Communication Theory of Jacquemus

Jacquemus is an independent French fashion house founded by Simon Porte Jacquemus in 2009

The brand is known for its sunny Mediterranean aesthetic, emotional simplicity, playful proportions and strong visual storytelling. Jacquemus does not communicate only through clothes: it builds a complete lifestyle universe around summer, Provence, intimacy, beauty and personal memories

The brand does not communicate luxury as something cold, distant or strictly status-driven. Instead, Jacquemus creates a warm and human image of fashion, where clothes and accessories become part of a larger emotional world: childhood memories, family roots, summer, body, home, love and everyday beauty

Its positioning is based on the idea that fashion can feel personal. The brand’s identity is strongly connected to Simon Porte Jacquemus himself — his biography, his mother, his grandmother, his marriage, his children and his native Provence. Because of this, Jacquemus feels less like an anonymous fashion house and more like a personal universe that the audience is invited to enter

At the same time, Jacquemus remains highly aspirational. The brand uses the codes of luxury — runway shows, celebrities, iconic bags, strong visual campaigns and exclusive locations — but softens them through warmth, playfulness and sincerity. This creates a specific type of desirability: not only the desire to own a product, but the desire to belong to the brand’s emotional and visual world

Jacquemus targets a visually driven, fashion-conscious audience that values not only luxury products, but also emotion, storytelling and lifestyle identity

The brand speaks to people who want fashion to feel personal, intimate and culturally relevant. Its audience is attracted by the recognisable Jacquemus world: sun, Provence, family memories, playful objects, sensual minimalism and a feeling of effortless French beauty

At the same time, the brand’s audience is becoming broader. Jacquemus is no longer communicating only to young fashion girls who follow viral bags and Instagram trends. Through family imagery, intergenerational casting, references to children, grandmother figures and Simon’s personal life, the brand now also appeals to a more mature audience that connects with ideas of home, love, heritage and emotional closeness

Jacquemus communicates through a mix of digital platforms, fashion events, retail spaces and personal storytelling

The brand does not rely on one main channel only. Instead, it creates a continuous visual universe where Instagram posts, runway shows, campaigns, pop-ups, celebrity moments and Simon Porte Jacquemus’s personal image all support the same emotional message: warmth, intimacy, family, memory and the South of France

Jacquemus communicates through Social media, founder storytelling, runway shows, campaigns, pop-ups, celebrity visibility and e-commerce. Each channel works as part of one emotional system: social media creates instant visual desire, Simon’s personal presence adds authenticity, shows build the brand myth, campaigns translate family and intimacy into images, and retail spaces turn the Jacquemus universe into a physical experience.

For this analysis, we use two theoretical frameworks: the Elaboration Likelihood Model by Richard Petty and John Cacioppo, and Walter Fisher’s Narrative Paradigm.

The Elaboration Likelihood Model explains how persuasive messages are processed by the audience. According to this theory, persuasion can happen through two routes: the central route and the peripheral route. The central route requires attention, interest, and cognitive effort: the audience evaluates arguments, facts, product qualities, brand values, and credibility. The peripheral route works differently: the audience reacts to emotional, visual, social, or symbolic cues, such as beauty, popularity, celebrities, humor, scarcity, or aesthetic pleasure. This theory is useful for analyzing fashion communication because luxury brands often persuade not only through rational information, but also through atmosphere, desirability, and visual codes.

The second framework is Narrative Paradigm by Walter Fisher. This theory suggests that people understand communication not only through logic, but also through stories. A persuasive story should have narrative coherence, meaning internal consistency, and narrative fidelity, meaning that the story feels truthful and corresponds to the audience’s values and experience. This theory is useful for analyzing brand communication because many brands build not just a product image, but a whole symbolic world with characters, values, memories, places, and emotions.

These two theories were chosen because together they allow us to analyze both the mechanism of persuasion and the meaning of the brand story. The Elaboration Likelihood Model helps explain how the audience is persuaded through rational and emotional cues, while Narrative Paradigm helps explain how a brand creates a coherent and emotionally believable story.

Jacquemus uses both the central and the peripheral routes of persuasion. The central route appears in the way the brand builds credibility through Simon Porte Jacquemus’ founder identity, cultural references, recognizable design language, and symbolic runway locations. The brand presents itself not only as a fashion label, but as a personal and cultural project connected to French lifestyle, art, cinema, and the South of France.

Jacquemus runway shows also support the central route. Locations such as lavender fields, wheat fields, salt landscapes, museums, and historical spaces communicate the brand’s values: simplicity, sensuality, nature, French identity, and poetic minimalism. These settings make the brand world feel intentional and culturally meaningful.

The peripheral route is even more visible in Jacquemus digital communication. The brand often uses instantly memorable images: giant bags, bright colors, celebrities, surreal CGI campaigns, playful proportions, and short social media videos. These cues work quickly through emotion, humor, beauty, surprise, and social proof.

The giant Le Bambino campaign is a clear example of peripheral persuasion. It does not explain the material, function, or price of the bag. Instead, it creates an immediate visual reaction and makes the product easy to remember and share. Reposts by users, influencers, and fashion media turn the product into a viral fashion event.

Narrative Paradigm helps explain why Jacquemus communication feels emotionally coherent. The brand is built around a personal story: Simon Porte Jacquemus, his mother Valérie, his grandmother Liline, Provence, family memory, sunlight, rural landscapes, and Mediterranean simplicity.

The Jacquemus narrative has strong narrative coherence. The same symbols appear again and again: sunlight, blue sky, white clothes, fruit, flowers, stripes, countryside, simple shapes, and warm colors. Because these elements are repeated consistently, the audience can immediately recognize the Jacquemus universe. Even when the format changes — a runway show, an Instagram post, a CGI campaign, or a product photo — the story still feels connected.

The brand also has narrative fidelity because its story feels emotionally truthful and close to values that the audience can understand: family, nostalgia, beauty, freedom, simplicity, summer, and a slower Mediterranean lifestyle. The use of Liline Jacquemus as a brand ambassador strengthens this effect, because family memory becomes part of public brand communication.

Overall, Jacquemus communication is effective because it combines fast visual attraction with a coherent personal story. Through ELM, the brand persuades through credibility and emotional cues; through Narrative Paradigm, these cues become part of a meaningful and recognizable brand universe.

The main conclusion of this analysis is that Jacquemus has successfully transformed family values from a private biographical element into a strategic and commercially valuable part of its brand identity. The brand does not use family references occasionally or superficially. Instead, family is embedded into the entire communication system of Jacquemus: the brand name, the story of origin, the collections, the locations of shows, the visual codes, product names, beauty details, retail spaces, PR speeches, celebrity appearances, and social media narratives.

This makes the family-values narrative especially powerful. It does not function only as an emotional background. It becomes a structural principle of the brand. Jacquemus builds a world where personal memory, family heritage, Provence, childhood, motherhood, grandmotherhood, and now fatherhood are connected to fashion, desire, luxury, and cultural visibility.

To strengthen the existing model, Jacquemus could build a clearer communication architecture around the family narrative. At the center of this system should be the family core of the brand: Valérie, Liline, childhood, farming roots, Provence, and the newer narrative of Mia, Sun, and Simon’s fatherhood.

These narrative assets should be connected across all major channels: Instagram, TikTok, the official website, fashion shows, retail spaces, pop-ups, PR events, and celebrity placement. Each channel can play a different role. Instagram can create intimacy, TikTok can make the story playful and accessible, the website can become an official archive, shows can dramatize family memory, and retail can turn the narrative into a physical experience.