Racine to the Top

An Interview with Émile Racine by Alexia Georgieva

Inspired by the rave scene, Racine is a Montreal-based brand known for its unique modular shoes created with 3D printers. Throughout the past few years, the psychedelic brand started catching the attention of multiple artists in the City of Angels. As seen in the wardrobes of Lil Nas X and Dorian Electra, Racine is slowly but surely making a name for itself.

The story of Racine takes its roots in Barcelona, Spain, where Émile Racine, the brain behind the brand, was an exchange student in industrial design at Elisava University. Accustomed to Montreal’s heavily technical and strict teaching methods, Émile had the chance to explore industrial design through a visual and creative lens during his studies in Europe. “I could do anything I wanted, so I just decided to do a shoe project.” Eventually, he returned to Montreal to complete his undergraduate degree at the University of Montreal. Émile’s graduation project was a reversible shoe that could be deconstructed and recomposed to make eight different shoes. Overall, the project incorporated the technical and conceptual aspects he had developed throughout his studies to his artistic outlook on industrial design.

Upon graduating, he was unsure which direction to take, so he purchased some 3D printers and started experimenting with different designs. He then spent a year working from his basement and collaborating with various people involved in fashion who needed shoes for their projects. At that point he started feeling ready to push his work further and develop something unique. That is how he met Milan Tanedjikov, the creator of the LIGNES DE FUITE talent incubator aiming to support emerging rising students and help them refine their work while providing them with industry connections. Under Milan’s mentorship, Émile started working on his first collection, learnt how to develop silhouettes, balance his looks, broaden his shoe universe, and create a high fashion product that could be placed on the market. Despite the delays that the COVID-19 pandemic brought to the early stages of his work’s development, Émile overcame them and continued working on his collection. One and a half years later, the final five looks were ready and appeared in a shoot with Paper magazine.

What were your main inspirations for the first collection that you created?

When I began my project with Milan, the starting point of my work was the rave universe, and then I was also inspired by the materials and textures of hiking and climbing technical wear, so those two were my main guidelines. Once the mentorship program finished, I continued working on my collection on my own. So I started adding new components to my work: references to personal experiences and interests I started exploring as I was designing the rest of the collection. One of those is the spiritual component of my work, which is rooted in the research of sacred geometries. I also grew an interest in motorcycles and motorcycle races. I just really liked their technical wear, so I began manipulating materials such as leather.

I know that you have worked with a few artists so I was wondering, what is your process when you start designing something, do you always have in mind who would be your potential client, or you kind of go ahead and develop whatever you have in mind?

In general, it is a bit of both. If an artist asks me to create something, I will take ideas floating around my mind and then try to adapt them to the artist and their style. But most of the time, I push to maximum the ideas I have, and I allow myself to do whatever Iwant.

You have an interesting background that is not fashion-specific but is still very relevant to your work. Would you say you incorporate much of your industrial design knowledge into the garments and shoes you create for Racine?

Yes, a lot, actually, because we usually make clothes and accessories with rigid components, 3D prints, etc. The garments and shoes are designed as sports equipment and functional objects rather than usual garments. The challenge here is that it's not as simple as designing a shirt or a skirt because what I create has often never been done, so I don't have any guidelines to follow. When you make a jacket with emphasised studs, as we have in the collection, it is something that has never been done, so I have to develop the technique to accomplish it. I have to find answers to many questions; how will we add the 3D printed studs to the clothes? Will the sewing machine go through the 3D printed parts? I really have to think of new processes to create these accessories or clothes that do not really exist so my industrial design background really comes into play.

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How do you efficiently drive the production of the collections and pieces for Racine? Do you have a permanent team of people who are working with you?

I have my assistant, but generally, the team varies in number because people often work by contract with me. If I need someone for the tailoring I will call someone who can do that; I will try to find trained people for the specific task that I need. At the moment we also have interns so on average we are 3-4 people and for now that model works for me. You were in Los Angeles a few months ago and you mentioned that you are going back in a few days. What makes this city an epicenter for Racine? Most of our customers are in Los Angeles, so we like to go there to strengthen our relationships with our established clients and network and meet some other interesting people. Eventually, we would like to go there in a few months and present some new garments and shoes. We also enjoy holding popups in raves because people are quite receptive, much more than in Montreal, in my experience.

As an emerging brand, what would you say has been the most challenging aspect of your work so far?

For me the challenges were not really related to creativity or to the development of the garments, shoes, and accessories. What I found difficult is the fact that you need some understanding of the business world and how to navigate it to create a product that can be profitable. It’s also things like legal issues, as a creative, you are not really aware of all the laws and standards that you have to follow when you have a brand so navigating and understanding all of that has been a challenge.

