't feel the need to keep up with the crazy pace of seasons that other fashion brands have to compete with. The whole point of a good vintage piece is that it's timeless. That's why you go back to it.

But our inspiration changes all the time. For the fist lookbook we ever did, I styled it and we took pictures around Paris with StayGold. Wundertüte was nice enough to do our accessories too which was great.

The girls were wearing wintery clothes withs lots of fur and these long vintage dresses. Some of my favorite shots from that day are pictures at Les Tuileries. There was a bit of a pin-up girl meets fun fair vibe to it, with a bit of rockabilly thrown in there too. I'm really proud of that lookbook, probably because it was the first one.

And then for the second one we worked with bag designer Nina Rossi, and with photographer Freddy D'Hoe. My friend Stephanie Semal did the styling this time around. The pictures were taken in Brussels and we went for a more grunge feel, kind of fresh and effortless.

WRG?: You do something that's pretty unique: you bring your online shop into the real work. At your inauguration party you brought a selection of pieces for people to try on and purchase if they wanted. Why do you find it so important to do that sort of thing?

LD: Actually, we just finished our first pop-up shop run! We were in a corner space in two different shops here in Paris. We also do shows every few months in France and sometimes elsewhere Europe. It's just really important to meet the clients, get to know them and let them actually touch and feel the clothes they're about to buy.

I also worked as a merchandiser for a while, which taught me how important it is to experience everything in the right setting. That means the lookbooks, that means the product shots in the online shop, and that means the physical set ups we have in stores. We actually invite our really devoted customers to see the new collection at a private location.

WRG?: Last but not least, care to share the inspiration behind the name Dernier Cri?

LD: "Dernier Cri" actually means brand-new in French, but it literally it translates to "last scream". I chose the name because it's an expression that has actually fallen out of our vocabulary in France but everyone still knows what it means. I was also into the idea of having a French store name.

The expression kind of describes what we do perfectly. We fix up these old pieces and get them ready for their last hoorah. Well, a few last hoorahs. If you treat them properly! (laughs)

[Photo credits] Photographer: Freddy D'Hoe | Model: Esther Simonet | Styling: Stéphanie Semal | Makeup: Lila Guéant Mup Artiste | Accessories: Nina Rossi | Clothing: Dernier Cri