peut ĂŞtre Issue 6
Laure-Lucile Simon wears Adeline André décapotable dress
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CONTENTS
Issue 6
Chris wears Leutton Postle jumper
A WORD FROM THE EDITOR POLAROID PORTRAITS Chris Arundel CHRIS DIARY Chris Arundel INTERVIEW Adeline André BEHIND THE SCENES Adeline André INTERVIEW Laure-Lucile Simon BEHIND THE SCENES Anna Björnfot BEHIND CLOSED DOORS Petit h REFLECTIONS Fashion as a social phenomenon LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT Klara & Sher Khan BEHIND CLOSED DOORS Sophie Hallette PORTFOLIO Moonassi HELLO DE LOU CONTRIBUTORS
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peut être Issue 6
On our cover : Chris Arundel - New Madison Models / No hair - No make up On our back cover : Headpiece and vintage fabric from my personal collection
A WORD FROM THE EDITOR
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This issue is probably my most personal issue so far, being mainly about people I got to know thanks to Peut-Être who have become very special to me in a very short time. I first spotted model Chris Arundel when browsing through internet pictures of a London Fashion School graduate show in June 2012. A few weeks later he was in Paris for Men’s Fashion Week, and I found out he was supposed to go back to London the day after. I booked a shoot with him the next morning before he took the Eurostar, preparing the vintage headpiece and velvet fuchsia fabric I had planned to shoot with, hoping the Polaroids would come out as good as had I imagined them in my mind. I was very happy with them and the digital pictures, and also with the fact that Chris told me he also shoots Polaroids and was studying illustration. When I offered him a copy of Peut-Être I was surprised by the attention he paid to every single page he flicked through and how relevant his comments were. I proposed to follow him and take candid pictures of his everyday life, which he accepted. I have combined this series shot in Paris and London between July and September 2012 with my flower pictures, which are a big part of my very personal body of work.To me, those dyptichs sometimes make the pictures have a dialog, interacting with each other. At other times they could be like a mirror, one could embody another. This series is the first of a recurrent theme in Peut-Être: Chris’ diary. In addition, one of the pictures in the diary was taken on the train on our way to Sophie Hallette’s factory, as we headed to Caudry in the north of France. There, we discovered the pure magic of a place with old pianolooking machines and cards that resembled organ partitions, which were built more than 100 years ago. These were alongside the latest innovative computers, symbols of the perfect balance between tradition and modernity. Maud Lescroart, director of Sophie Hallette lace, and PR Sonia Lemagen welcomed us in a friendly and warm atmosphere where we felt how much they cherished the company and the people working there, knowing every employees’ name. I am sure this is the beginning of a very fulfilling and exciting adventure with Sophie Hallette. In june 2012, I bumped into fashion designer Adeline André when I got out of the tube station going back home. I immediately recognized her with her red hair. I have always admired her work, how delicate and pure her dresses looked, and how obstinate she was to stay faithful to her vision in a never-ending search for purity and simplicity. I said hello and asked her if she lived nearby. She told me she had her studio across the street and invited me to visit it. A few minutes later I was sitting at a table with her, her companion Istvan Dohar, and her assistant Mia, drinking tea and having a delicious lunch. Since then we have become friends and I feel really honored to have had the opportunity to shoot her beautiful pieces (and even lucky to wear some of them), hoping the pictures do justice to the perfect cut of her clothes and the amazingly bright or delicate colours she uses for her silk fabrics. Sometimes coming back from a weird shoot can bring you one of the most precious friendships you could ever have in a lifetime...
Nathalie Malric, editor in chief
All images copyright © Nathalie Malric unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without permission from the publisher. Copyright Peut-Être magazine 2011-2012
POLAROID PORTRAITS
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Chris Arundel New Madison Models
July 2012
CHRIS DIARY
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Chris Arundel July / September 2012
Leutton Postle jumper
Leutton Postle jumper worn as a hat
INTERVIEW
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Adeline AndrĂŠ
Fashion designer
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Born in French Equatorial Africa, young Adeline André dreamt of a career as a fashion photographer. Whilst studying fashion design at the prestigious École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, Adeline took art classes as an extra, and had classes in Salvador Dalí’s studio. After graduating in the early 1970’s, she gained experience in haute couture at her first job assisting Marc Bohan at Christian Dior. With support from their friend Nicolas Puech-Hermès, she and Hungarian architect Istvan Dohar founded the Adeline André label. Her eponymous label debuted in 1982, showcasing her now trademark three sleeve-holed garments closed without buttons or any kind of fastening, which she patented at the Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle. In 1997, not only was she was inducted into the Syndicate de la Haute Couture as an official member of haute couture, but she was also appointed Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture, the highest honour for artistic merit. Drawn to theatre and dance, she lives up to her title and applies her skills to costume designs for contemporary theatre, opera and ballet, relishing the challenge of fashioning innovative outfits with their various technical and artistic constraints. Nathalie asked Adeline André to talk about her body of work. Interview Nathalie Malric - Text Clarice Chian - Translation Istvan Dohar - Proofreading Plum Le Tan
