Emma Brois is a french designer who one day decided to change the game and create a fusion of clothing that gathered her passions, football and unapologetic women. Combining lingerie, corsets and football shirts she embarked on a journey of upcycling with a clear vision of helping the planet and transforming the rules of fashion in the country of the fashion industry.
Hi Emma ! A pleasure to have you with us today, can you tell us a bit about yourself and 3 things our readers need to know about your brand ?
Hi Tamia! So happy to be here. A little bit about me: I’m French, grew up in London, and I genuinely feel the influence of both cultures in everything I do and create. I’d describe myself as an extrovert and a do-er: I love being in action, I love life, and I’m endlessly fascinated by how many things we get to experience and try. We’re spoilt for choice, and I thrive on testing myself and learning new things.
Now, three things you need to know about DILEMMA:
First, it’s a sustainable brand. We upcycle sports jerseys and lingerie corsets to create something entirely new. We refuse to mass produce or add more waste to the world, instead, we give dismissed garments a second life.
Second, it’s for everyone. The aesthetic is definitely niche, but I believe the story is universal. That feeling of being stuck in a dilemma, I think most of us know it. That’s what connects people to the brand.
Third, DILEMMA exists to push boundaries. If you feel a little uncomfortable looking at it, I’m probably doing something right.
What motivated you to create your brand ?
Two passions that have nothing to do with each other, and everything to do with each other.
Football first. I started playing at a really young age and I just loved it. The pitch was my happy place, and still is. And then lingerie, corsets specifically. My grandmother passed down her vintage collection to me and I was obsessed. Two totally different worlds that somehow both made me feel completely myself.
What was interesting is that somehow, both of these worlds were frowned upon for a girl. A football pitch isn’t exactly where society expects to find us. And despite being sold images of confident, desirable women from a very young age, actually wanting to embody that was equally frowned upon. The message was contradictory, too soft for some spaces, too much for others. It makes it genuinely confusing to find your place as a young girl when the goalposts keep moving.
So defiance is where it started. And it went a little something like: Oh, you’re uncomfortable seeing me in a corset? Too feminine for you? Oh, you don’t like seeing me in a football top? Not for girls, apparently? Make it make sense, I’ll wait. In the meantime, I’ll be wearing both at the same time.
I had a vision that didn’t exist yet, so I made it for myself. And it turned out people loved it!
What inspires you as a designer ?
Powerful women, first and foremost. I was raised by two incredible women, my mother and my grandmother. My grandmother was this completely magnetic, unapologetic woman who took up space like it was the most natural thing in the world. And my mother, in her own different way, has that same strength. They’re a great example that grace and power are not opposites. They can live in the same person, just like in the same garment.
Sports and football specifically, one of my biggest inspirations. Playing was when I felt most myself: wearing my little jersey and high socks, stepping onto the pitch. It felt like armour and it made me proud. And then there’s burlesque, the polar opposite, or so it seems. I was always drawn to corsets because aren’t corsets a kind of armour too?
In my mind it’s all connected: football, burlesque, strength, sensuality. Supporters idolise football players like gods, just as a performer on stage becomes this untouchable, luminous goddess. There’s something almost animalistic in both sport and sensuality. To me, everything runs in parallel.
Who are 3 artists, art movements, or people that inspire you to create in your daily life ?
Honestly, my biggest source of inspiration is the people around me, and I say this as a true extrovert. How fascinating is every individual? We all carry our own qualities, our own contradictions, our own beautiful imperfections. I actually built my second campaign, Individuality Prism, entirely around my friends. Created some amazing visuals and wrote a little texts about each of them and their personal dilemmas. That’s how central people are to what I create.
In fashion, my holy trinity is McQueen, Galliano and Westwood. They were all, in their own way, provocateurs. McQueen’s silhouettes were both brutal and breathtaking, challenging what clothing was even allowed to do. Galliano brought theatre and excess, reminding us that fashion could be a form of radical self-expression. And Westwood, the godmother of punk, took the energy of a subculture that actively rejected the establishment and dragged it onto the runway. Punk itself is a huge reference for me: it was born from refusal, from people who didn’t fit the mould and decided to make the mould irrelevant. These three proved that fashion could be a form of movement. That’s exactly what I’m trying to do.
