The first time Lucien Pagès and Isabelle Chouvet talked about his agency joining The Independents, the communications group she founded with her husband Olivier in 2017, was in September 2022. They were in Blue Ribbon Sushi, on Sullivan Street in New York, so of course they codenamed their secret negotiation Blue Ribbon. And, of course, that’s where they went on Wednesday night to put ink to paper, to seal the deal.
But the story starts years earlier. Pagès and Chouvet both hail from the Cévennes, a mountainous region in the south of France where tiny villages line single lane roads, and the carpenter who’s working on your place is likely to be roofing someone else’s down the valley. Which is how Pagès first heard of Isabelle and her husband Olivier. “They do the same job as you,” said his friend Emmanuel, who was working on the Chouvets’ house. He sent Lucien a link.
It turned out baby Isabelle and her family had dined often at Lucien’s dad’s Michelin-starred restaurant in Vialas. But they never laid eyes on each other, at least as they recall. Still, hailing from the same region creates a bond. Chouvet hadn’t been to Vialas since her parents died. When she came for lunch with Pagès, nothing had changed. The table where her family sat was still there. “The connection between both of us has always been like that,” Chouvet says.
So that’s a partial explanation for why Pagès, crowned “the PR prince of Paris” in BoF last February, has signed on with the Chouvets’ 16-strong stable of agencies, meaning The Independents — which raised $400 million from TowerBrook Capital Partners and FL Entertainment last year to fuel growth and fund further acquisitions — has an even more formidable grip on the PR and production teams who shape the way the world sees fashion.
Isabelle compares it to an orchestra, or a puzzle. “And when we feel that a piece is missing, because of the way brands want to communicate or to be visible on the market and they need that piece, we will find the best expert and we will add them.”
So what was the piece that Pagès represented? “Who else has been developing what he has been doing over the past years with such energy, charm, knowhow and humility?” she wonders out loud. “And the way he approaches clients or the designers he’s working with. He’s always around them. His organization is very designer- and client-centric. So, it was a natural fit.”
For Pagès, it helped that Alex de Betak was already there. After Karla Otto’s agency, his Bureau Betak was one of the Chouvets’ original pillars and De Betak has since become the group’s creative chairman, helping to set strategy, attract top talent and identify new acquisition targets. “He’s a friend and we work together on many projects,” Pagès says.
But also, as has been obvious to anyone who knows Pagès well, building his business has exacted a personal toll. “I was stressed because I was alone and I was carrying it all on my shoulders. Responsible for 50 to 60 staff, responsible for the rent every month. Clients asking you for a discount, clients complaining, clients leaving you.” When he talks about how much he loves the creative side of his job, the support he can give designers, there’s a clear subtext. The demands of the business distracted him from that. And now? “Isabelle and Olivier get right away what I’m saying, because they had the problem in the past with other companies so they come with a solution. It’s really a relief, just to feel the support of people who know my job.”
“Now we share the shoulder,” Chouvet agrees. “I’m an entrepreneur. Olivier and I left Tokyo with our two suitcases, our two kids, and we started our company K2 from scratch in Shanghai. All of us took our different directions but in the end, we are the same. That’s why we created this group, The Independents. When you’re an entrepreneur, it’s super-complicated to be alone and to develop, and also the more the clients develop, the more they need to have a global footprint with a local understanding and execution.”
As for synergies, “they’re already happening,” says Pagès. “I already have synergy with Betak, with Prodject, with Jan Kennedy. Now we’ll be able to exchange even more.”
But where The Independents holds most promise, as far as I’m concerned, is in its potential to help develop young designers. When I first met Pagès in 2010, he was representing one designer, the young American Adam Kimmel. (There are more than a hundred names on his list of clients now.) “I think Karla helped young designers a lot and created a new way of doing PR. Alex De Betak was supporting Jacquemus from the beginning. Anthony Vaccarello, when he had no money, you know. So yes, maybe I have more in my roster, maybe I bring more new names.”
Which means Pagès’s presence in The Independents has the potential to help incubate fashion’s future. “It was part of the discussion from the beginning,” he confirms. “Olivier told me that he wanted my expertise on young designers, because the salt, the foundation, of our job is to protect creativity.” Quite how that will play out will be more apparent in the coming season when The Independents will help a couple of dynamic young businesses take flight.
