Jean Touitou: fashionable politics, the full activist<

First of all, we consulted the oracle.Because to meet Jean Touitou, the man who redrawn the silhouette of the Germanopratin boho at the turn of the 2000s, it is not only to speak rags but to engage in a discussion that embraces both literature (Camus, Beckett,Proust), music (Dylan, Bowie, Miles Davis), philosophy and, of course, politics.So difficult, with the approach of a presidential election dedicated to thwarting all the forecasts, to resist the desire to probe the former leftist activist whose societal protrusions on Twitter earned him the nickname Jean Tweetou.""""""""""""""""2017?! Me, can I tell you what will happen, but above all do not write it,"""""""""""""""" he asked about man-the woman?- which will win the next universal suffrage.Not wanting by leaving this surprising name of the hat to ignite social networks, no more desire to face the """"""""""""""""thought police"""""""""""""""".And then, politics ... """"""""""""""""I went to the completely cynical stadium, I think it's folded.Everything was written by Michel Houellebecq.""""""""""""""""So refer to the author of Submission?

Surprise with what we already know

(Eric Dessons for the JDD)

If the founder of the APC house agreed to receive us at the beginning of the summer, it is not to give us a lesson on ready-to-think but to present the man as he considers itstylistically for 2017.In two days, the press, from Vogue to the New York Times, will discover the next spring-summer collection of the famous French ready-to-wear brand-67 shops worldwide, 85 million euros in annual turnoverAnd some iconic pieces including his famous jeans with the recipe for manufacturing as jealously guarded as the Coca-Cola formula.

It is there, rue Madame, in this former warehouse of Casterman editions Réinvesti in 1994 in an immaculate atmosphere, that will parade in front of a minimalist mesh decor a dozen models.From the jackets to the spirit of work clothing with very colleagues and the raincoats referring to the heyday of wage -earnings, lines with sixties inspiration, those years when all the perspectives opened happily.""""""""""""""""It's very complicated to revolutionize male fashion.

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""""""""""""""""To make the joke, we can scroll through guys in garter belts, it will attract a little press, but, ultimately, everything will come back to the question of our hands, our watches, our shirts, our shoes, our pants""""""""""""""""Explains the creator in sky blue shirt, house jeans and sandals like birkenstock in scorching heat.""""""""""""""""If female fashion offers more freedom, it is because women have more universal beauty; this gives them advance.As a man, we limit ourselves to states of mind, some images bringing elsewhere.The whole challenge is to surprise with what we already know.That's it, men's fashion.There are new proposals, but it moves very slowly.""""""""""""""""

We operate as a political bureau

Rue Madame, La Ruche began to be agitated in December 2015.Under the two -headed vigilance of Jean Touitou and his wife, Judith, a former journalist now in the artistic direction of the APC collections, around thirty people were mobilized in the pyramidal grounds with the glass walls of the head office, rather women'Elsewhere, with the exception of designer Louis Wong who added a hip-hop touch to this resolutely British collection. """"""""""""""""We operate as a political bureau avec un comité central, assez impliqué dans la gestion et le processus décisionnaire, poursuit le maître des lieux.Under this management unit is a whole team of employees who work independently while being controlled by each other.""""""""""""""""

A4 leaves are pinned to the wall of the creation studio.Parts which, from 10.000 copies, will be a commercial success. """"""""""""""""Il est très dangereux pour une entreprise d'être dépendante d'un seul modèle"""""""""""""""", explique Judith Touitou.Is it for this reason that the brand has always wanted to limit the production of its jeans to 125.000 pieces per year when it could flow twenty times more?

Here, the material is queen, so rare.Everything starts from her: the concept, the style, the drawing. """"""""""""""""Tous nos tissus sont exclusifs, rappelle Jean Touitou.Unfortunately, suppliers no longer have stocks, this forces us to organize ourselves much further upstream to order them.The deadlines for the collections have lengthened.We are now starting to think a year and a half before shopping.We provide ourselves in Japan, Italy, a little in England and a little in Turkey;In France, there is nothing left.""""""""""""""""This does not prevent the APC brand from contributing to the economic effort of France.

