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EPISODE 125 FEATURES FRANCOIS GIRBAUD
How did denim get so unsustainable? And did it all start with stone washing? Our guest this week accepts responsibility for the industry going so hard on that.
Francois Girbaud was there at the start, when, as he says “I was just a stupid guy” - and didn’t know about the environmental impact of stone washing. After that, of course, came acid wash, sandblasting, all the rest of it. So, yes, we discuss all the important environmental stuff, but this is an epic interview about Paris, the history of fashion, and the birth of cool - and its full of great stories.
Outspoken, unafraid, and a true original, Francois Girbaud is fashion pioneer.
Meet the man who brought denim to Paris in 1964 with his boutique Western House, who dressed Jimi Hendrix, counted Brigitte Bardot as a customer, and wanted to be a cowboy like John Wayne.
John Wayne.
NOTES
MARITHE is Marithé Bachellerie. She and Francois started their company in 1972. Before that, they ran a boutique.
WESTERN HOUSE opened in 1964 in Paris “bringing my story of America - although I had never travelled to America at the time.” His big seller? Cowboy boots. Customers included Brigitte Bardot and Elsa Martinelli. Later, members of the Rolling Stones.
DENIM…ES “Nonsense! says Francois. Denim doesn’t come from (de) Nîmes, the southern French city. Nor do “jeans” come from Genoa, Italy. Soz.
JOHNNY HALLIDAY was the stage name of French rocker Jean-Philippe Léo Smet credited for having brought rock and roll to France.
Clare mentions 1968 - they year of the student rebellions in Paris.
“The day was May 3, 1968, and the events that ensued over the following month — mass protests, street battles and nationwide strikes — transformed France. It was not a political revolution in the way that earlier French revolutions had been, but a cultural and social one that in a stunningly short time changed French society. “In the history of France it was a remarkable movement because it was truly a mass movement that concerned Paris but also the provinces, that concerned intellectuals but also manual workers,” said Bruno Queysanne, who, at the time was an assistant instructor at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, one of the country’s most prestigious art and architecture schools. “Each person that engaged, engaged himself all the way,” he said. “That was how France could stop running, without there being a feeling of injustice or sabotage. The whole world was in agreement that they should pause and reflect on the conditions of existence.” VIA NEW YORK TIMES Read the rest here.
STONE WASHING is a textile manufacturing process used to give a newly manufactured cloth garment a worn-in appearance. Stone-washing also helps to increase the softness and flexibility of otherwise stiff and rigid fabrics such as canvas and denim. The process uses large stones to roughen up the fabric being processed. Via Wikipedia. It also uses loads and loads of water - read more on Denim Dude.
Here’s JIMI HENDRIX in those jeans…
A PINTO HORSE, by the way, looks like this…
REBEL NOT CRIMINAL was an exhibition held at Project Las Vegas featuring a laser show by Jeanologia. It promoted the development of a new ecological wash concept in partnership with JEANOLOGIA for MARITHE + FRANCOIS GIRBAUD, using laser, pigment dyed and ozone techniques.
PATRICK BLANC is a French botanist who works at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, where he specialises in plants from tropical forests. He is the modern innovator of the green wall, specifically, he invented the modern vertical hydroponics garden, which distinguishes it from its predecessors.
KAIA GERBER wore stonewash on Isabel Marant’s runway.
KATY PERRY Reported Vogue in 2018: “During the Reagan era, acid-wash jeans were, for a brief period, inescapable. Their fine-grained patterns made their way onto skirts, jackets, and everything in between before falling out of favour. But now, after years of being a punch line, the style has slowly but steadily been making a comeback…” Francois was not impressed.
DESTROYING JEANS FOR NO REASON? What have we come to? Francois says it was seeing the Berlin Wall come down that made him realise that post-modern rebellion was exactly that - a meaningless construct. The thing that makes him maddest? That trend for slashing drainpipes at the knee. Non merci!
SANDBLASTING is known to cause silicosis. More here.
OZONE Jeanologia are ozone pioneers. They say: “By applying ozone to wet garments we accomplish the bleaching effect without chemicals and in just one step. This sustainable process can be used to fade down colors both in denim and knits.”
MUSIC is by Montaigne, who sang this special acoustic version of “Because I love You” from her album Glorious Heights, just for us.
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Clare & the Wardrobe Crisis team x