The influences were street, friends, people around us, youth cultures and subcultures, social uniforms and stereotypes.
We used some of our personal favorites as sources of inspiration. For example, the cut up t-shirt with the ANTWERPEN print was sort of a homage to the place that played an important role in my personal and creative formation.
In the summer of 2013, after having had some experience working for established houses and learning from them, I began questioning the current fashion system and how it affects creative dynamic. We decided to develop a project that would allow our own creative expression and result in a product that had direct appeal to the customer.
VETEMENTS has a new story to tell and has its own approach to today’s fashion. We don’t tend to look back at what might have influenced our aesthetic before. Margiela was undeniably a great school and certainly helped shape our creative aesthetic but it’s another brand, and another story- we are here to tell our own.
Outside of Fashion week, Paris is full of those people. We are inspired by real people, their characters, style and individuality. This is what we know and see around us and that’s who we want to dress. Clothes must look credible on authentic looking people rather than idealized models, only then do they come alive.
At present we make clothes for women and different types of bodies. Of course there are guys that can wear some of those pieces considering we have quite a masculine selection of garments. However we would like to produce a proper menswear collection in the future with the same creative approach.
It seems that everything today goes way faster than 10 or 5 years ago- it’s because of social media, internet and also transitional periods in the industry. Things start to change and the fashion system continues to evolve and reinvent itself.
Ha, that’s funny you noticed that. Actually we wanted a very dry, techno sound for that show but it ended up sounding way too serious and strict so finally, we relaxed the soundtrack by adding an interval of this cheap, almost tacky track. We listened to that one during fittings for fun, so it was an easy choice… In general, we don’t prefer one particular style but not a minute goes by in our studio without something playing, from Sisters of Mercy to Psychic TV to Cosey Fanni Tutti to Foxy Brown. We also like Wu Tang Clan, Portishead, Soviet group KINO and romance like Mina and Francoise Hardy, and many, many more. Music is vital.
Freedom of choice and weekends without work.