Since its beginnings in 1987, with this curved style breaking with the wide shoulders immortalized by the Miami Vice series and its Armani linen costumes, and fortunately never came back to date, we can say that Jean Touitou's house has weighedIn the French foreign trade balance.

Communist's order member

The entrepreneur did not expect any thanks from the government but he remained curious about what the nation would offer him in exchange for his good and loyal service during all these years.Before tackling his new collection, which will therefore mark the brand's 30th anniversary, he went to his retirement insurance fund.At 62, he was entitled to it and he was not disappointed with the trip.The most beautiful are not the most distant.The redistribution organization was in a place that he knew well for once watched for his future.It was behind the mutuality.At 18, the son of the Tunisian who came to France to break the glass ceiling of fate often gave the punch there.Member of the order service of the internationalist communist organization, he told him to protect the room during the meetings where debate half of the current executives of the PS.

If he had engaged in politics, it was because, unlike his father in business, Jean Touitou refused to exercise a profession related to money.Naivety of youth ... at the same time, it was not so exotic for the son of the leather merchant always pulled to four pins thanks to his tailor avenue Matignon: in Trotskyists too, we cared for his style. """"""""""""""""C'est peut-être ça qui me plaisait finalement.

.Even to fight with the CGT or the UNEF, we dressed well.""""""""""""""""He probably did not expect to return to the mutuality. Alors? """"""""""""""""Contrairement à beaucoup de mes anciens camarades qui se sont embourgeoisés, je n'ai pas l'impression de m'être trahi.Without having made theory, I managed to create a company of 300 employees who are proud and happy to work here.It's very concrete.I am not ashamed to say: the social fabric goes through companies and their leaders.Camus said he was not trying to change the world but to avoid his disintegration.This is what I do, I think, in my own way.""""""""""""""""

Social ladder

Do not give up your ideals is refusing to sell yourself to the most offering.Staying master of his capital, Jean Touitou did not give in to the sirens of large groups.Independent to the end of the teeth. """"""""""""""""J'ai été approché mais, sans paraître prétentieux, les financiers sont de piètres gestionnaires.They only know how to make money.We can see it, in fashion, with this case of bags.They are obsessed with that.It makes it possible to redistribute dividends to the shareholders but they will die like the record companies died of their excesses.All that is what ideology is in relation to science: M ... loaded with great profits.""""""""""""""""Houellebecq would not have said better ...

Touitou takes refuge in his golden age.The 1960s.The young Tunisian Jew whose father had bought an apartment in the first skyscraper in Paris (La Tour Albert, in the 13th arrondissement) had the hope of taking the social elevator in turn.It was enough for him to change neighborhoods.A doctor had advised to send the teenager suffering from dyslexia to the Alsatian school.

The upscale establishment in the 6th arrondissement did not yet welcome sons of Pubards or AS du CAC 40, but rather sons of artists, intellectuals.Blessed era clearly less bling-bling.The student Touitou thus finds himself at the table of Jérôme Lindon, the publisher of Samuel Beckett - who will inspire Jean Touitou his assumed name with the Trotskyists (Dublin).And Bettina Rheims, the daughter of the famous auctioneer Maurice Rheims, invites her to her Boums. """"""""""""""""Un jour, il était allé saluer les amis de sa fille.There was all the worldly bottin there.When he came to me, I said to him: 'Do not look, Maurice, I am not referenced in your inventory'.""""""""""""""""

It was another era, when social diversity was not a vain word.A boy with the unknown name dreamed in front of the films of Buñuel (beautiful day, with Catherine Deneuve) by listening to the Kinks.Would he have thought that he would one day dress all the children in a neighborhood that had made him so much want to rise?

Source: JDD paper