Olivier Saillard – The Stimuleye Blog

Olivier Saillard, Violetta Sanchez, and 25 ways to be a turncoat

filep — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 13:30:00 +0000

“We nominate McQueen at Mugler and Armani Casa at Margiela…

We nominate Margiela at Schiaparelli and order him not to make any collections to preserve the surrealist spirit of the house.”

Curator Olivier Saillard hosted another one of his legend-in-the-making performances during couture week, this time in the intimate setting of the APC headquarters.

For 30 minutes, Saillard and his collaborator Violetta Sanchez pushed the classic man’s grey blazer to the limit (and beyond) by showing 25 ways it could be worn, while reciting a surreal list of nominations that read like a “who’s who” and a “what’s-wrong” with today’s fashion scene.

Can’t wait to see what Saillard comes up with next.

comme des garçons white drama

antoine — Fri, 04 May 2012 20:11:47 +0000

A few weeks before the Hyères madness, I had the incredible opportunity to once again spend a few days with Galliera curator Olivier Saillard as he put together not 1 but 2 special exhibitions in a brand new space dedicated to fashion in Paris : Les Docks / Cité de la Mode et du Design.

Alongside a special Cristobal Balenciaga Collector exhibition contrasting the 20th Century designer’s creations with unseen objects in his personal collection, Saillard was putting together a second exhibition more anchored in the present, and even in the future:

WHITE DRAMA, an exhibition of Comme Des Garçons’ current SS 2012 collection, with an eye-popping scenography by Rei Kawakubo herself…

a PREMICES FILMS production
Directed by: Antoine Asseraf
Assisted by: Thibault Della Gaspera
Sound by: Pierre Emmanuel Martinet

COMME DES GARÇONS WHITE DRAMA /
CRISTOBAL BALENCIAGA COLLECTOR

Cité de la Mode & du Design / Les Docks
34 Quai d’Austerlitz, Paris,
Until October 7, 2012.

hyères just a taste… Olivier Saillard

antoine — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 13:24:34 +0000

His name may not ring any bells, especially if you’ve never attended one of the numerous exhibitions he curated during his years at Union des Arts Décoratifs or more recently in his new position as curator for Paris’ Galliera Fashion Museum.

But his appreciation, his judgement, informed by an impressive culture and understanding of fashion in the long run, leave little to doubt.

Who better to evaluate the young talent of tomorrow than one of the few people who get fashion beyond the trends of the moment ?

Days before his double Comme des Garçons / Balenciaga exhibit opens at Cité de la Mode, here is Olivier Saillard.

Hyères 2012 jury member, Olivier Saillard, Director of the Galliera Fashion Museum. Photo by René Habermacher.

Why should a garment be considered as important?

At the risk of appearing a bit primal, because we’d be a bit cold if we had to live naked, unless we all moved to warmer pastures !

Beyond climatic considerations, I love to see a garment as a solution, and to note that some designers are, to this day, still preoccupied by the idea of solving, through a way of dressing, our natural morning wardrobe.

You have produced works that straddle the line between fashion and performance. Or maybe there is no line. When looking at the collections for the festival, how important is the element of presentation to you? Would a poor presentation of a great garment influence how you score it?

Now more than ever, presentation interests me less than the garment itself. I skip fashion shows and rather appreciate presentations in show rooms.

Thus, there is no way of cheating. Presentation involves the image.

Today a fashion show lasts on average 7 to 11 minutes.

In the 80’s, it lasted 40 minutes, and in the 50’s, over an hour and a half.

That means that means that the live fashion takes as long to watch as what you’d see on the internet.

This tyranny of the image, which is killing ambition in dressing at the profit of sensationalism, must be avoided, except when it is claimed as part of a project.

A bad presentation cannot influence my perception of the garment, but can make me doubt as to the ability of the designer.

Olivier Saillard at "18th Century Up to Date", by Antoine Asseraf, part of "Vogue à Versailles".

You have seen up close so many historical costumes and clothing that were at the forefront of fashion techniques and technology of their era.

On the flipside, what do you think the is the most advanced or intriguing technique or aspect in fashion that is available now that wasn’t in the past?

It seems to me that only Azzedine Alaia is technically a virtuoso.

Comme des Garçons, Rei Kawakubo and Junya Watanabe seem to always open new paths of research which, without having to do with Haute Couture, enrich the formal and technical vocabulary of fashion. I also see in Nicolas Ghesquière an obtuse talent to renew textile research, to make it contemporary for good.

But I must admit that it’s in the realm of athletic clothing that the research is pioneering and democratic. It is regrettable that the stylistic vocabulary is subpar to these discoveries, which make the garment thinner, lighter and more efficient. The motifs, as well as the cuts, are awe-inspiring.

Fashion has been an immediate transmitter for new ideas and a proof of social and cultural evolution.

for quite a while now we experience fashion is recycling itself in an ever faster cycle, to a point where almost anything goes.

looking at history, how would you analyse the role of fashion today?

This constant renewal, whose sole function is to develop sales, doesn’t affect the silhouette as we would think.

It takes in fact years for a trend to register and take root. It probably took over 10 years for the low waist to make its way in everyone’s closet.

It will take as many years for the waistline to return to normal.

Fads seem as epiphenomena in comparison to the constrained silhouette of our current wardrobe, and which was born at the end of the 90’s.

