Jean-Pierre Melville movies are dominated by loneliness, failure and death. Movies that are said « films noirs » : Le Doulos, Le Deuxième Souffle (Second Breath), Le Samouraï, Un Flic, Le Cercle Rouge (The Red Circle) all witness for a particular style, a precise and recurring mecanism. Betrayal is omnipresent, the movie is focused on […]

James Tissot is a XIXth century painter, often introduced as the fashion and elegance painter. Son of a textile shop owner and a milliner mother, the artist took a particular care for fabrics and colours rendering or garment details. A thoroughness betraying the influence of Flemish Primitives on his work. The artist paints the Second […]

NAGG. – (…) An Englishman – (he takes an english face, then takes back his own) – needing a pair of striped trousers in a hurry for the New Year festivities, goes to his tailor who takes his measurements. (Tailor’s voice.) “That’s the lot, come back in four days, I’ll have it ready.” Good. Four […]

« In september 1958, I posted an ad in France-Soir to find a thirteen year old boy who would be The 400 Blows’ hero. (…) about sixty children came, and I tried each one of them on sixteen millimeters (…) Jean-Pierre Léaud was clearly standing out from the rest and, after several play-offs, I decided […]

“To begin with, there are the easy things to do, things I could do today, for instance: 1. Cruising on a river boat in Paris (…). Then there are the things that are a little more important, things that require decisions from me, things that I think if I did them, they would maybe make […]

One can’t talk about Tommy Nutter without mentioning two London streets : Savile Row and Abbey Road. Nutter and Edward Sexton’s shop, « Nutters of Savile Row » is, in 1969, the first new shop to open in over a century on this historic street of English tailoring. In the shop were displayed, among other […]

At the beginning of The Glorious Thirties, the Baby Boomer generation is eager for consumption, and with regard to the Parisian golden youth, especially for clothes. However, by the end of the fifties, the supply for clothes destined for youth is nonexistent. Teenagers have no other choice but to dress in adults’ suits : grey, […]

Jean-Michel Basquiat is the one artist who brought street art to New York’s art galleries. But the artist also paid attention to clothes and style. For Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, « the way he dressed was an integral part of his art. » Just as he had reconciled two artistic worlds that, until then, had only […]

Why is Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up a must-see? For the Rolls Silver Cloud III convertible. For David Hemmings’ white jeans and black boots. For Vanessa Redgrave in an inevitable skirt. For Jane Birkin’s debut. For the appearance of the model Verushka. For the typeface in the opening credits. For the sound of the wind. For London’s […]

At the turn of the 19th century, European elegance is no longer dictated by the French. The royal court has lost its appeal following the Revolution, and the country is too embroiled in social turmoil for fashion to be a central preoccupation. It is in England, in the context of the Empire’s growing productivity and […]