7 minute read
FIFI CHACHNIL
from The Chap Issue 110
by thechap
Lingerie
THE ADVENTURES OF FIFI LONGSTOCKING
Jean-Emmanuel Deluxe meets Fifi Chachnil, the French designer from a traditional family who reinvented herself in the trail of the post-punk era, establishing herself as the epitome of Parisian chic, who is also a Londoner at heart and a huge fan of Pippi Longstocking
www.fifichachnil.paris
Fifi Chachnil’s numerous links with pop culture include dressing Nina Hagen and French-Belgian singer Lio, Marc Almond for the A Lover Spurned music video and styling a film directed by Pierre et Gilles. Fifi’s long list of collaborations also include Emma Bunton for the first Spice Girls LP, Madonna’s dancing troupe for her Rebel Art Tour, Kylie Minogue, Lady Gaga and recently Celine Dion. Fifi is also a pop singer, whose first 1983 single
Lhar’ Niflet is a souvenir from her Palace years. Le Palace was a nightclub where all the jetsetters, philosophers, artists and hipsters, from Roland Barthes to Paloma Picasso, used to hang out. Think Studio 54 with a more sophisticated and ‘laissez faire’ attitude. Whether in Paris at the Crazy Horse or in London at le Baron, Fifi never cease to sprinkle her very peculiar irreverent chic on the fashion game.
What’s the nature of your UK connection?
I have an emotional bond with the UK that started in the early 90s when I was frequently visiting Britain. I realised how much I loved British people’s fashion sense more than anything else. The simple fact that you could work in the City as a trader but wear an earring and a red hairdo – an attitude which is simply inconceivable in France. On a lot of levels, I felt closer to the English than to my compatriots. When I went to England to pick up my daughters from school, I wore a Vichy dress and a straw hat, noticing that the local schoolgirls
also wore exactly the same outfit. I always thought England was just like home. I have many British friends and keep going to London whenever it’s possible. Finally I opened up a shop there and worked with an all-English female crew who I adored, mostly because they have a wonderfully positive and go forward attitude. I don’t want to judge the French too much, but when we launch an idea here, we already know that the whole process will be quite convoluted.
Despite your obvious fondness for British culture, you somehow epitomise Parisian women’s chic.
I love to fit to that image, even if it’s an illusion. It’s an idealized view of me and of my work. A fantasy postcard of the Parisians as we saw in Kiraz’s drawings for Jour de France (a kind of French version of Life Magazine). It’s funny, because when I’m in London I am told, “You are so French”, while in Paris I am being labelled with, “You are so English”, or even “You are a nutter”! I took my iconography from cartoons and Hollywood films that depicted idealised visions of Parisian people.
You have many famous British customers.
Kate Moss is a devoted customer, who even visited our store during the lockdown. I also had a brush with Kate Middleton. Obviously she did not come to the shop to buy her angora sweater, but she wore a piece from my collection, even if it was a copy crafted by Buckingham knitters. In any case it was an honour.
A few years ago you styled a now legendary défilé (fashion parade) in Le Crazy Horse in Paris – a temple of French sexiness!
Back in the fifties, Le Crazy Horse was created by Alain Bernardin. His great innovation from what came before was to idealise showgirls’ bodies by dressing them up with light shades, as if they were wearing very graphic prints. Back in those days, strip clubs were located in seedy areas and he was the first one to upgrade the risqué shows in posh neighborhoods. Choreographer Philippe Découflé called me up in 2009 to design the costumes of his ‘Désirs’ Crazy Horse show. I love to dress up these dancers, as they were not born perfect like models but worked hard on their bodies. I worked very closely with these girls and that défilé remains the fondest and prettiest of my career. Strangely enough, I’ve never done anything at the Moulin Rouge, even though I live right next door to it!
You started in post punk fashion days, when in Paris conceptualism was very hip.
When I started up, I drew my inspirations from material other people despised at that time. I was very much into garish and psychedelic colours, whereas the fashion zeitgeist was all about minimalist and tuned-down tones. I made a fuss with my mini-skirts. I had a genuine punk attitude, to the extent of shooting myself in the foot back during my very first interviews. Recently I watched my first TV appearances and was left speechless. To present a circus parade I started by flying on the feet of my then husband. Or when Étienne Daho invited me to show my models, we smoked ciagrettes on the set. The conversation went in all directions in a totally surrealistic way. We were totally overusing freedom of speech.
Back in the eighties and noughties, you could absolutely come up with what you fancied. Like this song I did for a TV show with Pierre Et Gilles, King of Oil. I sang that it was his dollars, his cars and his cigarillos which drove me crazy. As we can no longer talk about cigarettes, or say that money can be a seduction tool, it looks quite outrageous today. An assistant born in 2000 took screenshots of this sequence and couldn’t believe his eyes. We were having a hell of a time, as nothing was sacred or serious for us. It was an ‘anything goes’ time that we enjoyed very much without any career plans in the back of our minds.
Do you have any icons of your own?
The first and foremost one is Pippi Longstocking, a Swedish little girl with red plaits, long stockings, a pirate father and superhuman strength. She lives on her own without adult guidance, surrounded by many friends. Otherwise I think of Juliette Greco, Anna Karina and Anna Magnani. My icons are not necessarily very glamorous but they show a real freedom of expression.
Marcel Duchamp made a point of saying that ‘Good taste is the enemy of art’.
It’s true. I grew up in a conservative French family that defended the ‘three colours’ set of rules. Women of the family weren’t allowed to smoke in the street, as it was judged vulgar. After a whole childhood wearing a tartan uniform, I went to Cleveland hoping to find Iggy Pop. I was misinformed, as he was in Detroit then! Anyway, we had fun and every weekend my friends and I used dress up to attend the Rocky Horror Picture show. I came back to France wearing purple shorts and
Fifi on the cover of her 2019 album ‘Love’
a bright yellow T-shirt. I wanted to radically break up the rules I was raised with. Thinking of using a pseudonym, I picked Chachnil, an Egyptian name instead of a French one.
Artists can only challenge the status quo by messing with the rules. It’s the only way to trigger the audience and hopefully generate questions and debates. Whether people adhere to what is proposed doesn’t really matter to me. I like British people because they are much less afraid to play with colours. See Queen Elizabeth II when wearing an all-neon green twinset. That would be unthinkable for a French official.
You’ve been part of a Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition?
The same year we closed down our London shop, I was called up for an exhibition at Victoria & Albert named ‘A brief history of lingerie’. I couldn’t believe my ears!
What’s the future for the Fifi Chachnil brand in the UK and elsewhere?
My bond with England is stronger than ever. For my lingerie line in 1996 we were licensed to Agent Provocateur, until Joseph Corré sold the brand in 2008. But we will return to London for a fashion show at some point. After all the mess everybody had to go through for the last two years, I realized that the important thing was to do less but in a better way. While some brands are constantly opening new stores everywhere, what seemed essential to me was to refine what we do best. This was my way to overcome these difficult times. n
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