Why everyone wants to be part of the Vêtements crew

Avant-garde, subversion, hype. These are the terms more frequently associated to Vêtements, the brand-phenomenon of the moment. In a phase where the fashion industry is going through a deep crisis – both economically and creatively – Demna Gvasalia and his collective ("sect", as some have fun calling it) have managed to create a media empire with few precedents in costume history. 

Starting from the Fall/Winter of 2014, the season in which Vêtements debuted on the Parisian catwalks, the fashion world has been overwhelmed by an army of boys and girls dressed with explicit references to the underground culture, punk, techno and sometimes metal, and in general to an oversize and deconstructed streetwear, as nonchalant as much as studied in detail.

It’s important to notice we talk about “boys and girls” – and not “models” in the most classic acceptation of the term. One of Vêtements’ biggest strengths lies in the will to propose an image very close to the physicality of its final consumer, investigated for his personality and not for his standard model measures.

Over just a few seasons, the brand has become a diktat: it has swallowed up the street style trends captured ouside the major shows – second only to Gucci, probably – and has been able to impose such a strong and precise imagery Susie Bubble has suggested the transformation of the brand name into an adjective, as if to indicate a global cultural movement – beyond the fashion industry and its trends. In short, we could soon find ourselves describing something as very "Vêtements", all agreeing uniquely on its aesthetic value.

In the age of Instagram and media exposure at all costs, what makes the difference are people’s faces: Vêtements emerged also – or especially ? – thanks to the personality of the members of its crew, some still secret, others (very) well known. We are talking of the faces of the new underground Paris, strong as an emblem of a shared dream – the one of the Ville Lumière and its unprejudiced nightlife, the home parties and the alcoholic vernissages sealed by a picture with hundreds of likes.

It is no coincidence that among the locations chosen for the brand's fashion shows in Paris there have been, in chronological order, a gay club and a Chinese restaurant in the multi-ethnic Belleville district, far from the more traditional (and central) Opéra Garnier, Palais de Tokyo and Théâtre du Chaillot. 

Who are, then, these young people with ruthless charm, banner of the new Paris and lifeblood of Vêtements?

#1 Clara Deshayes

French from Versailles, she is better known under her pseudonym Clara 3000. She understood that music would have become her life one night in 2007, aged 17. She abandoned her studies to dedicate herself to her DJ career and, despite her young age, has already warmed the console of the most important clubs in the world – besides composing the soundtrack for some of the hottest shows of the Parisian calendar. If you are careful, you can catch sight of her on the catwalks of Balenciaga, Jacquemus, Courrèges and Vêtements. But yes, you have to make a lot of attention: Clara is beautiful and has a breath-taking body, exactly like the most outstanding models nowadays.

#2 Lotta Volkova Adam

Born in Vladivostok, Russia, she began her career as menswear designer after graduating from Central Saint Martins in London. In 2007 she moved to Paris, where she began working as a stylist after a chance meeting with German photographer Ellen von Unwerth. She currently collaborates with several fashion magazines (Man About Town, Dazed & Confused, AnOther, O32C...) as well as being the official stylist – read right-hand person – of Vêtements.

#3 Paul Hameline

An angel face that betrays a rebellious soul. Twenty-year-old born and raised in Paris, in 2014 he was noticed by Eva Gödel while withdrawing at an ATM in the Marais, and immediately signed a contract with Tomorrow Is Another Day, the most requested model agency of the moment (of which Eva is the founder). From that moment on he walked for Prada, Maison Margiela, Lacoste, Hood by Air, Kenzo, Haider Hackerman, Neil Barrett and, of course, Vêtements, of which he is currently the muse. Besides working as a model, he works as a DJ (coupled with Lotta Volkova) and as an actor: you can find him on the big screen in Like Cattle Towards Glow and Francophonie.

#4 Pierre-Ange Carlotti

His name will immediately send you back to Vêtements book published last January by IDEA Books – Vêtements. Born in Corsica but resident – bien sûr – in Paris, he is the team photographer, who captures any time before, after and during the show. His photography, steeped in hedonism and sexual provocation, captures the creative zeitgeist of the French capital.

#5 Simon Porte Jacquemus 

Owner of a ready-to-wear brand as much fortunate and revolutionary, Simon Porte – known more simply as Jacquemus, maiden surname of his mother – is the wunderkind of French fashion, as well as a great friend and supporter of the Vêtements gang. His namesake line, founded when he was only 20, aims to find again the typical naivety of childhood, often proposing primordial symbols as geometric figures. You can find him in his Paris studio with his hands soaked in paint, or riding a white horse.

And to think that Vêtements in French simply means "clothes"...