Peut-Être: Adeline, how would you describe your work and in what direction did it evolve since you started ? Adeline André: When I think about my first collections, for instance the one I designed for Createurs Industriels in 1976, it looked very similar to my present ones: reversible garments (two different fabrics sewn together as a sheath dress). I still continue to use this technique of lining. I’ve never produced clothes with a ‘normal’ lining. They don’t have any shoulder padding or canvas interfacing. I use only top quality plain-coloured fabric in different colour combinations. Since the beginning, I draw silhouettes with a three-quarter profile, because I imagine the clothes in three-dimensional volume. At the Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale of Paris I learned to create patterns on a wooden mannequin, but I found it very constraining because, most of all, I loved to draw, but understood that my imagination would always be limited by a body and its movements. In 1981 I founded my company with Istvan Dohar, an architect and designer, and very naturally our work focused on the essentials: the cut, the construction, the fabric: we avoided any decoration. The movements of the body which inspired certain cuts, such as the 3 arm holes designed in 1980, the twisted pant-dress and the free-leg dress in 1983, and later the ‘convertible’ back and the arm-in-arm dress, are cuts I reused for costumes in Trisha Brown’s “Set and Reset, Reset” ballet or Alfredo Arias’s “Aimer sa mère” theatre play. The first pullover with rolled hems that I designed and presented in our show in March 1986 sold like hot cakes all over the world. The rolled hems were a detail I also used on cardigans, skirts and dresses, which we produced bespoke to private customers. The tactile effect of fabrics interest me enormously, its authenticity and intrinsic matter, going from a heavy, itchy Harris tweed to a crepe georgette or a light, transparent silk organza, moleskin, woven woollen fabric, cashmere, lightweight woollen voiles. All almost without exception in a plain colour or mottled. Then there are the
fine, light two-sided materials, such as cashmere, wool and silk that I use separated, folded and sewn without any hems or facings. And let’s not forget the many bias cut dresses that flow with the body, in varying degrees of transparent silk, with their layers of transparency. As well as the many spectacular dresses, despite their apparent simplicity. From the start I loved Fashion because of its vivacity, it was always changing, inspiring passions about the originality of a proportion, a look, the fabric, details, colours, the originality of a new silhouette. Right now, fashion doesn’t seem so lively. To be accepted today in the fashion world, one must accept to copy or be copied, which normally I had never imagined. Fashion is slipping away from me, but I continue to be as passionate by research. Adeline surrounds herself with friends, artists, intellectuals and her private, devoted clients to present her collections in an intimate atmosphere. For her recent Couture presentation, Adeline asked Peut-Etre’s founder and photographer Nathalie Malric to model two of her breathtaking creations. Now, Nathalie shares her own experience at Adeline’s show: Clarice Chian: Nathalie, how did it feel being asked to walk for Adeline André’s Winter 2012 Haute Couture collection, following in the footsteps of models Anh Duong, Angela Wild, Dovanna, Terry Toye and Eugenie Vincent? Nathalie Malric: When I was asked to walk for Adeline, I felt it was a big honour. I wished I had been taller and skinnier, I definitely don’t look like a model, but it was such an honor to be asked to walk for Adeline that I couldn’t say no. I remember twenty or so years ago watching her shows on the television, and I have since really admired her work... You are usually backstage taking photographs of models, but this time you were the model. What was it like? I arrived at call time just after I shot the Polaroids with Chris
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(Arundel) that are in this issue. Call time was 2pm, and the show was at 6.30pm. We had our hair and make up done, the blunt fringe, very red lips, and pale skin. During hair and make up all the girls wore a white wrap mini dress that looked so 1960’s. I loved it; I think I could wear it as a dress with white patent boots! The casting impressed me because there were girls of different ages, all very beautiful, with strong personality; they were not models but were all beautiful. Axelle works in an art gallery, Ines is a writer and poet, and Esther is both Adeline’s seamstress and a psychology student. It was great being backstage, and not only as a photographer. Although I couldn’t help taking pictures whenever I could! What did you think of the outfits you and the other models wore? I was impressed by the brightness and purity of the colours, how the dresses looked when they were worn, which was so different and alive when compared to them being on a hanger. Seeing the looks worn and up close, I could appreciate in three dimensions the delicacy of the stitches, buttons, pleats, and even the straps... I was worried because I thought I had to look good and do justice to the dresses. I couldn’t hide behind a look that would look more like a costume. They were really feminine dresses, some of them transparent or very sheer. The shapes and colours were so refined and beautiful! Adeline is known for displaying her models in original and inspiring settings such as art galleries, ateliers or her friends’ salons, where was this collection shown? It was in the garden of architect Dominique Perrault’s gallery, and Adeline’s plate collection for the Manufacture de Sèvres was also exhibited. We first walked in the gallery filled with miniature projects and architecture, and then we walked out in a garden. It was really impressive because the audience was so close and at the same (ground) level. Luckily it was very sunny otherwise we would have
walked inside. Adeline showed us where to walk and where to stop, asking us to walk very slowly, not the usual ‘model’ walk, rather, she wanted us to walk as if we were wandering, taking our time. I was nervous, as this made me more aware of the audience. Despite it being outside your comfort zone, it sounds like an incredible experience. I loved the whole experience, especially being backstage with other models, seeing all of them dressed and wearing a beautiful bright red, fuchsia or orange-red lipstick by make-up artist Joséphine Bouchereau. Joséphine is very faithful to Adeline because she understands her vision. Hairdresser Guillaume Bérard cut me a blunt fringe and straightened my hair, which was a change from usual wavy and messy hairstyle. Despite my nerves everything went well, it was so nice to be part of such an intense moment, to see the dresses, their amazing colours, and the details. I truly admire Adeline’s work.
