{"id":445051,"date":"2014-05-16T19:56:24","date_gmt":"2014-05-16T17:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.elorainweb.com\/?p=445051"},"modified":"2024-05-12T10:55:58","modified_gmt":"2024-05-12T08:55:58","slug":"business-of-fashion-octobre-2013-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fredericsanchez.com\/fredericsanchez\/en\/business-of-fashion-octobre-2013-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Business of Fashion Octobre 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nBUSINESS OF FASHION Octobre 2013<\/p>\n

INTELLIGENCE
\nAnatomy of a Fashion Show
\nSoundtrack
\nBY TOMMYE FITZPATRICK<\/p>\n

Anatomy of a Fashion Show Soundtrack – BoF – The Business of Fashion 14\/10\/13
\nINTELLIGENCE
\nAnatomy of a Fashion Show
\nSoundtrack
\nBY TOMMYE FITZPATRICK 13 OCTOBER, 2013
\nNEW YORK, United States \u2014 Prada and Britney Spears. Versace and Nine Inch Nails. Chanel and Jay-Z. All unexpected pairs, perhaps. But each coupling \u2014 of fashion and sound \u2014 appeared on the runways ofthe ready-to-wear shows which wound down two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Fashion and music have long enjoyed a special relationship \u2014 just try and imagine a fashion show withoutsound. And in the approximately 12 short minutes that most designers have to tell their seasonal story, it\u2019ssound designers like Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Sanchez (who paired Prada with Britney\u2019s \u201cWork Bitch\u201d) and Michel Gaubert(who tapped Jay-Z\u2019s \u201cPicasso Baby\u201d for Chanel) who are charged with \u201csynthesizing [a fashion designer\u2019s]ideas into sound,\u201d as Sanchez puts it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a movie, you have someone who can push the plot along verbally. But [with fashion], music andclothes are your whole plot,\u201d says Rene Arsenault, who has worked on soundtracks for Tom Ford since histime at Gucci, on the importance of music to seasonal runway shows.<\/p>\n

At Comme des Gar\u00e7ons\u2019 most recent show, every look marched to its own signature tune \u2014 whether asnippet from a Fred Astaire movie, or the sound of crackling wood fire \u2014 to communicate that each stoodon its own. During the Versace finale, models paraded to Drake rapping the house\u2019s name in tightsuccession. At Chanel, \u201cwe used \u2018Picasso Baby,\u2019 all mixed with avant-garde music from the 1970s, becausethe show was staged in an art gallery,\u201d Gaubert explains. And at C\u00e9line, he continues, \u201cwe only used onesong\u201d \u2014 Soul II Soul\u2019s \u201cBack to Life\u201d \u2014 \u201cand we just remixed it to death because it\u2019s a three and a halfminutesong and [we needed it] to last longer without getting boring.\u201d<\/p>\n

