Vincent Darré

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Vincent Darré
Vincent Darré

Vincent Darré is fashion’s favorite wunderkind, who has, with equal talent, done everything, from designing sets for the legendary Argentinian theater director Alfredo Arias...

Organised around a regular pattern: in this column each interviewee picks the picture that illustrates their interview, answers six questions that are the same for all contributors and then two more that are designed specifically for them.

Vincent Darré is fashion’s favorite wunderkind, who has, with equal talent, designed sets for the legendary Argentinian theater director Alfredo Arias, contributed to Vogue Italia and Vogue Paris, served as artistic director for Emanuel Ungaro and Moschino. For his latest achievement, Maison Darré, in Paris, he presents furniture designed by himself and his artist friends.

How would you connect fashion to elegance?
Elegance is innate: it exists as moral elegance, as another kind of elegance, that certain people I know have. They can dress the way they want and it will always look perfect on them. And there is the elegance in life, which is I think the contrary of fashion. Fashion is dictatorship, it consists in following something, whereas elegant people don’t consciously make a trend, because they don’t follow it.

What is the role of history and art history in your conception of fashion?
Art history and fashion are closely related – even though I don’t see fashion as an art in its own right. It cannot be an art, because art is made to last and embody a certain moment in history. Fashion does represent a certain moment but I don’t think it uses it to create a philosophy; the shock is emotional, whereas every painting or every installation makes us think. Fashion doesn’t, because it’s superficial. Then, history is very closely related to fashion as well: when things get bad, either people overdress and wear jewels, or minimalism returns.

Would you describe fashion as a language and a discourse, as Barthes did it?
It’s impossible for me to answer, as I don’t know Barthes well enough.

The word "intellectual" was coined in a time of great political distress. Does fashion have a political role? And in which way?
The first women who wore trousers did express a certain freedom in their body, in the 1960s, when people dressed carelessly. The 1970s are the moment of the death of fashion as it was before. Fashion today doesn’t mean anything anymore. Before, people were all dressed the same – as we can see in movies. Now, everybody is dressed like trash bags: therein lies the connection between people. They want to feel good, which is disgusting, so they wear limp clothes, and they feel good.

How would you relate the concept of fashion to the one of style?
Fashion is a style. Style is given by certain individuals in particular: designers. Christian Dior reinvented the corset, forced women to wear girdles, to put on stockings and bras, whereas Chanel tried to remove them. The last designer to invent a style is Hedi Slimane, when he created those slim trousers. It’s a style – the style of a whole generation, defined by the lock of hair and slim trousers. Ten years ago, the jacket didn’t exist anymore. Now, all the kids wear jeans and jackets. Style is fashion.

What does fashion have to do with intellectuality?
Fashion appeals to the intellectuals. They’re curious, they don’t really know what’s happening; they’re caught by pictures. First of all, they’re impressed by women: it’s more a carnal relation to fashion. When we read Proust, we notice that it’s a lot about fashion, but maybe that’s because Proust is a gay writer. At Fitzgerald’s time, there are so many descriptions of attires, because fashion was so meaningful. Today, I think the intellectuals must see it as some sort of advertisement, as a shadow, as something passing. And I guess they don’t understand a lot about it, because there isn’t a lot to understand.

You have been artistic director of Moschino. And Moschino was famous for the importance he gave to irony. Do you believe that there is some space for irony in fashion ?
A huge one. And it’s a pity, because it’s less and less visible. Of the whole career I had in fashion, Moschino was the only place where I really felt at home, because I have a full sense of irony towards fashion. And Franco Moschino did not only have irony; he was against the system of fashion. He once did a show in the middle of which he just showed up with a placard inscribed 'Stop Fashion', pushed all the models backstage, and kicked all the journalists out of the room, saying that we have to end fashion. I  was eighteen in 1977, and that means that I’m punk for life. For me, Moschino is punk: there’s no absolute rule.

You have worked on many varied projects. How is this diversity inscribed in the field of fashion ?
The Maison Darré is very much based on the idea of the cabinet of curiosities. I have been very impressed by what happened at the time of dadaism and surrealism, and I truly admire Jean Cocteau, who could do everything, from cinema to drawing or writing. Anyway, we spend our life trying to fulfill our childhood dreams, and my ideal is to do things that entertain me. As a child, I was very impressed by cinema and scenery – at the beginning, I wanted to be a costume designer and set decorator. Everything is related: fashion, decoration. It all started with Paul Poiret and his ateliers de Martine, in which fashion was mixed with everyday-life. I believe that we should be free and that, when people try to put us in a box, we shouldn’t accept any label they would like to mark us with. Maybe it is that diversity that makes me somewhat chaotic.

In two weeks Donatien will be interviewing the photographer Ryan McGinley.