PARIS — A.P.C. chief Jean Touitou just hit the 30 year mark with the brand this week, but was in no mood to celebrate.
During a party celebrating the milestone at company headquarters in Paris, he sat down with BoF to declare that he was severely reluctant to use the “brand’s anniversary as a business tool”. That pretty much set the tone. The Parisian is well-known for being one to never hold his tongue, and he is in full-on irreverence mode here (continued below…).
Pro tip: The thing about a Touitou piece is that you rarely need to read the article itself. Just skim for his quotes, and you’ll walk away plenty amused and fully satisfied.
Case in point:
- Why he’s ok with people calling A.P.C. ‘boring’: “People want to call it fashion when there’s a story to tell but I’m not telling any story.”
- On rejecting scale for scale’s sake: “I hope I’m still a cult label. I’m paying a lot not to be huge, I could do one zero more but I refuse it. It’s a model a lot of people don’t understand.”
- Why he chose to use mannequins (over models) in his latest presentation: “[Models] tell too much of a story. I prefer to be unnoticeable… unnoticeable but eventually remarkable.”
- Sometimes labels can overdo it: “I saw a lot of beautiful things in Milan [Fashion Week Men’s] this season, but all together, I got some kind of overdose, like someone who was cooking with all the spices and tasting all the wines.”
- How A.P.C. has remained relevant for 30 years: “We’re not loud, we’re consistent. And we continue.”
Red thread: The man can be surly and cranky at times, and of course, he wouldn’t be Touitou if he wasn’t. But push past the frowns, and sort through his quotes, and you’ll find a man who, at his core, is very much in tune with modern luxury thinking.
Reporting Queue
Related Reporting