The journey to fashion soundtracks like these begins anywhere from two months to a few days before theshow, Gaubert says, depending on the designer. The initial inspiration can range from mood boards toclothing samples. \u201cSometimes it\u2019ll be a musical reference, sometimes it\u2019ll be a film reference, or I\u2019ve beenshown [something] more abstract, like art or sculpture,\u201d adds Arsenault.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst, I meet with the designers to exchange ideas and decide where we want to go,\u201d Gaubert says.\u201cSometimes, they\u2019ll bring music I should listen to. And then I see what works. Sometimes, within one[meeting] we\u2019ll find all the music we like; sometimes it takes two times, three times. And then we startmixing it.\u201d The whole process \u2014 which often ends hours, if not minutes, before the show \u2014 takes about 40hours in total, Sanchez estimates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key element is to get the musical cornerstone of the collection \u2014 that one piece that reallyexemplifies and speaks for the designer,\u201d Arsenault says. \u201cThat\u2019s the piece that either opens the show,closes the show, or is the main theme of the show. Once we have that, then it\u2019s about approaching it like asoundtrack and varying the theme a little bit. Not introducing anything that\u2019s so drastically different fromwhat we already agreed upon, but maybe something that takes it down, takes it a little bit to the left, alittle bit to the right. You want to start with a statement that typifies what the designer is trying to say.When the first girl walks out, it\u2019s got to be pretty obvious. Then my job is to make that all flow togetherand sound like a styled soundtrack.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of fashion\u2019s top sound designers have longstanding relationships with the designers with whom theycollaborate. Gaubert, for instance, first began working with Karl Lagerfeld in the early 1990s. \u201cTherelationship with a designer has to be personal to understand clearly the world in their head, everythingthat influences the collection,\u201d says Javier Peral, who creates soundtracks for Jason Wu and CarolinaHerrera.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you work with someone over a period of time, you know their aesthetic already, and their taste,\u201dadds Arsenault. \u201cSo whenever you hear a song [that might work well for them], you tuck it away into aplaylist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, the search for the right songs is a never-ending process. \u201cI discover songs and do research on theInternet, I go to record stores, live concerts, read music magazines, watch movies,\u201d says Mimi Xu, whoworks with brands like Topshop and Ostwald Helgason. \u201cMusic is literally everywhere in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s keeping your ears open all the time,\u201d says Arsenault. \u201cNow, anyone with an Internet connection and asense of discovery is going to be able to find music. It\u2019s just what you filter out and what you keep and putinto a playlist that is the difference between people that are successful doing this and people that aren\u2019tsuccessful doing this. It all comes down to taste.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in the search for what\u2019s right, personal taste must be sometimes cast aside, Gaubert notes. \u201cI listen toa lot of things, new or old, and I even listen to things I don\u2019t really like, because it\u2019s important to knowwhat\u2019s around. With [fashion] designers, they sometimes don\u2019t like certain fabrics or colours, but theyknow if they do it at the right time, it\u2019ll be nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The search must also go much deeper and wider than the Top 40. \u201cThe point of a fashion show is notplaying the greatest hits,\u201d Gaubert says. \u201cOr something that\u2019s trendy because it\u2019s trendy. It has to fit.Anyone can play the newest sound in a show.\u201d Arsenault agrees: \u201cYou don\u2019t want to walk into a show andhear the same thing you just heard on the radio.\u201d In fact, a good fashion soundtrack must feel unique.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you leave the show, [you want to] feel that the music was custom-made for the show,\u201d Gaubert adds.<\/p>\n

Part of creating a differentiated soundtrack lies in mixing. And part lies in paying attention to what songsothers have used. \u201cIt\u2019s very important for me to look at what other people do,\u201d Sanchez says, \u201cbecause it\u2019svery important for me not to do things that have already been done. If I know somebody has used [asong], I\u2019m not going to propose the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though, typically, fashion show music has a strong beat to it, that \u201cdoesn\u2019t work all the time,\u201d Xu says.\u201cYou always hear people think [a song] is going to be good [for the runway] because models can walk toit,\u201d Gaubert adds. \u201cBut when anyone walks\u2026 when I walk on the street, I don\u2019t need a sounding beat, youknow? What the audience gets from the music \u2014 that\u2019s more important than the bass of the music and thebeats.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arsenault agrees. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have to be boom boom boom all the time. A lot of the shows I\u2019m doing noware much more fluid, more about the overall sonic soundscape that you\u2019re laying out, be it two songs, threesongs, four songs, and how those songs are interwoven.\u201d<\/p>\n

So how does a sound designer know his or her soundtrack is working?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you play something for a designer and you see their eyes light up,\u201d Arsenault says. \u201cThat\u2019s when you know it\u2019s going to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, this isn\u2019t failproof,\u201d Gaubert says. \u201cLike any creation, it\u2019s taking chances. How does a designerknow their collection is going to be perfect on the runway? But on a technical level, we do test the soundin the location.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I like is at the end of the show, they say the show is great,\u201d Sanchez says. \u201cI don\u2019t like when they saythat the music was great. I consider that [to mean] I didn\u2019t really do my job. It\u2019s very important when thewhole thing comes together. If the music has been too important to the show, it\u2019s not good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gaubert agrees. \u201cWhen a show is good, it means everything was good. The production was good, the location was good, the music was good. It all made one, and that\u2019s the way it works the best.\u201d\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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