“The goal is to make your voice really loud”.
– Nicolas Lecourt Mansion
Dearest readers! The Fur Guru is back from the French capital and she has so much material to share with you that she’s trying to get organised really quickly in order to attempt to make you feel and enjoy all the amazing and beautiful things she found in it in her following posts. Oh yes! From delicious, heart-warming food and wine in cozy little corners in Montmatre to exhuberant beauty from the biggest fashion icons. Parisians know how to enjoy this amazing trip that is life and they do it in such a sophisticated manner that you can’t do anything but to surrender and let them teach you how to do it. The Guru visited the most outstanding exhibitions and met with old friends to share the pleasures of eating and drinking. Among these friends was the talented and fearless but always gentle and welcoming Nicolas Lecourt Mansion. Yep! As expected, we shared a long conversation with the latest of his whereabouts and projects. He’s just a inexhaustible source of innovative and cutting-edge design. He told the Guru all about his plans for the future and, get ready, he’s going to do it in his always unprecedented and ingenious manner. Here is the latest interview this REMIX 2017 finalist and Bronze price winner told us:
FG: Favourite childhood story and why?
Like most of the people I talk to about childhood, I remember almost nothing from it. I have a few things in my mind, and I’ve heard that the only souvenir we keep are the really good ones, so I’m gonna tell the one I remember the most:
I was a kid like 4 or probably 5 y/o , and it was easter time. My parents always had gifts for us for these occasions and my older sister Julia got a CD from Aqua. We were living in our house in the countryside, which is quite hard to remember precisely but I remember that carpet that was on the floor, and my sister was teaching me choreography for these songs which consisted of running after each other following the pattern of the carpet. The song and this choreography are since stuck in my head.
FG: You are known to be quite a rebel; how does this personality trait impact your designs?
I don’t identify myself as rebelious, but I understand why I am called this. I have this personality to always express what I don’t feel is right. In a way it could be as well the word activist, revolutionary, etc… I don’t really like to put names on things – this is exactly why I get called rebel. I don’t like labels. It opens your mind to have no barriers or labels on anything. This impacts my designs. I don’t like the idea of labelling garments like « menswear AW 16-17 » or whatever. Now, I think all of this is very obsolete : Garment can be worn dozens of years, and you can wear whatever you fit in, menswear or womenswear… It influences my way of drawing and creating a lot. I think more about personality than just bodyshapes or the uses of what already exists. It also allows you to create without giving a fuck on what you are going to use (inspiration or material). It’s taking out the best and the beauty of something, sometimes to protest or say what you think about it. More than just showing simple aesthetic, fashion designers have a voice that too few use, or use the wrong way. The goal is to make your voice very loud.
FG: Punk or Grunge?
Maybe both and neither at the same time (labels you know). Both brought me so much in terms of aesthetic, music, … but I also don’t feel like either punk or grunge. I would have to add all what is next.. I am punk, grunge, glam rock, pop, new wave, hip hop,…. I don’t have only one label this is why I hate it. It’s like choosing between Bowie and Aaliyah. I couldn’t because it’s like with your friends, they are all different but all of them bring something in particular; that is the reason why they are your friends.
FG: What’s the creative process in designing a Nicolas Lecourt Mansion conception? Where does it all start?
Most of the time it starts with an image, in my head. This can be related to something I’ve seen, what we could call « inspiration » or just a idea popping from something that starts growing in my head. Then I try to make it more than an idea. It can be a sketch or a material test, color combination etc… But after that there is the realisation and there is the main creative process. Every part of a design can change until the last seam and even after. You can do something in a particular way which has to change in the end because it’s not that great or its better when done differently. It happens all the time, you rarely have something good first shot like it’s on a drawing or in your head. And this is caused by different things such as the kind of material, the kind of body, etc.
FG: What feeds your imagination?
Everything feeds my imagination. People, music, movies, pictures, art… I believe that creating is like cooking recipes. You take a bit of some ingredients and “cook it” until it is finished and people can wear it. May be it’s also why I love cooking and eating so much. Like you said, it’s « feeding » my imagination. But in all these ingredients that feed me, I would say I get the most from the images I watch. Photography, as well as painting and movies (old or new), is a infinite source of imagination. It witnesses facts, moments, colours,… it’s history, the past. You can’t build a future without the past.
FG: What’s the antidote to creative mind block?
I would say changing. When something doesn’t motivate you enough and you get “creatively inert”, you should pass to something else to keep moving on, and maybe come back when you head is clear and you have done something else. It helps to do something else to figure out how to keep going on.
FG: Who will end up wearing your designs?
Maybe it’s also like food, people that share my taste and ideas. I really would like to share the way I see fashion, the art of dressing. I would wear what I design. I know most of the people don’t understand this – the way I dress. But my designs are different. Quite a lot of people from different backgrounds can relate to what I do and it’s quite nice to have your work appreciated in this way. The best compliment I get when I show new designs to my friends is that most of the time they ask: «can I try it on?» or «can I borrow that ?» This makes the work complete – if you make clothes, they are not to be on a hanger.
P.S. In her next post, the Fur Guru will take you to one of the most aclaimed and dreamy fashion exhibitions of the year: Dior, Designer of dreams. Get ready to be enchanted with florals, sparkle and the glamour that this French designer has left for all of us to enjoy. Très magnifique!
The Fur Guru xx