“When I design a garment, I’m always trying to simplify, keep it pure, keep bearing in mind the sketch which inspired me to create this model, yet without destroying my vision; I feel as if I’m walking along a tight rope, on a wire…”
BEHIND THE SCENES Model : Laure-Lucile Simon Make-up : JosĂŠphine Bouchereau Shoes : United Nude Thanks to Galerie Anne de Villepoix
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Adeline AndrĂŠ Haute Couture Fall Winter 2012/2013
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French couturier Adeline André values harmony and balance. Balance between form and function, fabric and colour, clothing and the female body. She belongs to the traditional class of couturiers, to whom couture is a fashion atelier where new silhouettes and techniques are developed. As such, Adeline commits her efforts to the innovation of design, studying ‘new’ methods of tailoring, such as the invention of knits with rolled hems, which has since become universal. Steadfast to her goal of simplifying and purifying each garment to the utmost limit, she eliminates and takes off as much as she can, earning her the nickname ‘mother of minimalism’. Behind the apparent simplicity of her collection is the designer’s strong pursuit for architectural beauty. However, attaining simplicity can be a remarkably difficult process. Underpinning each simple silhouette is an intricate procedure of bias cutting, draping and doubling fabrics. The resulting designs are structurally complex whilst aesthetically pure. “One must never feel the effort, it should remain a breath…” says Adeline. Adeline presented in july 2012 a minimalist collection of 19 looks at the garden of architect Dominique Perrault’s gallery. The construction of the garments was completely effortless and pure, with barely a hem turned back, and no lining or apparent seams to disrupt the integrity of the weightless fabrics. Fabrics are of great importance to Adeline, and she included wool voile, silk crêpe georgette, satin and chiffon in this collection: ‘it’s the fabric itself which gives the structure. I’m not at all interested in twisting the fabric out of shape, or supporting it artificially. That’s not clean, or neat. For me, it’s just not modern. I like it when all that is seen is all that’s there. You see the fabric, and that’s it’, she said. With a colourful palette that included mimosa and jasmine yellows, purple, poppy red, cobalt and Sevres blue, nude and whites, this collection featured long, fluid dresses that flowed around the body in beautiful silks. Soft ‘drawstrings’ tied the dresses at the shoulder or neck, gathering the neckline into a delicate blouson. One standout ‘convertible back’ blue dress was an ingenious design that could be changed from demure to incredibly sensual with the mere pull of its ‘drawstrings’. Highlighting Adeline’s skills as a couturier down to the finest detail, the ‘drawstrings’ were in fact queue-de-rat, a traditional couture method that translates to ‘rat tail’. In order to produce them, long strips of silk are painstakingly rolled gradually and sewn down to the finest possible string-like circumference. The end result resembles a delicate leather cord, and a single length takes many hours to roll and sew. Adeline has used queue de rat in a variety of ways in her designs, as graceful ties around the neck or shoulder straps, as delicate belts on long-line dresses, or to hold rectangular tunics close to the body at the front, whilst leaving the back flowing and voluminous. Adeline reprised her signature ‘three-armholes design’, applying it to several garments in this collection: as a coat, jacket, and dress. Patented at the French National Intellectual Institute, this design is also represented in the collections of three museums worldwide: the French Fashion Museum, the Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T) in New York and the Fashion Museum in Lisbon. This technically demanding garment has been worked and reworked in the designer’s collection for many years. With no buttoning, closure or detailing, it is constructed on the concept that the wearers roll themselves up in it. As a jacket or coat, its dart less, straight sleeve construction create minimal and boxy graphic shapes that seem to be held together on their own, finished with a single smock-like flap. With her consistent understated style, Adeline’s designs are as timeless and wearable today as her first collection presented in 1982. She has redefined the perception of what couture is, balancing art with fashion. Clarice Chian
INTERVIEW
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Laure-Lucile Simon
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French actress Laure-Lucile Simon was born in Paris and graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique. The twenty-seven year old actress is currently acting in a play directed by Benoît Giros, which is inspired by the famous movie ‘The Rule of the Game’ by Jean Renoir. We’ll find her again next spring at the Comédie Française in a play directed by Lilo Baur. After walking for Bernhard Wilhelm and Martin Margiela, she was asked by Adeline André to wear the ‘convertible back’ Sèvres blue long dress in her Fall/Winter 2012-2013 Haute Couture show. She shares with us how she became Adeline’s muse and her love for her work. Interview Nathalie Malric - Translation Istvan Dohar - Proofreading Chris Arundel and Clarice Chian
Peut-Être : Hello Laure-Lucile, how long have you known Adeline André and how did you meet? Laure-Lucile Simon : I met Adeline André last spring; a mutual friend introduced us.
What are your future projects? I am currently performing in a theatrical play inspired by Jean Renoir’s film ‘The Rules of the Game’ and am rehearsing a play by Marcel Aymé for next spring at the Vieux Colombier Theatre.
