Jean Touitou 于《Vestoj》专访中透露对于 Hedi Slimane 设计的质疑

发布时间: 2014-11-07

由《Acne Paper》前执行编辑 Anja Cronberg 所创办的《Vestoj》时装半年刊,日前请来人气时尚品牌 A.P.C. 创始人 Jean Touitou接受采访,而一向直言不讳的他也表达了自己对于 Saint Laurent Paris 创意总监 Hedi Slimane 的质疑。在他看来,Hedi Slimane 所追求的摇滚风格并不符合 SLP 的品牌形象,虽然 Yves Saint Laurent 本人和 1970 年代的摇滚巨星们,比如 Mick Jagger 有著很多联系,不过这种风格并不是设计师和品牌所期许的。除此之外,Jean Touitou 还大谈 A.P.C. 的设计理念,以及如何维护品牌审美完整性并面对商业压力。下面便带来这篇访谈的节选内容,完整版本不妨点击这里阅读。

In the fashion industry you’re known as someone rather opinionated. In an industry notorious for the reticence with which people usually speak, have you found that speaking your mind is an advantage or a disadvantage?First of all, I’m frustrated by the fact that I’m called ‘opinionated.’ Everyone should have opinions but I operate in a world where nobody does. What can I do? It’s a big problem. When people say I’m opinionated it sounds like I’m a pain in the ass but really, I just have a point of view.

When Hedi Slimane was showing his first collections for Saint Laurent I thought it was interesting that the fashion press were uncharacteristically critical. My feeling was that journalists felt that the company went too far with regards to how tightly the image of the brand was controlled.Yes, an editor can’t even use his clothes in a photo shoot unless it’s as full total looks. Not even a sock by another designer is allowed. It’s like he thinks he’s the Kaiser or something. But seriously, it’s ridiculous; the brand is trying to establish connections between what Slimane is doing and what Yves Saint Laurent himself did by saying that Slimane is working the rock ‘n’ roll vibe in homage to YSL. The official party line is that Yves Saint Laurent hung out with Mick Jagger in the 1970s, and that the relationship between Slimane and his rock star friends is just the same. But YSL was never into rock n’ roll; he was into reading Proust. I mean it’s one thing to hang out with Mick Jagger at Studio 54 because you’re totally coked out and everybody’s partying, but that doesn’t make you a fan of rock n’ roll. That part is an after-construction and the Kering Group is blatantly trying to spin the story to suit their ends. But the Slimane bashing will stop soon anyway because it’s fashion and people get tired of bullshitting about the same subject. Plus the brand probably sells a lot in China, and as long as you’re financially successful you’re pretty bulletproof.

We talked earlier about how hard it is to break away from the norm in the fashion industry today. At A.P.C. you don’t have standard fashion shows, instead you have small gatherings where you talk the press and buyers through each collection. What’s the reasoning behind that?Our clothes are clothes for everyday life so they’re better suited to more intimate presentations, but I do try to do something slightly more personal to make it more fun. It’s always nerve-racking though. Fashion people are a hard audience. I know I have to look relaxed when I talk, like I haven’t been up all night scripting my speech, but I can never quite shake the feeling that the room is full of mean people just waiting to pounce. So I try to make them laugh a bit, maybe teach them something. If I can do that, I know I’ve done a good job. But I need to always be thinking about how to give the press something new. Otherwise they will snore. I guarantee it. If we had just clothes on girls without my act, the journalists would arrive, pick a cookie, eat it and say, ‘It’s got too much sugar.’ Then, ‘Okay, four models done – what time is it? I’m out of here.’ And then to me, ‘Oh, hi darling, it was sooo good! We have to run!’ But this hasn’t happened yet, so we’ve been successful.