J'adore Haute Couture: Fashion is Art Available for Anyone

'Haute Couture is even beyond art.'

Tomáš, who owns the very popular profile, J'adore Haute Couture, on YouTube, talks about the importance of music in fashion shows and about his favourite models.

---

LF: What do you think makes the best music for fashion shows? Can you give me an example from one of your videos?

J'adore Haute Couture: In my opinion, music must fit the theme of the collection. It had better be neither too fast nor too slow. It should be presented in a modern way even though the used songs may be older. Moreover, individual songs should not be tacky.

Gucci FW06 full show

Versace FW 2003

Lanvin FW08

LF: What is the feedback you get from your audience to your videos? What do you hope the viewers of your videos will get out of watching the fashion shows?

J'adore Haute Couture: It varies. Many people are grateful, which is very satisfying for me. I started posting videos because I felt so thankful to people who were uploading full shows on YouTube a year ago. So, I wanted to make my own contribution. I strive for bringing as good videos as possible. Many people are not considerate about art in today's society. For me, fashion is art available for anyone. Not everybody can visit famous museums with paintings of Renoir, Picasso, or Basquiat or attend operas, ballets or classical concerts. On the other hand, one can enter the world of art and dreaming while watching fashion shows. That is the reason why I upload all these files.

LF: Do you think that fashion design students can learn something from watching these videos?

J'adore Haute Couture: They may avoid being stuck in just one style. Designers are always making something new every season. They are very flexible and creative. These two things are crucial to make it into the industry. People are not interested in something they have already seen before. In fashion, there are no rules. Fashion design students, on the other hand, have to be careful not to start to copy designers' outfits or accessories from the videos. They have to find their own signature or they become pseudo-designers who don't know what to design next season.

LF: Do you think that new fashion models can learn to walk with poise and confidence from your videos?

J'adore Haute Couture: They might. Although walk is not one of the most important things in the fashion industry, it can be an advantage of a model.

LF: What have you learned from having watched so many fashion shows?

J'adore Haute Couture: Many things. I am not going to mention them all, just couple of them. I realised what fashion is all about. Art and customers. One has to learn the entity of art and to become creative but he/she also has to satisfy customers and find a good balance between these two opposite things.

LF: Do you have a favorite female model? Can you give me an example from one of your videos?

J'adore Haute Couture: Too many. To name a few: from the middle generation* of supermodels I like Daria Werbowy and Hana Soukupova. There are many fresh faces but I like Ali Michael and Heidi Mount. I like models with great personalities who are very down-to-earth.

Other models that I like:

* old generation: Amber Valletta, Caroline Murphy, Nadja Auermann, Stella Tennant, Linda Evangelista...

* middle generation: Gemma Ward, Gisele Bundchen, Karolina Kurkova, Liya Kebede, Karen Elson...

* new generation: Hilary Rhoda, Doutzen Kroes, Caroline Trentini, Catherine McNeil, Lara Stone...

First Face Talks FW07 – Daria Werbowy

Models Talk SS08 – Ali Michael

Models Talk SS08 – Heidi Mount

LF: Thank you, Tomáš, for taking the time to answer my questions. Good luck with your studies, and I wish you all the best in fashion design. We hope to see you present your own line of Haute Couture. With all of the inspiration that you have had (and offer to everyone) from your videos, we are sure it will be very soon.

---

To watch the many high-quality fashion shows uploaded by Tomáš, please visit his user profile on YouTube at: J'adore Haute Couture. Read the previous installment of this exclusive interview:

Part I, Part II

Save to del.icio.us

Jonté's 'Make-Up:' Pop culture trends begin by being inspiring

After the dancer and singer Jonté performed to the song Make-Up by Vanity 6, he began a new trend in dance, fashion, and performance.

Inspiring performance by Jonté to Make-Up at Webster Hall in 2007

I invite you to watch this video from 2007, and to see for yourself how performance can be a fusion of dance, fashion, and attitude. Watch as Jonté turns it out. And then see how he has been able to influence others with this song, his fashion, and his style.

Music Video for Make-Up by Jonté

Having met so much success, Jonté recorded his own music video for Make-Up, increasing the connection his fans make between Jonté's dancing and fashion with the song.

"Make-Up not only combines dance with creative styling but it is daring and so inspiring and it raises the bar for the people in the scene that would like to venture in the same area (video making)." Read the complete interview with Jonté by Gazelle.

Fashion model Marco da Silva shows the influence Jonté has had in his dance and choreography

Marco da Silva posted a video on YouTube, showing himself in a dance studio, where he was learning a choreographed dance set to Jonté's popular song, Make-Up. That a model takes Jonté seriously enough to study dance is recognition that Jonté's act is original enough to be inspiring the most recognised form of flattery: immitation.

On this video, possibly made sometime in 2007, de Silva credits the routine to Shaun Capewell (Dance2xs); however, the influence is undeniable. The video was taped at Pineapples Pineapples London.

Do you think a trend is created only if other celebrities pick up on a new dance or fashion style? Or do you think the mass culture has to be in on it from the beginning?

KOOan s/s 2008 collection

And then at a fashion show for KOOan, not only did the designer feature dancers on the runway, but there was the song Make-Up playing as music during a segment of the fashion show. Can you guess who showed up?

I invite you to check out a beginner page on Squidoo that aims to track new trends in Pop Culture Trends. Post your comments if you think Jonté's performance to Make-Up has already started to show signs of becoming a pop culture trend on its own.

Save to del.icio.us