Right after seeing your portrait she wanted to ask you to model even before meeting you. She also told me in confidence that besides your beauty you embody a real personality, the real chic. I didn’t know that. I’m very touched by her compliments. You’re not a professional model but you have already modeled for Martin Margiela and Bernhard Wilhelm. How do you feel like before a fashion show, is it stressful knowing you’re observed from all sides even though you’re used to it on stage as an actress? I don’t believe I am able to be ‘accustomed‘ being on a stage, however it may be. Striding up and down a space with the only purpose to show the dress you wear would be perilous, but with Adeline you’re not just a ‘model’, but also a woman. A woman who’s giving life to the design she wears deploying herself in the space at the same time. How would you describe Adeline’s work and could you tell me what seduces you most in her dresses? Adeline André work is in the great beauty of the fabrics, purity of colours and shapes, simplicity and sophistication at the same time, the definition of elegance. What could seduce more? What are the pieces you prefer most in her collections? I particularly love the Sèvres blue ‘convertible-back’ long dress and the ‘seismic’ pleats dresses. In what way do you think your universes merge? I think of the fairy in the fairytale ‘Donkey skin’, where with a wave of a magic wand she dresses the heroine into a time coloured, moon or sun coloured gown. In Adeline’s dresses the fabrics are so beautiful and soft, the shapes fit the body’s movements perfectly, giving you the sensation of a living dress breathing with you… I admire this wave of magic, which actually is a real feat of strength.
“Adeline André is great beauty of the fabrics, purity of the colours and the shapes, simplicity and sophistication at the same time, the definition of elegance. What could seduce more?”
BEHIND THE SCENES
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Anna Bjรถrnfot Atelier Chardon Savard - Final thesis project
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After completing her preparatory studies in Sweden, designer Anna Björnfot left for Paris to pursue her dream of becoming a designer, developing her creativity and honing her designing skills at the Atelier Chardon Savard. It was during her second year at the Atelier that her interest in knitwear sparked. “My grandmother and mother have always knitted by hand; however, I don’t have enough patience to do that. It wasn’t until I started knitting on machines in school that my interest really awakened.” This interest grew, and intrigued by its possibilities, Björnfot decided to focus on this technique in her third and final year at Savard. For her final thesis project, Björnfot’s collection was first shown at the end of year show at Cirque d’Hiver, which was later selected to be exhibited during the haute couture fashion week at Garage Turenne. The 27-year-old designer from Lund, a small university town in the south of Sweden, paraded playful silhouettes in delectable gelati colours. Aptly named ‘Riviera’, this collection exuded fun and seaside glamour. Björnfot’s drew inspiration from art and costume history, playing with the codes of femininity whilst reinterpreting knitwear techniques, placing an emphasis on vivacity. “I was drawn to art nouveau and Seguy for the use of colour and graphics, while David Hockney provided me with an atmospheric backdrop to what I wanted to express. Inspired by his world while glancing at 70’s colour photographs of the American seaside, I created the scenery for my garments to come to life.” As a result, her clothing featured colour blocking and stripes in pale blues, pinks and yellows. The shapes and formal aspects of Björnfot’s collection primarily grew from technical experimentations, adapting knitwear techniques as she went along to give shape to her ideas. This involved different creative stages - knitting the fabric, draping, sewing together and adding finishing touches. The knitwear techniques gave Björnfot’s full control of the visual result, as she took advantage of the properties of the materials to create lightweight knitted tunics, hooded cloaks and bodysuits. Using a range of materials such as viscose, wool and lurex yarn, Björnfot mixed them together to obtain fluidity and elegance. She experimented with plastic to create oversized sunglasses, shoes, and bathing caps adorned with ornaments sculpted from polymer clay, which were then varnished. These accessories stole the show whilst complementing the garments through contrasting textures in glossy bold colours, adding an element of fun to the ‘Riviera’ girl in her collection. “I created this collection with an imaginary person wearing my collection in mind. However, she mutated over the course of time: starting off as a girl, still on the fringe between adulthood and childhood, I came to realize during the year that she had evolved into a grown woman, reclaiming her identity and independence. In this aspect, the collection reflected my personal journey as a designer.” Currently undertaking an internship at Sonia by Sonia Rykiel, Björnfot’s ‘Riviera’ collection firmly points her in the direction she is aiming for, which is to find a workplace where she can hone her skills professionally as a knitwear designer, and further down the road, her dream to launch her own brand. Clarice Chian
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
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Petit h Inside Coco Chanel’s
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Upon meeting Pascale Mussard, the great-great-great-granddaughter of Hermès founder Thierry Hermès, one is struck by her warm and gentle nature. The eldest from the sixth generation of the Hermès family, she has been with the company for 33 years, most recently as the brand’s co–artistic director. At a young age, Pascale went to the Hermès workshop at Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré every day after school. There, she would collect scraps and discarded materials left over by the craftsmen, such as leather trimmings, buckles, and pieces of crocodile skin. She saved them just in case they could be used for something else, using them to make play things. “Since then I was inspired with creating unusual objects, and reinventing them to a different form.” This is the foundation to Pascale’s ‘atelier de re-création’ Petit h - to breathe new life to unused Hermès materials by making them over into something original and innovative. “I hate wasted things,” says Pascale, “At the end of each day, the craftsmen who were making bags took their leftovers to the people making bracelets or belts. So everything was kept and reused. In fact, I didn’t invent this at Hermès. The smallest pieces were for watchbands.” In order to pitch the ‘Petit h’ project to her family, Pascale presented some 80 objects she created from Hermès leftovers and rejects over 6 months in collaboration with jeweller Gilles Jonemann. Breathing a sigh of relief when the project was approved and well received, she started Petit h in 2009. Petit h is not about cost cutting, being eco-friendly or politically correct. Instead, it is a way to respect Hermès materials, craftsmen and craft, as well as its history. It is a laboratory of innovation, a