[…] The golden age of the couturiers who created these houses, an almost artisanal era, is over, as is the artistic approach that came with it. Alessandro Michele has just left Gucci, which has an annual revenue of 10 billion, 40% of Kering’s total. And there is a single artistic director at the head of this brand who is responsible both for the vision, which he has to bring to life across the entire brand, as well as for the approval of all projects. The structure has remained very hierarchical and pyramidal, except that today they have become industries: is one person, one artistic director, capable of managing so much pressure on that scale? […]

[…] I was listening to a podcast with Fabien Baron, and he was asked something to the effect of: “What has changed between when you started your career in the ’90s and now?” He replied: “It’s simple: back then when I was working for Calvin Klein, I was working with Calvin Klein. My contact person was the person who created the brand, who had the original vision, and who had brought the brand to where it was at the time. It was a dialogue between two people. […]

[…] Fashion is stunning in terms of expression, the atmosphere it can build, but nowadays, it is harmful to the environment, so I started developing my visuals in other directions. […]

[…] I’ve also been influenced by a host of fashion designers including Bernhard Willhelm, Walter Van Beirendonck, Jean-Paul Lespagnard, and Manish Arora. […]

[…] RM
Fashion is a context. It’s a platform and a context for us, primarily. I think we’ve been lucky enough to work with designers and brands that really appreciate that too. There’s a mutual understanding about that, there’s often a conversation about the clothes – we don’t ignore the fashion itself – but what we’re really doing is working into a cultural space. […]

[…] OK
There’s a lot of questioning going on of status quo at the moment, and that can only be a positive thing when it comes to the potential for creativity. That’s the most optimistic thing. There are a lot of fashion projects that are starting to do that, and also we see developments in the way architecture’s being practiced and questioned. Architecture in many ways got hijacked by property developers for so many years, but in many cases it’s really taking on a more cultural, social, political role now, at least in our viewpoint. And that also happens in fashion, and I think in art, too. It’s a fertile time I’d say […]

[…] That’s why I struggle with fashion so much. It just doesn’t seem to give a shit, it seems to just be that cycle ‘we’re producing things for people that buy’, it’s just a little backwards. […]

[…] A collection should express a variety of things. And that comes with experience. You look at what sells because you’re a brand after all, you need to be successful to continue, to keep hiring and growing. […]