Haute couture: 5 questions to Alexandre Vauthier<

SHE.How are you in this fashion week period?

Alexandre Vauthier.You have to start at the start.We were locked up for more than a year.All this allowed me to work differently on my collections, especially with digital.When we are locked up, our immediate creative reflex is to dream of freedom and party ... So I created very colorful collections with very lively and bright materials.We had no more parade, so we had to find new ways to present our work.Our bias was to give carte blanche to different photographers.And there, at the dawn of reopening, my state of mind is that of questioning.Maybe anxiety.Hence the entirely black and diamond collection, which for me is the essence of Parisian fashion.There is nothing more chic.All this with the codes of the house and almost a certain nostalgia for the time which has happened and which was struck by this exceptional event.We have a crazy desire to restart, but to restart on solid bases.Monochrome and work pushed to the extreme in technique almost reassure us and remind us what we are able to do.So yes, I am excessively excited to restart internationally but I think it will be done by compensation.

SHE.We can see each other of the Old-Hollywood aesthetics, cowboy pieces and even cabaret ... How was this collection born?

Alexandre Vauthier.(laughs) It's very simple.It is both a very French and very international analysis.I am a French designer but I sell worldwide.My ambassadors are as French as English, Italian or American.Why all these style mixes?Because I work instinctively.This little western side is a bit of reconquering a new land.And I see it everywhere: in the last clip of Dua Lipa, at Miley Cyrus also ... This theme had even been treated by Madonna and her album "Music" in 2000.It's a bit of a child's dream that will conquer the world.Why the cabaret side?It’s the essence of Paris!But there are also some in Nevada, Las Vegas, not far from Texas ... So everything is joined.There is a kind of mix between a fantasized reality and a pure reality, namely all these very French codes: the crazy shepherdesses, the black, the diamonds, the suit cut with the body of water ... and indeed a little winkEye with shoes, accessories a little westernizing.And all cut with London New Wave with this slightly Dark sophistication.

SHE.If you had to remember only a silhouette from this collection?

Alexandre Vauthier.(He hesitates) Personally, it would be the simple geometric dress with simple muslin (left).For the side a bit more fun, it would be the embroidered leather dress Bandana by Lesage (in the center), which I find very funny.You know in the morning you wake up and you pick your Instagram, the news etc.I am a huge image eater, whether it be the 8 -hour info or reality TV, I want to understand everything.I want to feel things.And fashion, that's it.It’s feeling what’s going to happen.I didn't want to create something in style: "Great, it's recreation, all in fluorescent!»».No.It does not make sense.I did this when I was locked up in confinement.Today we have to rewrite a new, safer, groping new road with a clear goal.The idea is to be really in harmony with his time.

© ALASDAIR MCLELLAN

SHE.Do you feel, after all these months of confinements, the desire of customers to dress again, even to do too much?

Alexandre Vauthier.Yes it's clear !I think we have to do what we want to do, it's essential.Why did I put a dress with a stupid crinoline?Precisely because it is a nod to the over-died.I think you have to go to the end of your fantasies and do what you feel.It feels good to express yourself, so you have to go there.I think that internationally, women want to re-seduce again.We were confined, we were separated ... So much so that we could no longer touch.The relationship between men and women was even more complicated.I think we all want sensuality.We all need the other.So we want to put the package, right?

SHE.We feel that this collection is almost like ready-to-wear.On what occasion can the woman or man Alexandre Vauthier carry this collection?

Alexandre Vauthier.All the time !And thank God that we are no longer limited to the ceremonial of special occasions.When you talk to me about ready-to-wear, I take it as a compliment because I have always worked on a strong "portability" of sewing.The seam is not just miles of fabrics.It does not make sense.It's not just decoration poufs.It’s an art of living.Sewing is dressed tailor-made in the most luxurious way.A day tailor makes me dream as much as an evening dress in haute couture.It’s a way to be even more beautiful and as much as possible.I think the seam, if we have the means, we must wear it as we feel.Of course, there is formatted opportunities to wear these kinds of creations, but I think you have to wear what you want when you want.Even if it means being a little out of step.This is what makes the machine advance.