playground where Mussard and outside artists and designers like Gilles Jonemann, Christian Astuguevieille, Alice Cozon and Adrien Rovero collaborate with Hermès’ leather crafters, seamstresses, silversmiths, and crystal and porcelain artisans to create Hermès-quality products from Hermès materials. Since everything at Hermès is of the finest quality, and almost everything is made by hand, there are inevitable faults or imperfections that render otherwise flawless materials unusable. For example, a colourful silk scarf that takes 300 people to make, from the selection of the silk to the weaving to the printing and colouration, is sadly ruined by a tiny inconspicuous black dot, which would otherwise be perfect. Leather trimmings that fall off from the craftsman’s cutting table, crocodile skin with irregular scales or uneven dye, air bubbles on the stem of a crystal glass - can have a second life because even with those flaws, they are still beautiful. These unwanted materials are turned into functional works of art in numerous ways that are unexpected, such as the vintage model airplane finished with black matte crocodile skin that doubles as a valet tray; crocodile leather coffee cup holders and crystal and leather dumbbells. These works of art are not toys, but evoke childlike qualities such as innocence and playfulness. There are also a variety of oversized animals made of leather, like the large fawn created from buffalo skin, or the giant panda stitched from Taurillon bull calfskin leather with one green foot (there was a shortage of black leather). Each Petit h piece is unique, often inspired by items owned by Pascale’s family. The aforementioned flawed silk scarf could become a bag, a pleated Collier d’Air necklace, or a whimsically shaped triangular bag mirrored after one Pascale’s grandmother used to have. Perhaps Pascale is expressing her inner-child: “I was not spoiled, as you would think a child from the Hermes family would be. When I was a child I wanted a windmill because all the children had them. That’s why I created one made of leather for Petit H and it is only now that I got my windmill.” Said Pascale: “I think Hermes is an oxymoron. We are serious about quality but we also want to be fun and playful. At Hermes we are bit like that”. With Petit h as her playground, there is no shortage of fun to be had. Clarice Chian
Reflections
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Iris Van Herpen
Fashion as social phenomenon Even if the notion of identity is an important part of clothing fashion, it is not the only component of it. Far from it, when associated with political modernity, fashion enables us to understand the changes in society and to witness the appearance of a modern man, driven by individualism and self-creation. From that point on, one has to search and understand what this framework of consumerism is, that enables the identity to be what it is. Fashion. This concept, now applicable to all human constructions - derived from the Latin modus (measure), is not without meaning for the understanding of Man in society. If this relation to fashion is indeed complex, that’s because it can be considered in the light of various fields of social sciences and humanities. The term fashion taking its roots in the concept of measurement is not at all irrelevant. Even more so, it is an interesting point in the analysis of the phenomenon. It is indeed true that we can draw between measure and fashion in the modern period a link that encompasses both the individual and the collective aspects; thus allowing for this measure, comparison or opposition of one from the rest of the group. However, it can seem too easy and too simplistic to say that fashion, as it is defined today, explains nothing but an individual orientation. Even if the above is not entirely untrue, being very true for most of it, it is not the major explanation that should be deducted from it. So as to understand its basis and its consequences, fashion has to be defined according to several characteristics. First of all, the first element is the answer to the fundamental questions allowing for any kind of scientific approach: “Why does Man get dressed?” and “Why don’t all Human beings wear the same clothes, from shape to color?”. Those two questions are essential as they lead us to the distinction of Man as a set apart species. Condorcet saw in fashion “the sign that distinguishes Man from animals”, not only because of the protective function of clothing but also because of its ornamenting aspect. Ornamentation will be the central focus of the political and sociological reflection we will develop in this article. The purpose of this column will be to go beyond the mere anthropological understanding of fashion in order to build a sociological reflection, the purpose of which will be the understanding of the link between fashion, clothes, Man and society. When talking about ornamenting, the very elements of the link between fashion and society appear: time and the human being. Time is an essential element of the reflection on fashion. It marks duration, eras. It allows us to distinguish History from the contemporary and the future. Fashion is constantly drawing its inspiration from temporality. It is a cycle, finding its resources in the elements of the past, in order to recompose a contemporary fashion. These contemporary elements will later feed the fashion of the future. We can illustrate our comments by an example, among so many others, with the use made by the «hounds-tooth» motifs popularized in the 20s, or by Raf Simon for a model of short-sleeved Polo for Fred Perry’s Spring and Summer collection. In some future column, we will spend more time on the cyclic conception of fashion, as it will not be our purpose in this one. I mention
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Thimister
the idea of marking the passing of time because there has been a real break in the understanding of clothing since the Antiquity. This political and social break is what we will call modernity here: industrial modernity, with the apparition of new technologies such as electricity; political modernity, through the successive revolutions that occurred at the end of the 18th century, for liberty in the United States and for equality in France; social modernity, as a consequence of these events, through the advent of the individual. What enables us to say that clothing fashion is a social phenomenon and what is its real importance? We will consider this question by questioning the supreme notion of individual. This will lead us to mention the rise of capitalism. Finally, we’ll draw connections between the logics of fashion and the study of class struggle. Modernity, as we’ve briefly described it, has disrupted human relations, on the social level (work, relationships…) as well as on the political level (equality, liberty…). As Alexis de Tocqueville said in his study of democracy in the United States - as opposed to the notion of French Ancien Régime-, modernity has created an “equality of conditions” in a sense of non-dependence from one’s situation or birth (or those of one’s ancestors) for one’s personal evolution. Through political modernity - understood as the arrival of a democracy advocating for equality of rights and liberty-, individuals now have power