There is a paradox between a “fashion for all” universe made possible by big democratic brands who follow very closely the shows of influential designers (who may also be watching) and on the opposing end, a sort of disavowal of the mainstream public for fashion creation (fed by the media who are tied hands and feet to the advertisers). As in other disciplines, there is an abundance of shows and designers whose creative ambition is relative. Truly interesting collections are drowned out and deprived of the attention they deserve.

As an aside, there are no “damned” designers whose talent is being ignored. That is one thing worth celebrating.

Could you comment the extent to which today’s fashion apparently is getting more influences from within fashion than, for example, other realms such as history or history of art?

It is true that there is in fashion, as in other artistic disciplines I must say, a sort of inbreeding,

By dint of quoting and holding up mirrors through internet and twitter, fashion houses are disappearing into their own reflection, and in the end are making interchangeable creation a standard.

That will be probably be the identified “evil” of the 2000’s and 2010’s. The monopoly of luxury brands and groups has brought to light their formula.

I believe in the return to the designer as creator as I believe in the sovereignty of the author.

There are in fashion some immediate boomerang effects which protect fashion from the mechanics which businessmen would want to duplicate.

On the other hand, I am wary of the proliferation on each street of boutiques which are destroying the determined gaze which we could have on fashion creation. This over-abundance is the source of its own disgust.

TOUT CE QU'IL FAUT SAVOIR SUR HYÈRES 2012 by The Stimuleye, Hyères 2012 teaser.

What is the last thing that you experienced, saw or heard that stimulated you?

Generally speaking, only the past stimulates me.

The tyranny of now, as it is fed by the internet, puts me off.

I find all the people who live off novelty a bit sad, because I recognize nevertheless a lot of wasted work and energy.

What stimulates me are positions of resistance such as Azzedine Alaia. That is what fashion history will keep. There is a deep necessity to break all the commercial molds to favor the growth of new names and new talents.

Reading is always a stimulating element to me. Recently, “Aurelien” by Aragon brought me much pleasure.

The book is, more than ever for me, a way to sweeten these considerations and a way to remind ourselves that thinking can still be a creative program.

Far removed from this, what stimulated me more than anything is my sister’s recent move to Saintes Marie de la Mer [in the Camargue region in the south of France near Arles]. Everything morning she crosses the road to go swim. Right now I see no better wild project to be happy.

Comme des Garçons White Drama

Cristobal Balenciaga

opening Wednesday April 11 at Cité de la Mode/ Galliera

HYERES, IT BEGINS

antoine — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:54:59 +0000

Can fashion still dazzle us ? To prove that the answer is “yes” for its 2012 edition, the legendary Hyères Fashion & Photography Festival has invited Yohji Yamamoto to preside its fashion jury…

Leather Jacket by Daniel Hurlin, one of the contestants. Photo by René Habermacher.

There is problem in fashion today.
It’s a time of transition, adjusting to the internet, new markets, and the weight of conglomerates.
It’s a time of new opportunities for many.

But it’s also a time where a house like Dior cannot find a replacing designer without causing a game of musical chairs – we are to understand that there are so few established designers out there, that Dior’s next womenswear designer must come from a competing house.
As if there were no young designers up to the job.
As if Galliano himself had had much experience when he started.
The problem is, today, that it’s become increasingly tough for young designers to develop their visual aesthetic independently, starting from scratch.
And if young designers can’t develop their style, be allowed to mature and establish themselves, well, there won’t be any mature designers around when Dior needs one.

The submitted silhouettes of the 10 contestants. Photo by René Habermacher.

Luckily, there is Hyères.
Since 1985, the Hyères Fashion and Photography Festival, located on the Côte d’Azur in the South of France, has promoted the work of young designers by putting them in contact with the industry’s top professionals, organizing for them state-of-the-art fashion shows and drawing an audience of buyers and press from all over the world, giving them the chance to make a first impression.
Hyères has given us Viktor & Rolf, Felipe Oliveira Baptista (Lacoste), Gaspard Yurkievitch, and many others who now run the studios of the biggest houses.

The Hyères 2012 Selection jury.

This Hyères (forgive the pun), Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto has invited an all-star group to join him in the fashion jury: photographer Paolo Roversi, curator Jules Wright, Galliera fashion museum director Olivier Saillard, creative director Marc Ascoli, buyer Alan Bazarian, Hermès art director Pascale Mussard, and i-D magazine’s Terry Jones were all present to go through the dossiers of the applicants.

Jury member Olivier Saillard examining a dossier.

After hours of looking at dossiers and submitted looks, and additional hours of deliberation, the selection jury chose 4 men’s and 6 women’s looks from designers coming not only from traditional Western European countries but also from Australia, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Finland and Estonia.

The designers now have 2 months to complete 6 more looks from their collection(and a special Chloé look) before flying in to Hyères in April and being prepped by fashion director Maïda Gregory for the jury and presentations, fashion shows and showrooms happening over the 3 days of the festival. In addition to a Grand Jury Prize (15 000 Euros by L’Oreal Professionel) and a Première Vision Prize (10 000 euros), they’ll also be competing for a new Chloé prize, with a specially designed look.

Photographer Paolo Roversi saluting us as he leaves the Yohji Yamamoto HQ. Photo by René Habermacher.

Check back with us soon for interviews of the jury members and news about the photo competition as well…

Hyères Fashion & Photography Festival
April 27-30th, 2012
Villa Noailles, Hyères, France