How was it to start playing football as a child before clubs and academies had women’s teams in them ?
I had the time of my life! It might have been tough at times. Football is a male-dominated industry and that came with challenges. But those challenges changed me for the best, and I wouldn’t trade those memories for anything.
At 14, I was legally required to stop playing with the boys, a safety regulation at the time. So at 15, with the support of my academy, I founded the club’s first girls’ division. Today, six teams are still thriving, and they were even featured on the England national football team’s Instagram, which still makes me so proud. The road wasn’t easy: low numbers, tight budgets, complicated logistics. But the passion was there and we made it work!
Looking back, being told I couldn’t do something was almost the best thing that could have happened to me. It became fuel. It doesn’t really matter what people say or how they make you feel. What matters is how you react to it.
How do you view the division between masculine and feminine clothing ?
Men and women are physically different, so it makes complete sense that two distinct worlds of fashion evolved from that. And I think it’s a gift. Because now we have two incredibly rich universes to draw from, to explore, to collide. The division created the contrast, and contrast is where things get interesting.
Think about how much territory exists between a corset and a football jersey. Between lace and mesh. Between structure designed to contain and structure designed to perform. These two worlds were built with completely different intentions, different wearers, different codes, and yet when you place them side by side, something electric happens. The tension between them is exactly where DILEMMA lives.
I’m not trying to erase the distinction, I’m interested in what happens when you refuse to choose between them. That’s my playing field.
What is your dream as a designer ?
I have so many!
In the short term, I have a full collection designed and ready, and my dream is to produce it in deadstock fabric and present it in my first fashion show. I even have the show concept ready. I love performance and spectacle. However, budget is the reality check. And I think that’s something nobody talks about enough. Money is so often the only thing standing between a creative person and their vision. Will it happen tomorrow? Probably not. But a girl can dream. For now it lives in my sketchbook.
Long term, if DILEMMA ever grows into something bigger, I want to use it to support young girls around the world. Football moments are some of the best memories I have and it was also my escape. Tought me about community, discipline, passion and respect. I want to share that with younger generations. DILEMMA has always been about giving people the space to be fully themselves. Sport did that for me and I want to pass it on.
If you had the opportunity to develop your brand, would it be in Paris or London ?
This might be the most fitting question you could ask me, because I genuinely don’t know, which feels very on brand.
My heart says London. It’s where I grew up, where I feel most myself, most alive. The energy, the subcultures, the people. I’m a London girl, and I won’t pretend otherwise.
But my head says Paris. We all know there is only one true capital of fashion. The industry, the credibility, the PR, the access to EU. if I’m serious about building something, Paris makes sense strategically.
And then I go back and forth. Would I be happier in London? Probably. Would DILEMMA have more visibility in Paris? Also probably.
I guess I need to add this to my list of dilemmas. Time will tell.
Would you like to collaborate with any specific brand, artist, space ?
Nike or Adidas, of course! And I mean this very specifically: I’m not interested in them producing something new for me. What I’d love is access to their unsold stock, the jerseys from past seasons that never made it off the shelf. That way it remains true upcycling. I’m not creating more waste, I’m rescuing what already exists. As DILEMMA grows, keeping that sustainability commitment intact is non-negotiable for me.
That said, I wouldn’t say no to one super limited, exclusive drop using current World Cup jerseys. The cultural moment alone would be insane.
And then there’s the collaboration that feels most personal: working with a football club, specifically around their women’s team. Because DILEMMA has always been about promoting women in sport and reclaiming it as feminine. Giving visibility to women’s teams and celebrating what they represent is fully part of the mission. Arsenal, if you’re reading this: notice me pleaaaase 😀
Do you have any projects coming up ?
There’s so many things I want to do!
Right now I’m finishing up current orders, and once those are done I’m dropping a new collection timed around the World Cup, made entirely from deadstock jerseys I’ve been hunting down in vintage stores. I’m also currently editing a campaign photoshoot that I can’t wait to share.
And then onto the next thing, and the next.
The runway show is still the big dream, and I mean it when I say I will do everything I can to work towards it. I genuinely hope this is just the beginning. Watch this space.
Thank you so much for supporting my project, it means the world to me.