over their own lives, enabling them to build their own identity. The individual can now become a private being and focus more on his or her material comfort. He or she can stop being involved in the life of the City, the management of which is now left to political representatives. Those two elements (private life and equality of conditions) are the basis of societies in which the individual becomes the supreme value. In this context, clothes don’t serve as social dividers anymore. As a result, we can talk about clothing fashion as a phenomenon, as fashion becomes the expression of an individual liberty which lies in the choice of following or not the established trend. If we oppose modern times to feudal times, and as we can still see it happening today in some cultures, clothes used to have a distinction role: order (clergy, royalty…), occupation or social status. However, these distinctions were but an inherited traditional constraint. Besides, since Louis XIV’s reign, that’s exactly what the role of ornament and haute couture has been. The very core of the logics of fashion is that only a fraction of the group actually follows it while the rest only tries to. This logic can be seen in French history, through the opposition between aristocracy and nobility for the positions of courtiers. Clothing also enabled some “neglected” populations to assert themselves. Taking once again the example of French feudality, Frédéric Monneyron said that “women find themselves by the weakness of their social position […] when they try to individualize and distinguish themselves, they find in fashion this particular vector that matches together the largest trends of society and individual ornamentation.” Even though this logic was known before modern times, it rose with the French Revolution when “by an action of political stake, it launched the transition of clothes from the public to the private sphere” because “revolution substitutes on the longer term a clothing that mostly means individual liberty, in place of a clothing that used to mean submission to political and social necessity”. The modern individual was born in the private sphere, free from any enslavement. This freedom is only in terms of individual liberty, as fashion, even if artistic at the core, has soon been caught up by submission to capitalism - with the importance given to market laws and to “over-existence “, in a society ruled by consumerism. Karl Marks, dealing with class struggle, evoked a submission of the majority owning the work capital to the minority owning the financial capital. The same logic of class struggle,
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Guy Laroche
between the workers and the bourgeoisie, can also be found on the clothing market. Keeping in mind Georg Simmel’s work on the tragedy of culture, we can state that fashion is “the product of class division”. Fashion achieves this distinction in two ways. First, with the changes of contents which give today’s fashion its individual mark, as opposed to yesterday’s fashion or tomorrow’s. Secondly, because trends always are class trends. The trends of the upper classes differ from those of the lower classes; and the upper classes give up trends as soon as the lower classes begin to make those their own. Therefore, those who own the capital own the trends. We can thus say that clothing, in spite of modernity, is now another form of servitude, trapping the individual within his or her economical condition. The goal of class struggle was a complete reversal of situation, as Marx appealed to, with his “Proletarians of all countries, unite!” call. We can also notice in class struggle the importance of social psychology, with what Tarde and Durkheim called “fashion-imitation”. Tarde sees society as being only the result of a sum of private individuals; with these individuals always imitating one another. This phenomenon is especially true in fashion clothing where the need for luxury tends to win over every basic need. T. Veblen also adds that ornamentation is considered a more important function than the initial protective one. What is at stake here is the need to behave in accordance with custom. More than that, it is a statement of rank and social honor. The individual wears and shows what he/she can afford. Fashion shows that “the wearer can use [and throw away] a relatively important richness, and at the same time this shows the wearer is using this richness without producing anything”. Once again, we can see here it is all about power struggles between the producing classes and the consumerist classes. Tarde, so as to combine individual, class struggle and economy, said that: “as a society, and especially its richest classes, gets richer, more mobile or builds more and more social relations, the law of ostentatious waste will rule more and more as a tyrant over clothing matters. Then the rule of money honor will let the sense of beauty fall into disuse; or even, will walk over its dead body. The faster trends will come and go, the more grotesque and insufferable the different styles causing, one after the other, a sensation will be.” Clothing fashion has always and will always be a tool, child of democracy and modernity, going towards more and more individualism. It will always be claiming a political message (hippies, emo, feminism, dandies), the demands of which have both a collective and an individual interest. In a consumerist society residing on the laws of financial markets, heightened capitalism leads to a dictatorship of richness, norms and codes which will be, in the end, no better than feudal dictatorship. We have seen how fashion clothing has been an answer to the evolution of society, mainly through politics. We’ve also seen how it has created a certain type of individuals, whilst remaining firmly anchored in class struggle. Despite being deeply marked by individualism and identity, we’ve also seen that fashion clothing is also closely connected to the economics attached to it. Without having mentioned it, we can understand the implied link that exists from now on between the economical dictatorship of the fashions to follow, and the dictatorship of image management through fashion magazines, photography and commercials. The logics of consumerism can seem really simple: the lower classes, through imitation, try to acquire the fashions worn by the upper classes, whereas the latter acquire a new trend as soon as the previous one has been taken over. Therefore, how can the importance given to image in fashion be explained? Jeremy Derny
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Chanel
“In my opinion, fashion dress always has and always will be a tool, fruits of democracy and modernity, which will go in the direction of increasing individualism in the sense that it will always seek to assert a policy message (hippies, emo, feminism, dandy) which claims an interest both collective and individual”
Bibliography: • König R., Sociologie de la mode, Paris, Payot, 1969. • Monneyron F., La sociologie de la mode, Paris, PUF, coll. “Que Sais-je ?”, 2006. • Simmel, G., La mode, in La tragédie de la culture, Paris, Rivages, 1993. • Gabriel Tarde, G. Les lois de l’imitation, étude sociologique, Paris, Kimé, 1993. • Veblen, T., Théorie de la classe de loisir, Paris, Gallimard, coll. “Tel”, 1970.
