Stephan is wearing Le pull Frehel in Navy color, Le bandana Frehel in Navy & Off-white color and Le pantalon Métis in Off-white
SEPTEMBER 2025 - A FEW DAYS AROUND FREHEL AND ERQUY
During my last visit to Paris, I stumbled upon an old book about the island of Bréhat. It’s called L’île de Bréhat, published by Louis Aubert – Saint-Brieuc, 1948.
When I opened it, I found tucked inside the dust jacket a map of the island, a postcard, and three old photographs that must have been taken by the previous owner.
I’ve only recently started exploring Brittany, a region of France I didn’t know at all. I had always been more drawn to the Mediterranean, but after visiting the knitting factory next to Mont-Saint-Michel, we decided to spend a few days near Fréhel. I discovered a part of France that is breathtakingly beautiful.
It was autumn—cold, sharp, and incredibly windy.
On the recommendation of my Breton friend Ariane, we went to Plage du Portuais in Erquy. We parked and walked through a pine forest for about ten minutes, eventually reaching a large wooden staircase that dropped straight down to the beach.
Portuais was stunning: vast, raw, and swept by wind, with pink stones covered in black mussels. The water was a deep turquoise.
We stayed for a few hours, taking photos of the BORN.AT.SEA prototype wool sweater and striped wool bandana we had picked up from in Saint-James the day before.
During that time, we saw several people swimming in the freezing water. They always headed to the far right corner of the beach, undressed, and dove naked into the waves. They stayed in the water for five or ten minutes, then dressed again and left.
It felt like an ancient Breton ritual—something that gave strength, energy, and maybe a sense of belonging.
After that day, I became more curious about Brittany and its people, who seemed so singular and rooted.
I had always heard that Bretons were great travelers.
I have Breton blood on both sides of my family. My maternal great-grandfather was Breton and went to Madagascar—then a French colony—in the 1930s to try his luck. There, he met my madagascarian great-grandmother, and they had my grandfather together.
On my father’s side, my grandmother used to tell me that one of our Breton ancestors went fishing around the island of Terre-Neuve and may have had children with an autochtone woman there.
This might explain the Mongolian spots that some of the descendants had as children, and our slightly Asiatic traits. I guess i will never know if this is true...
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