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subscribe to style file blog via RSSwilliamsburg, mon amour
January 2, 2008 10:34 am
Unlike, say, the magnetic North Pole, the epicenter of cool is a moving target. But you can get a good read on its global position by tracking the comings and goings of Jean Touitou, founder of French label A.P.C. and godfather of international hip. Just the other day, for example, Touitou was at his Paris recording studio, hanging out with Jarvis Cocker and Wes Anderson as they laid down a track for Anderson’s forthcoming cartoon adaptation of “The Fabulous Mr. Fox.” Bulls-eye; epicenter located. There’s been much coming and going for Touitou this past year, which has seen new A.P.C. boutiques launched in Paris and Los Angeles, and the ground-up renovation of the men’s shop in Tokyo. Kicking 2008 off with a bang, the A.P.C. juggernaut arrives at hipster home base on January 11, with the opening of the long-awaited A.P.C. Surplus store in Williamsburg. Here, Touitou talks a little bit about Surplus and a lot about the other, “more poetic” projects on his radar.
A.P.C. has Surplus shops in Paris and in Japan; what inspired you to open a third in New York?
Oh, there’s a boring answer for that question. No matter how successful you are at retail, there’s always unsold product at the end of every season. Only drug dealers consistently sell out their inventory. Some companies burn the extra stuff; I figure, why not sell it a season later for less money? You work so long on the clothes&#$151;the concepts, the cuts, the prints—it seems a shame to just, you know, set it all on fire.
You must be getting about a thousand applications every day. I mean, salesclerk at A.P.C. is going to be the Williamsburg hot job real fast.
Hmm. I’m not involved in the hiring, so you know, I never really thought about it, but, yes, probably most of the employees will also live in Williamsburg. It would be lunatic to have an expensive loft in Soho and go to Brooklyn for work.
People do it.
Yeah, but they are lunatics.
Didn’t you chose the Williamsburg location precisely to access its, ahem,
demographic?
No, we had the warehouse there, which was quite nice, and we were paying rent on it already. I wish I could say something more poetic. Let’s talk about other things.
Sure. Like what?
You know we’ve released a karaoke DVD, right? Nine songs, all with real musicians playing the background tracks. We did almost all of them at my studio in Paris. There’s Spice Girls, The Kinks, “Like a Virgin,” “Cherry Bomb” by The Runaways, which was my friend Sofia’s suggestion. I wanted “God Save the Queen,” but you have no idea how difficult it is to license music for karaoke.
Actually, I do know. It’s incredibly hard.
Insane! These projects start so easily; eight years ago, I was talking about karaoke with Roman and Sofia, and the idea came along to do a DVD. That’s how long it’s taken to make the thing happen. It’s really beautiful, though—the visuals all come from a friend who was shooting in the North Pole, on an icebreaker. Such a simple project in concept, make a karaoke DVD with good songs and nice video. Haven’t you ever wondered why no one has done that? Why all karaoke videos are so horrible and cheesy?
I’ve always wanted to shoot a documentary about the people who make karaoke videos. The aesthetics are totally fascinating.
I would fund that movie. You know, in Japan, the whole karaoke scene is run by the mob. That’s why nobody there bothers to license the music properly, because what publishing flack wants to deal with the Yakuza? If you made a serious documentary about karaoke, you’d need bodyguards. Brave ones.
Good to know. While I’m pondering that information, do you have any other pet projects you think people ought to know about?
I’ve started a school. One in my neighborhood, for the little kids.
Are you designing the uniforms?
Yes, the uniforms and the sheets they use, for naps. Other designers, they open up nightclubs or restaurants. I thought, well, “I’ll do something else.”
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