The poetry of deconstructed couture

 

Tata Christiane is a vision of contemporary streetwear, called deconstructed couture. It proposes an absurd and disturbing vision of beauty, with extravagance and immoderation. It plays with the borders of elegance, recycling the waste of civilization. The idiosyncratic brand was founded 2007 in Berlin by Julie Bourgeois and Gabriel Santini. The designs are handcrafted and own printed. We spoke to Julie about her vision of fashion that she makes for boys and girls, women and transvestites, men and old people, kings, queens and madmen.

Julie, you are creating deconstructed couture – what does it mean to you?
Julie Bourgeois: „For me there are two dimensions attached to this expression: on the one hand there is a sewing approach that builds and deconstructs itself in my memory and my inspirations, a kind of broken mirror exploration. On the practical side, as a self-taught person, the movement of discovering one’s own technique comes from this deconstruction in the sense of trying to analyse, like trying to take apart an engine. It is quite empirical. And through this approach I experiment with mistakes and coincidences that open up their own creative windows.“

Do you consider yourself as a rebel?
„If you take the literal meaning of rebel, I don’t think I am. But in a more metaphorical sense, perhaps in the sense that the path taken is from the beginning very independent, perhaps I am.“

What was your first approach to fashion?
„My first approach to fashion was through a manual approach, an attempt to understand and a joy of making. The first images of fashion shows on TV (Lacroix, Jean-Paul Gautier, Mugler… ) also when I was quite young marked my imagination. And the discovery of clothes in flea markets, because at the time I found pieces of big brands and also only vintage pieces and I was very subjugated by the quality of these pieces. There was an almost magical dimension to it, a treasure hunt. The magic of the details too.“

What is so special about prints to you?
„The prints are very important to me because of their graphic, even artistic dimension, real picture books. But also because they are largely created by my working partner Gabriel Santini and I simply love his approach. For me prints are the combination of colours, but also often the humour or poetry that is revealed in them. We have many different approaches. One of the main ones is an analogue approach before going digital.“

What does ‚poetic‘ mean to you?
„Poetry for me is born of a discrepancy, of a game in the intervals, in errors and coincidences, but also in a certain empirical approach, of openness and of letting oneself be surprised by things or aspects that are very unexpected, forgotten. The fact of making by hand for me is poetic, the wear and tear is poetic, the bringing together of things that don’t seem to have to meet is poetic. The colours have a huge poetic potential for me.“

What do you miss in fashion?
„I don’t know what specifically is missing in fashion these days, but rather what is missing more generally in the world. Fashion is of its time. There is a positive movement of self-reflection among many small and large fashion actors that I think gives hope. And there is also a strong evolution among consumers. I think that we need to highlight everything that goes towards the best rather than constantly thinking about the lack or the failures. This allows us to highlight the positive actions and this gives ideas and I hope more inspiration to the younger generations.

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