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
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Klara Wester & Sher Khan Next Paris / Peut-ĂŞtre Models
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
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Sophie Hallette Lace maker
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«I consider lace to be one of the prettiest imitations ever made of the fantasy of nature; lace always evokes for me those incomparable designs which the branches and leaves of trees embroider across the sky, and I do not think that any invention of the human spirit could have a more graceful or precise origin.» – Coco Chanel One of my favourite wardrobe pieces is a blouse by designer Erdem Moragliou. Its dark blue silk body is layered under soft black silk lace that drapes at the sleeves and ties at the back of the neck. This exquisite lace is from Maison Sophie Hallette, a name synonymous with lace in the world of fashion. Besides Erdem, it boasts a long list of clients that includes Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana, and Elie Saab. Family-run for three generations since it was founded in 1887, its factory is tucked in a side street in Caudry, a small and quiet postcardpretty town surrounded by poppy fields in northern France. Sophie Hallette is no longer a fashion insider’s secret since delivering 120 metres of its ‘Princess’ lace to Alexander McQueen’s designer Sarah Burton. Their delicate silk tulle woven with shamrock, roses and lilies was the lace ‘canvas’ used by Burton for Kate Middleton’s wedding gown. “Our lace has adorned haute couture creations and luxury goods worldwide, but this certainly marks a crowning achievement in our history”, said Romain Lescroart, company’s founder Etienne Lescroart’s grandson, and CEO of Sophie Hallette. Sophie Hallette is like “a 19th-century company in the 21st century,» says his sister Maud Lescroart, Communication and Marketing Manager. Indeed, watching the craftsmen at work is like stepping back in time. Each piece of lace is spun from British Leavers looms over 100 year-old. These lorry-sized cast-iron machines were smuggled in boats during the Industrial Revolution for fear that antirevolutionists would destroy them. Named after their inventor, these ‘Rolls-Royce of looms’ are still the only machines able to work with such a high number of threads in order to reproduce the intricate knotting of 18th-century handmade lace, using up to 5,000 threads. The Leaver looms set the pace at which the lace is produced, with one loom producing only 60 metres of lace a day. Rhythmical and musical clunks and hisses emanate from the machine as their heavy metal arms dart out to pull together skeins of millions of yards of web-like thread, knotting and weaving them into 90cm-wide lengths of delicate lace, creating music like “a barbaric organ,” as Maud describes it. «It’s not for nostalgic reasons we keep them,» she explains. “Nothing has ever been designed that produces more beautiful lace than a Leavers loom. The little irregularities give lace its character. It is fallible by design.” Craftsmen whose savoir-faire is unique in the world respect traditional methods on Leavers looms. It takes seven years to train as a tulliste to operate the looms. ‘That’s as long as it takes to train to be a doctor,’ points out Maud. “No one else can do this.” It takes three men two months to set up a loom for each new pattern production, so merely 22 patterns are produced each season. From the looms, the sheets of lace are hand-mended by a team of nimble fingered women who spend up to 15 hours perfecting each piece, scanning the lengths of lace for faults and invisibly mending them with a needle and thread. They are then hand-dyed in-house from their natural ecru colour, a process that takes days. Sophie Hallette’s archive room boasts more than 2,000 templates for lace patterns housed in old leather-bound books. Next to it is the design studio, where artists draw intricate patterns on graph paper using pencils. Even though some of this can be done on the computer, it mostly requires to be done by hand as the detail is so precise and the process so creative. Each new design takes up to two months to complete, after which the designs are then diligently transferred to graph paper and converted knot by knot into a technical drawing on the CAD system (computer-aided design). It takes one month to encode just a 60cm length. “Lace is like salt,” Romain’s father once said. “You can live without it but life becomes dull.” With a combination of antiquated machinery, meticulous craftsmanship and modern technology, Sophie Hallette ensures that will never be the case. Clarice Chian
PORTFOLIO
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Photo by Haein Song
Daehyun Kim aka Moonassi
www.moonassi.com
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Daehyun Kim, known as Moonassi, is a 32-year old Seoul-born graphic designer and illustrator based in Vienna. After graduating from the College of Fine Arts at Hongik University, where he studied traditional Korean art, he took up his signature technique of filling simple silhouettes with black ink. His minimalistic black and white drawings usually depict two characters, each representing opposing situations, minds and ideas, and underlie a theme of identity, always dealing with people and their interactions. In doing so, he is painting what he does best and enjoys talking about: people. In 2010, he published an art book with fourty-eight of his drawings, and has also shown at several group exhibitions, including a recent exhibition in Vienna. Interview by Nathalie Malric - Text by Clarice Chian
Peut-être : Bonjour Daehyun, tell me about your day job? Moonassi : I am a graphic designer & illustrator at the Lomographic Society International in Vienna. Usually we design packages for cameras and its editions and editorial design as well, like flyers, books, and so forth. I sometimes, as an illustrator, draw illustrations for the camera and book. I am satisfied with this job because I can still be creative at work. Do you enjoy working at Lomography? Yes I designed ‘Map’s edition’ recently. I like the philosophy of Lomography: ‘The future is Analogue’. I love using Diana and Holga cameras. Do you use them? And do you design the special editions? Really? I love them too! Holga is a really special camera. Usually, for packaging but also for the new products like ‘BelAir’, 110 cameras. Where does your artist name Moonassi come from? I used to use ‘Moonaa’ as an ID especially when I write something and someday people started to call me ‘Moonassi’, because ‘ssi’ is like ‘Mr’ in Korean. I just liked that name. Does it mean something special? Actually there’s no meaning when you say ‘moonassi’ in Korean. I just wanted to be called ‘Moonassi’ long ago. How did you start drawing and painting? I used to draw comic characters or portraits when I was a kid. And formally, I studied painting at University. Which techniques do you use? I just try to draw a line where I want to draw it, and try to fill in the space with black ink without making a mistake. That’s all the technique I need.