Do you have any advice for emerging designers who are in the process of developing their brand?

I think it is essential to surround yourself with the right people, and I also believe that making a few mistakes can be good and formative. It is also important to be able to say no; although it is hard, always assess if propositions you have are actually beneficial for you because, in the end, you have to think about your brand. Fashion is also a difficult field to break into, so I would say that having a more niche product that makes you unique might be a strength.

Credits:

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Text Alexia Georgieva Images Raphael Viens & Boris Halas Models DORIAN ELECTRA & PRINCESS GOLLUM

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What’s The Matter With Paris?

AN INTERVIEW WITH FECAL MATTER BY GIOVANNI CACI

They pioneered the alien aesthetic, they introduced the club scene to hardcore music, they bore the $10,000 skin heels, they have been featured in prominent museums, they have appeared in major magazines, they have modeled for design legends, they subvert the industry with their sartorial style: they are the duo making new waves in the world of fashion.

The artists behind Fecal Matter, Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran, first became acquainted while studying fashion design at Lasalle College in Montréal. Initially, they viewed one another as opposites: Hannah describing Steven as being the “annoying kind of student” who constantly disrupted class with questions, and Steven describing Hannah as being “very very studious.” After class one day, Steven approached Hannah and they connected over their mutual hatred of the fashion industry. Eventually, their bond grew to love and they became inseparable.

Together, they discovered their identities and ideated ways to make their mark in fashion. All they lacked was a bit of encouragement. At just the right time, they met a teacher by the name of Milan Tanedjikov, who supplemented their motivation and validated the importance of their ideas while, in the process, forming his talent incubator, LIGNES DE FUITE. Under his mentorship, they gained the confidence to expand their research into various topics including transhumanism. With their concept becoming more refined, the duo’s ideas would soon synthesize into Fecal Matter, which they would debut in 2015 at Festival Mode + Design in Montréal.

Following graduation, they began their journey by wearing their own designs, applying their unique style of hair and makeup, and posting photographs of themselves in public on social media. People were noticing. However, as their popularity grew, so too did the antagonisms they faced trying to suppress them. They then decided to leave Montréal for abroad, where their alternative appearance got them many opportunities because, as Steven recounts, “[at the time] it was very disco... this was when Gucci started coming up and doing eccentric retro looks, but we were going full future and

full alien.” At first, many in the industry “ghosted” their approaches, until they grew too big to be ignored.

As years passed, Fecal Matter gained a different perspective of the industry. They encountered like-minded people such as Rick Owens, with whom they associated for over a year. To them, he is not just a collaborator, but a friend who “loves not just what we do but who we are in a sense of our spirit, our tenacity, our courage.” After working with the legendary designer and building their reputation together for almost a decade, the duo made the decision to move to Paris.

The French Capital was a strategic choice. They saw Paris as more challenging than their alternative, London, because although the latter is “more liberal,” they state that “it’s the same shit also... it’s still run and funded and co-signed by rich, white people that are businessmen—that’s who runs the world. It’s just, they disguise it better.” In contrast, they consider Paris openly conservative, where boundaries and hierarchies are upheld, thus making it the ideal location for them to work on breaking the barriers that prevent oppressed circles from finding their footing in the fashion industry.

To understand their plans, I met with them in Paris for an interview at restaurant L’Avenue. There they sat, wearing their makeup, dressing both in Rick Owens and their own designs, contrasting the minimal and elegant environment surrounding us. As usual, they were in their element. As our food arrived I proceeded to record our conversation

Now that you’re both in Paris, what can we expect from Fecal Matter?

S: Right now, we’re just experiencing the change and the transition—living in Montréal was our home base, now this is becoming our home base. But in terms of projects, I mean, our goal is to just—I don’t know when this will happen, I don’t know how long it will take— but to just do a collection that really really embodies everything that we are feeling right now, but more importantly, everything that we don’t understand yet— if that makes any sense?

Sounds interesting. Can you elaborate on that?

S: There’s so much we don’t understand yet that I want to use a collection to understand. There’s so many things you don’t understand. It’s like, where do we belong? How do we see the world, where the world is going, social media, technology and, you know, gender—all the subjects that we’re passionate about but that are also important in life. I want to use a collection to exercise that and to discover more through that—that’s really an important thing that we come here to do: that collection. But, with that being said, what we do is not just designing, we’re image-makers, we’re working as models collaborating so who knows what. I mean, we have a lot of projects happening already but who knows where all those projects lead?

