Kitsuné on fashion, glitch and sky ferreira
French-Japanese music label and Kitsuné clothing brand founded Gildas Loaek and Masaya Kuroki in 2002. Ильildas was originally engaged in music, and Masaya - design, fashion and architecture. The Kitsuné label releases artists such as Citizens !, Two Door Cinema Club, Is Tropical, Delphic, and, under the clothing brand, Paris casual: t-shirts with prints, bombers, simple coats, shirts, sweaters, pants. Marche is already 12 years old, and now, as small brands close, Kitsuné is expanding and evolving at its pace. For example, they recently opened a third office in New York, made a collaboration with Sky Ferreira, and especially for Moscow (obviously, the brand explores the possibilities of the new market) Kitsuné released a limited series of Moscovite t-shirts along with Tsvetnoy, that is, Muscovite - by analogy with Parisien T-shirts popular in Paris. We talked with the former Daft Punk art director, DJ of the label Jerry Bouthier and Kitsuné co-founder Gildas Loaek about the relationship between music and fashion, US influence and youth.
MUSICAL LABEL AND MARK KITSUNÉ CLOTHE YOU BASED TOGETHER WITH YOUR PARTNER Masaya KUROKI. Why did they come to Russia alone, WHERE Masaya NOW?
He is in Japan, he is Japanese. Where is he still to be? Just kidding He moved there from Paris a month ago for work. For us, the Japanese market has always been and is the most important, populous - it is 37 million people - and susceptible. Three years ago, 80% of our business was concentrated in Japan, now 60%: we have three stores in Tokyo and Osaka, our items are widely represented in Japanese multi-brands, our factories and office are located there, and from there it is convenient to work with Korea and Hong Kong. There is a strong shopping culture here, and the Japanese love everything French - they are crazy about Paris. In addition, our brand appeared under the inspiration of the Tokyo concept stores of the early 2000s. In Paris, nothing like this has ever happened; in 1997, Colette just opened.
In the late 90s I had a small vinyl shop in Paris. He was opposite the skate shop, where Masaya often visited (he worked as an architect). We were from one party and somehow began to communicate. Masaya came from Tokyo, where we shot the film "Interstella 5555" for Daft Punk and invited Masaya with us as a guide, and we became friends. In Tokyo, we were overwhelmed by the number of things and shops. The idea of Kitsuné was born there. We thought about the name and logo and chose a Japanese chanterelle, which in Japanese is called kitsuné. The crocodile was already occupied by another French company - Lacoste! We started to do everything together, there was no one but us. Now our company is more than 70 people with offices in Paris, Tokyo (the largest) and New York.
That's about DAFT PUNK possible in more detail?How did you get them into the company?I was born in Brittany and moved to Paris at the age of 20, opened a vinyl shop and learned how to build my business from an early age. By luck, I got into the company to Daft Punk and worked with them for 15 years, during which I learned absolutely everything about the music business. I started with their assistant, did everything for them: from a cup of coffee to producing remixes and clips. There were five of us, and we made Daft Punk with this small team. We traveled endlessly around the world! It was a great time! We danced under Cassius, the new rave was just emerging, and everyone was wearing acid t-shirts. We always looked deep into the audience: what they wore at parties, they offered them, but passed through their taste.
We all sailed in the same boat - one generation with similar tastes.
Fashion is now experiencing a deep crisis, and it seems that an alliance with pop culture, in particular, music, has become the last hope for the industry. M.I.A. collaborates with Versus Versace, Kanye West, Farrell Williams and Rita Ora - with adidas, Major Lazer - with Levi's. You were one of the first to combine music and fashion. How did this thought come to you? How does fashion and music look like now?
We decided to play on the connection of music and fashion from the very beginning. Fashion is more complex than music, but music spreads and reaches the audience faster - in one second. It used to be easy to catch the audience: she was watching TV, listening to the radio, reading certain magazines, advertising was predictable. And now where is the young audience? Everywhere. Wherever there is music. Today there are many successful examples of fashionable music brands, for example, KTZ in London - they also have a fashion next to music. It looks cool, but I'm not sure that KTZ will be popular in two years - they are super-current at the moment, but too specific. This only works here and now, but maybe I’m wrong.
your audience is a constantly renewing generation forever young. Do you consciously work for teenagers? because there is a feeling that inYOU NEVER BROKEN TRENDS IN CALCULATION AND EVEN THE SELF-ASSISTANTS RELATED TO THESE TRENDS. Has it changed now?
Slowly, we realized that we need to be built into the industry. Positions "we do what we like" is not enough, you need to be involved from the inside. The fashion industry is a giant colossus. We are young, we are still learning. The music that we release is exactly aimed at young people from 15 to 25. But the clothes already cover a wider audience - from 20 to 40 years. In this case, everyone is young. Who is wearing a Louis Vuitton now? Playboys on jaguars? I do not know anyone who wears. So they, too, are trying to appear younger, changing art directors. The same Edie Sliman (creative director of Saint Laurent. - Comm. Ed.) Makes great rock and roll! No one wants to look and dress in a standard way, like 50-year-olds.
The largest European mass market H & M for the first time collaborates with American designer Alexander Wang. YOUR LAST COLLECTION IS DEDICATED TO AMERICA. STYLE.COM WRITTEN ABOUT YOU THAT YOU ARE A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF GLOBALIZATION IN FASHION. WHY?
Because mass culture and tastes are still shaped by America: movies, the Internet (YouTube, Facebook) - the so-called soft power. Without YouTube and Facebook, what would be the culture even in Russia? In addition, my generation grew up on American films of the 70s: preppy, university chic - all this can be traced in the style of Kitsuné. Wes Anderson and his old-fashioned style are my favorite. We recently opened a store and office in New York, and now we’ve made a collection with Sky Ferreira. I have known Ferreira for the past six years, we are close friends, we met before she started singing, I then helped her, now she is with us. Girls love her. This is all marketing, you understand! It is interesting that in the world we know nothing about the Japanese market, which is now our top priority. We do not know about the Japanese media, young brands, how and what they live now, but everything is changing rapidly with them. This mysterious Japanese isolation and at the same time influence is mysticism for me. Therefore, if they write about us in Japan (and they write a lot about us there), no one will know about it. Another thing is America. One note in The New York Times - and you are a star. But we like both London and Moscow. We have already done more than one event with the team of the Tsvetnoy department store, there were parties in November and April, and we will work together again. Do you have talented artists here?
You can find. Take a look at Powerhouse: the guys are focused on the release of Russian talented musicians. By the way, you have always been lucky with the artists that you produced. Two Door Cinema Club and Citizens!Now the whole world is dancing under the Disclosure - everything is so vocal, pulsating, bass, hypnotic. I, while I was walking to you, listened to the release of the young British neosoul artist Ben Khan. Do you know him?Whom are you releasing NOW?
Yes, the disclosure effect is noticeable. We release all the same electro-pop, glitch R & B Rosie Lowe, synthpop Years & Years, Lxury, Kilo Kish. Oh Ben Khan not heard, oh well! Very cool, I will write to him. And you listen to our latest compilation "Kitsuné New Faces".
Sure to!
Photo: Kitsuné