Can you tell me more about the materials you use? I draw with just normal pencils, pens, markers, brushes, and inks; there are no special techniques or materials. Can you tell me more about the characters of your drawings, their relationship, the fact they are always a couple or duo? They act and represent two different and opposing situations, minds, ideas, and people. If I want to include three or thousands of different situations, I would draw more characters. They could be different feelings inside of me, or different people whom I know. When did you start drawing those duo characters? How did you come up with that idea? I have drawn like this since 2008, when I was still studying at University, since I had tried to set my own rules. I didn’t want to talk about feelings I don’t know well. I didn’t want to use what had no reason to be used. I wanted to draw on small pieces of paper with simple tools because these were all I needed. Your characters always interact with each other; does this have a meaning to you? Which role does each character have with the other? Yes, they’re playing their roles I assigned at first. I play with them on paper for a while, like kids play with dolls, and try to make this personal childish story so cool and adult at the end, so that I can hide myself, and spectators can join in the drawing. I know people will read the interactions between them by following their own story, even though the characters do nothing, sitting silent, avoiding other eyes on the screen. How often do you produce drawings? It depends on how often I feel like drawing. Sometimes I draw one or two in a week, but last year I only finished four.
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Have you ever experienced a lack of inspiration? If so, how did you feel and how did you “solve” the problem? I try to recollect what I did on the day, someone whom I met yesterday, or a mistake I made years ago. Then there must be something I missed. If it’s not working, I try to meet a stranger. But normally, if nothing comes out from my mind, I just give up. What does the act of drawing bring you? It helps me organize my thoughts and ideas, recording my feelings in my own way. It is a kind of meditation, therapy, and resting place. How important are they in your life? By drawing I can share my feelings and thoughts with strangers and it helps me get out of loneliness and boring daily living. What inspires you? It could simply be something I watch, hear, smell, touch, and feel. People that I used to know, many movies, books, music, memories, feelings, inner conflicts, and so on… But today I try to catch very simple images in my mind before I sleep. Could you give me some examples of books you like to read, and music you like listening to? I like to read some serious books written by philosophers like Bergson, Levinas, and Deleuze. Their ways of thinking always give me fresh inspiration. I like to listen all kinds of music, but today I listened to Nicolas Jaar.
What are your dreams and projects for the future? I wish to be a creative and productive person. In reality, I want to be more enthusiastic about making a book with illustrations and my own ideas, and I’d like to have an exhibition here in Vienna for a longer period. I will be participating in a group show in New York in September.
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“By drawing I can share my feelings and thoughts with strangers and it helps me get out of loneliness and boring daily living�
HELLO DE LOU
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When our eyes met at the supermarket almost four years ago, I was overwhelmed by Lou’s beauty. She was carrying food in her crossed arms and looked straight into my eyes. Her face was so sweet and pure that I asked her father if I could take pictures of her. Her parents trusted me, and now we are friends. I am so happy to witness her grow up beautifully. In every issue she will comment on some pictures I have taken of her.
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MENTIONS LÉGALES Peut-Être Magazine Nathalie Malric 181-183 boulevard Voltaire 75011 Paris IMPRESSION Studio Pixart Srl Unipersonale Via Aquilonia, 4 interno 7 00177 ROMA RM ITALIA Paru février 2013 Dépôt légal février 2013 28,00 € France Métropolitaine ISSN 2259-1427
CONTRIBUTORS
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FOUNDER EDITOR IN CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER Nathalie Malric FASHION AND LIFESTYLE WRITER EDITOR Clarice Chian ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Olivier Bousquet SPECIAL THANKS Claudette & Alain Malric Laurent Bernillon www.peutetremagazine.com contact@peutetremagazine.com WISH LIST Hermès : http://lesailes.hermes.com/be/fr/petith Sophie Hallette : www.sophiehallette.com Leutton Postle : leuttonpostle.com
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ISSN : 2259-1427 - N°6 - F : 28€ - feb. 2013