Castelbajac, icône de la mode et du design

Décoscopie

This episode of Décoscopie features an in-depth interview with fashion and design icon Jean-Charles de Castelbajac. He reflects on his 50-ye

Key takeaways

• Castelbajac's design philosophy is rooted in a '360-degree vision' that blends fashion with street art, photography, and music.
• He cites the 13th-century artist Villard de Honnecourt as a primary inspiration for his identity as a 'renaissance man'.

Main topics

• Fashion history
• Multidisciplinary design

Notable quotes

He is the only one who discusses style and not fashion, said his master André Courrégès.

Conclusion

The episode provides a profound look at how a lifelong commitment to c

Transcript preview

Speaker 7 (0:00) That day, I had a huge shock, in fact. I had such a big shock that I never talked about it. In fact, as a teenager, I felt moved, like a gesture or like a word can be moved. In family, in love, at work, in society, is there ever quite its place? This feeling of being in harmony with oneself, of getting closer to the person we have the ambition to be. A relevant career. Speaker 7 (0:45) I'm Marion Ruggieri, and in the podcast Les Vagues, a brand new podcast by Elle, I'll be asking people about the moment when they felt like they were in their place for the first time, but also the moment when they felt like they were moving. Speaker 7 (1:11) Bonne écoute ! Speaker 2 (1:34) Welcome to Décoscopie, the podcast of the magazine Elle Décoration. In this original format, we go to meet the personalities of the deco to discover the works of art, the events, the personalities and the places that make them vibrate and inspire them on a daily basis. Speaker 2 (1:56) I am Jean-Christophe Camuset, and in this new episode, I welcome Jean-Charles de Castelbajac. Impossible to sum up in a few words a career that extends over more than 50 years and overflows all the frames. In fact, this son of a textile engineer, born in Casablanca and landed in Paris at 17 years old at the end of the 60s, is still attached to unblock the creation. From the 70s, he revolutionized fashion by injecting his 360-degree vision permeable to all forms of art. Music, omnipresent in his universe, street art, which he practices after being initiated by Keith Haring, but also photography, scenography, poetry. He is the only one who discusses style and not fashion, said his master André Courrèges. Among the values that guide him since his beginnings, there is the taste of detour, the refusal to abandon his childlike gaze, pop culture as an inexhaustible source of inspiration, and then there is recycling, of which Castelbajac was a precursor. His very first jacket, he cut it in his pensioner's cover and managed to make it worn by John Lennon. From then on, he used the rebounds of his time in his clothing collections, which forge the style of the 80s. The design and decoration always passionate about it. Throughout his career, he drew canapés for Ligne Rosée, carpets for Tout le Monde Beauchard, a chair for Fair Mob, and more recently, a collection of seats for Maison Dada. When asked which artist had influenced him the most, he first wanted to mention his friend Keith Haring, before revising himself and opting for an unknown master of medieval iconography. Speaker 3 (3:43) Well, it's Villard de Honnecourt. Villard de Honnecourt lived in the early 13th century. For me, he was a complete, total artist. He was overwhelming, brilliant. I first discovered, thanks to my father, who was a journalist, the reproductions he had in his little architect's notebook. And the eclecticism of his drawings, which go from illustration... which consist of columns, vaults of cathedrals and architectural drawings, gave me the desire to develop this idea of renaissance men, which the French call in a very reductive way, touch-a-tout. So Villard de Haunecourt is this first touch-a-tout of genius that marked my artistic path. and its little notebook