The Standard

Kitsuné d'Amour at Le Bain

Jul 11 2012

This Sunday at Le Bain, Parisian label Kitsuné takes control of Été d’Amour with Londoners Punks Jump Up, the mysterious Moon Boots and the New Yorker Woofgang & Antoine Karl. For the last ten years, Kitsuné has been keeping its records and clothes classy and fresh. What’s their little secret? We sat down with one side of Kitsuné’s brain, Gildas Loaec to talk about music, fashion and a future in slow-motion.

The duo Punks Jump Up will perform this Sunday for the Kitsuné party at Le Bain

The Standard: It’s been ten years since you and Masaya Kuroki created Kitsuné. Since its beginning, I guess you both had an ambitious vision of what Kitsuné should become, but are you surprised by the success you have ten years after?

Gildas of Kitsuné: We are very pleased by where we are now with Kitsuné. On the fashion side of things, we just opened a shop in New York, which we never have dreamt of. And with the music label, we got the new Two Door Cinema Club album coming, our incredible band Citizens!, our super French Touch band Housse De Racket… The ambition of making a proper clothing brand and a proper music label is still there.

What would you do differently if you could change some of the choices you made through those years?

Not that much change. Problably beeing too passionate sometimes.

And what makes you very proud and happy?

The recognition we start to get.

Gildas Loaec (Photo by Stephane Queme)

Kitsuné has been a success in both the fashion and music keeping things fresh through the years. In terms of Fashion, France, Japan and American have been great inspiration in your style. Who are your archetypal fashion designers in the fashion history of those three countries?

Inspirational more for their branding than for their style: Ralph Lauren, Comme Des Garçons, Dior Homme (Hedi Slimane)

In terms of music, one of the strength of the Kitsuné sound is probably its eclecticism, still it seems the sounds get slower and more disco. Do you believe in the slow-motion trend in music?

The Kitsuné Maison 14 compilation in the making (our tenth anniversary issue), which should be out in October, is all about slowmotion music or make-love-on-ectasy music.

You have big plans in America. You just released ‘Kitsuné America’ with only US producers. How do you explain this surprising dynamism of the US scene?

Internet: it makes everybody able to be heard and I feel the USA is the country of the Internet.