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| Teddy bear coat, fall 1988. |
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Snap, Crackle, Popaganda
V&A Retrospective Brings J.C. de Castelbajac's Work to Life
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January 27, 2006 –
"The kids are calling me JCDC now," said Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, the 56-year-old Gallic designer whose work is being celebrated in Popaganda, an upcoming show at London's Victoria and Albert Museum. Those "kids" are none other than M.I.A., MC Kano, and other hard-rhyming stars of the British Grime scene. And they're wearing the Tweety Bird sweaters that Castelbajac made for Iceberg long before the rappers were old enough to watch cartoons.
A 40-year veteran of the fashion industry, Castelbajac boasts an impressive résumé, and, said the retrospective's curator Claire Wilcox, "an eclectic vision that extends in many directions." In addition to Iceberg, he's worked with MaxMara and Courrèges, and is currently teamed up with Rossignol and Le Coq Sportif. A chance encounter with Farrah Fawcett in the seventies took Castelbajac to Los Angeles, where he designed clothes for the actress at the height of her Charlie's Angels fame. Twenty-one years after he made a much-copied floor-length duvet puffer for Fawcett to sport in Aspen, he added another iconic client to his roster: Pope John Paul II, who wore the designer's rainbow-colored robes at his World Youth Day. "Color," said Castelbajac, "is one of the fundamentals of my work." Humor is another; witness his Pop Art dresses shaped like Coke bottles, soup cans, and Lucky Strike cigarette packs. "I think it's been a trademark," he said. "It's my survival kit."
Castelbajac is also crazy for camouflage prints, perhaps owing to his early years in military school, and he has a special place in his heart for teddy bears. In fact, Peanut's creator Charles M. Schulz once told the designer he was marked by the Linus syndrome—meaning, Castelbajac said, that "teddy bears, which I never had as a child, are my blanket." He famously sewed 50 of the critters together, making an outrageous coat that has been worn by Diana Ross and Madonna. More than just a celebration of 30 years of "poptimistic" work, Popaganda, Wilcox said, "picks up on a climate of individualism in fashion."
Popaganda: The Fashion and Style of J.C. de Castelbajac is on view February 1 to May 1, 2006, at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, www.vam.ac.uk; more information at Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, www.jc-de-castelbajac.com.
click for a slide show >
–Laird Borrelli
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