NIKA: What can Zadig and Voltaire teach Americans about fashion? It gives a new “West Coast” feeling to the Zadig look. Her inspiration came from the hippies and rock ‘n roll. She loves natural materials such as silk, leather, denim, foal skin. She also plays with shapes, like a high-waisted suit, for example. But she had ideas of using very precise materials-rougher, more used-looking. GILLER: We will use cashmere and silk as we do in our main line collection. NIKA: What can we expect from her Fall capsule collection? Our customers can identify with her because she carries the true DNA of Zadig’s style. She is unique! I always admired her-and she’s always loved my clothes. GILLER: I found in Erin the perfect Zadig’s woman. NIKA: How does Erin Wasson speak to the Zadig and Voltaire image? My pre-washed cotton and my raw-edged cashmeres are always in the collection, season after season. I opened shops all around the world the design of those shops is the same as the clothes-wherever you are. GILLER: Now there is a concept behind the brand. NIKA: How has the brand evolved most noticeably since 1997? What can you do today with Zadig & Voltaire you couldn’t have 10 years ago?
French women are chic and have a certain look-like Ines de la Fressange or Charlotte Gainsbourg. GILLER: The brand reflects French elegance. NIKA: What is specifically French about Zadig & Voltaire? Zadig’s look is all about a good mixture of style: wearing a cashmere sweater with a loose t-shirt and a chic men’s blazer or a leather jacket. GILLER: It is a concept brand that is ahead of its time. NIKA: You’ve described Zadig & Voltaire’s look as “looking like street fashion at first glance.” What does that mean exactly? I love Patti Smith, Alison Mosshart, and Mick Jagger. I think that music is very important in our lives music is strong and international and it brings people together. NIKA: Rock ‘n roll does seem to be a major influence on your designs. I wanted to use a more artistic name than my own! GILLER: Zadig is a modern character: he has a strong personality he is visionary and he reflects the brand. NIKA: Zadig & Voltaire would seem to reference 18th-century writer Voltaire and his book, Zadig and the Destiny. I also worked with my brother-we had a brand before Zadig & Voltaire. I studied art and cinema at Parsons School of Design and went to Bard College. GILLER: Although I was born in an artistic family, it is in New York where I developed my artistic streak. Did he, or other members of your family, influence your own career path? NIKA: Your father was the founder of Lacoste. We will also show some winter pieces: leather and knitwear pieces are very important in Zadig’s collections. The collection is called Metamorphosis, and it’s five exceptional designs. We will show the jewelry pieces that Gaia Repossi designed for Zadig & Voltaire. THIERRY GILLER: Yes, it’s the first time that we are going to do a presentation during Fashion Week. Interview caught up with Giller a few weeks before he presents Zadig and Voltaire’s very first Paris Fashion Week presentation-and learned why, like rock ‘n roll itself, the desire to don its costumes will never die.ĬOLLEEN NIKA: What plans do you have for a Zadig and Voltaire Fashion Week presentation? Is it your first? The brand also hired all-American modern grunge goddess Erin Wasson to star in its Spring 2011 campaign and design a capsule Fall collection. Since then, the label’s Stateside cachet has skyrocketed: two more New York stores popped up (with big plans for other US cities). In 2009, Zadig and Voltaire finally made its intrepid journey across the Atlantic, settling into Manhattan’s Meatpacking District-a neighborhood milestone Cintra Wilson christened as the arrival of a new era of downtown dressing. The brand’s Sloane Street location in London magnetizes boldfaced names-including Mark Ronson, who starred in a recent ad campaign with girlfriend Joséphine de la Baume, hot on the heels of Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl’s striking ads. Soon, Zadig and Voltaire’s pursuit of sexy, sonically-inclined youth spread to the UK and beyond. Urbane young Parisians gravitated towards the brand’s upscale version of the grittier styles that flourished in the aftershocks of grunge. Looking like you just walked offstage might seem as easy as bedhead, but the French label Zadig and Voltaire pull off the quintessential rock aesthetic with an unparalled, sophisticated panache.įounded by designer Thierry Giller (whose father founded Lacoste), the label first opened its doors to Paris’ Marais district in 1997 and earned an instant crowd. For millennials, a generation raised by MTV and their own (guitar) heroes, life can seem like a lot like an extended performance.
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