H: And right now we are working on a special photography project that feels really freeing. Usually before in Montréal we would create constantly but we wouldn’t have enough time or resources to, like, be able to delete, rework, redo; we would pretty much use all the content we created and release it immediately. Here in Paris, we are indulging in the creative process and letting work simmer, develop, collaborate, travel, grow with time before even thinking where it’ll end up. Photography is a medium that we have always used within our work to express our vision of the world. Even though fashion always seemed like the focal point, in reality photography perhaps is even more prominent due to how most people interact with Fecal Matter. Clothing is only one part of the Fecal Matter pie, there are so many other parts that deserve to be explored and now more than ever we’re finding the time, the creatives, and the point of view to uplift them.

What’s your priority in the meantime?

S: To just be as authentic as possible. To continue to push—not just fashion—but

ourselves and our own experience as creators. But to also hopefully enjoy life a little bit more.

I feel like we want to try to enjoy it a little bit more: it’s kind of been hard for us to do that, we’re very work work work. But I feel like people in Paris really indulge. That’s what they do. It’s like a very indulging lifestyle where people can stay for dinner for 4 hours, they can, you know, do nothing, read poetry—really indulge in all that life has to offer. Museum, art, fashion, music— they really go into it. And it’s not fast-paced like New York, or even Montréal, or Canada. So, hopefully we get to indulge a little bit more into our fantasies. But yeah, I mean, to be honest, the aesthetic we’re building right now is couture. And the reason why I say an “aesthetic” is because the aesthetic we’re going after is like a couture aesthetic and—what is that going to look like for us? Well, we’re gonna have to wait and see.

I’m sure you’re both excited to show Paris what you’re capable of.

S: It’s our dream: this is our dream, you know? This is what we’ve gone through so much and sacrificed so much to get to this point, and we’re just excited, nervous, scared, panicking, but at the same time, taking it one step at a time, which is something that we are trying to get better at.

H: I just want more moments where I feel like ‘oh, I was born for this,’ “everything I’ve worked at is

for this moment”, so that’s what I hope for this year.

S: Because sometimes it’s like you’re laser-focused on something, but you actually don’t know what’s happening. You’re just obsessed over the glass, but you don’t realize that you’re even at a restaurant, that there’s people, the time is ticking. It’s when you have that duality of being focused but then also it’s an internal awareness, but an external awareness all at the same time connected, it’s where you’re like, ‘ok, I see the full picture,’ you know? So, we want those full-picture moments. And right now, it is a full-picture moment, to be honest. Right now, we’re experiencing it.

Has your perspective on things changed since arriving here?

S: I don’t want to go into it too much—but before even leaving Montréal, it’s a full realization saying goodbye to all our friends and family. It was a realization of how much we’ve lived, how much we’ve impacted, and how much people have impacted us. It’s just been a bit of a closing chapter moment for us. Life is so short, it can end so quickly, but, you can be alive and not be alive at the same time, so, it’s like—experience, indulge, have fun, take risks. So that’s what we’re going to be doing: that’s our future. Who knows what that’s gonna look like. But we’re going to gamble everything, we’re just gonna—

H: See where the chips end up.

S: And if we fall on our asses, we fall on our asses. That’s just—it is what it is. We get back up. We’ve been down and up and down and up, so it’s just how it is.

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Images by Raphael Viens and Fecal Matter Article originally published in LIGNES DE FUITE Vol.3

LIGNES DE FUITE Vol.3

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Behind The Doors of 54 Avenue De Clichy

An Interview with Alice Vaillant by Alexia Georgieva

Originally from the 18th arrondissement in Paris, Alice Vaillant spent her early life immersed in the ballet world. At a young age, she entered the prestigious Paris Opera Ballet where she stayed a few years before leaving her hometown to join the Grands Ballet Canadiens in Montreal, Canada. After a month and a half at the French-Canadian dance company, she decided to retire from her classical dancing career to pursue new endeavours. She decided to stay in Canada and reoriented herself towards a different artistic outlet—fashion design.

While studying Fashion Design at LaSalle College, in Montreal, Alice met the founder of the LIGNES DE FUITE talent incubator, Milan Tanedjikov, a teacher devoted to supporting promising fashion students and recent graduates by helping them develop their ideas. Although Milan’s mentorship program was not yet an established resource when Alice was at LaSalle College, she believes that Milan has helped her develop her vision and find answers to the multiple worries that floated around the mind of the fashion design student that she was at the time. “I was wondering if I was in the right direction and if my vision made sense, and it was quite reassuring to have a mentor like him who taught me so much.” She believes that having an incubator like LIGNES DE FUITE is a unique chance for students to show their work, obtain advice, and meet people from whom they can learn.

Upon graduating from the Fashion Design program at Lasalle College, Alice returned to Paris to complete a master’s degree and launch her career. After interning at Jean-Paul Gaulthier and Nina Ricci, she decided to create a collection to strengthen her portfolio. Through the development of this personal project, Alice realised that she was ready to make the big jump and create her own brand and that is how Vaillant Studio was born.

Each collection produced by Vaillant Studio is the result of experimentation with selected

fabrics, such as upcycled lace, which are deconstructed and reworked. The identity of Vaillant Studio revolves around the construction of a hybrid wardrobe and the amalgamation of daytime and eveningwear. Mixing inspiration derived from vintage lingerie to balletwear, Alice’s garments meet at the intersection of vulnerability, poetry, and sensuality. She designs clothing for modern women, who want to feel confident and who seek garments that will allow them to feel comfortable yet poetically sensual.

What are the guidelines for your creative process and for the brand in general?

I love to imagine myself and women around me wearing the clothing I design to try to understand

what women want to wear and what they are looking for. Most of the women who try on my clothes tell me that they feel like an enhanced version of themselves. Then when it comes to the technical aspect of it, I work a lot on moulding, draping, and symmetry on the mannequin. Afterwards, I work with the pattern maker to create the real product. I also work a lot with lace, which is a big part of the brand and one of our greatest challenges. We use lace from Calais– the place where you have the most beautiful lace in the

world. We collect deadstock lace and we make sure to develop patterns that can be adapted to the different types of lace we gathered. It is quite a difficult process to manage because it involves a lot

of handling for the small team that we have, but it’s also very cool because we are involved in making

things move in terms of sustainability in fashion. At first, the lace suppliers, manufacturers, factories, and even buyers didn’t understand our process so we explained to them that we can have different lace for each garment. All of this is a process that we are enforcing and it takes a lot of time and work but it makes us who we are. There is also a huge process of sourcing, we use materials that are OEKO-TEX®, which is another challenging aspect because generally those are available in minimal quantities.

Vaillant Studio is still a quite young brand, but you have gained a lot of attention in the last few years. What do you think has helped you gain visibility, which is quite an important factor for emerging brands and designers who want to make their work seen?

I think it is a bit of everything. There is obviously the magic of social media, anyone can come across the brand; sometimes, I receive messages from well-known people, and I wonder how that is possible. But it doesn’t mean that a celebrity wearing your clothing will suddenly bring a lot of traction because

sometimes famous people won’t even tag the brand. I also think that making a name for yourself is a gradual process that occurs as you grow and evolve.

(Currently at her 5th collection, Alice is preparing for her first fashion show

in Paris this fall, which will showcase around 25 to 27 looks.)

What would you say is the most challenging part of the preparation of your first fashion show?

A show is a lot of preparation because it’s not like a shoot where you can use pins and make touch ups on the clothing. For a fashion show, all the garments must perfectly fit each model. I predicted to not necessarily have models who are standard sizes and since castings usually happen 2 days before, we will have to find solutions so that the clothes can be ready in the right sizes given the fact that they will be meant for different body types. This means that there will definitely be a lot of last minute work. We also have to plan the shoes and the accessories, and find sponsors which is something we are currently working on. It’s a lot of work given the fact that we are such a small team, but it will be cool I am sure. Looking back at how your studies have impacted your work today, would you say that in your current position you spend more time working on the conceptual or technical aspect of your collections, and which one do you value more? I think the two are super complimentary, but I also believe that the technique used to create the garment is fundamental, even if there are brilliant designers who spend more time developing their concept. I know that in my case, learning about the fabric, the way it moves and reacts to transformation, and learning about draping has been extremely valuable for my work today.

What advice would you give to an emerging designer or a student finishing their program?

I think the best advice is to be curious and do a lot of work on your own, research fashion history to find your references, and most importantly, tell yourself that you must know everything. I think that if you’re

lazy, it’s not the job for you, but if you’re passionate and want to succeed, it’s going to be ok. I would

say that I advise you to take the time to do this work alone and to try to find your path on your own; that’s

what I started doing in Montreal. No one told me I had to do all the research I had done on my own, but I did it. Looking back, I think that my desire to learn and to have extensive knowledge about textiles, fashion history, and the work of notorious designers has helped me tremendously. Once you unpeel the layers of a subject, it opens up a window towards something else, and there is just this snowball effect of continual learning.

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Image credits: Raphael Viens Originally Published in LIGNES DE FUITE Vol.3

LIGNES DE FUITE Vol.3

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