Julien d’ys on Comme des Garçons

Taken from the spring/summer 14 issue of Dazed:

A Comme des Garçons show isn’t complete without the hair alchemy of Julien d’ys. Born Pierrick Le Verge, he’s been defying convention for three decades with his off-kilter, theatrical creations for the likes of Chanel, John Galliano and, most famously, Comme des Garçons, where he’s worked with Rei Kawakubo since 1991. Every season, d’ys elevates Kawakubo’s outsider sensibilities with creations that stem from obscure corners of the imagination, from oiled black wigs inspired by David Lynch’s The Elephant Man to candy-floss creations covered in safety pins. SS14 saw d’ys wrap shreds of black fabric around paint-stripped hair to blur the boundaries between beauty and sculpture. 

THE TREE OF LIFE

“The hair concept for the SS14 Comme des Garçons show came to me while I was working on a shoot last year that was inspired by birds’ and bees’ nests. It led me to think about trees – and, in turn, the tree of life. When Rei told me she wanted every model to have a different hairstyle, I thought the idea would work well. There was no real plan behind each look, I just let my imagination run away with me on the day.

REI KAWAKUBO 

Rei is a genius and I respect her very much. She likes to provoke people through her collections and I like that; perhaps that’s why we get on so well! She understands that I like to create an element of theatre and do things that are a little different, so when we work together it’s magic. She is always telling me to be strong, strong, strong, and never cute! (laughs)

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN 

I’ve dreamt of becoming an artist ever since I was a small child, to create things that people haven’t seen before. I’m driven by the new, but I also like to surprise people, which I hope to do with a book I’m compiling. It’s a retrospective and contains photos of the paintings, sculptures and hairstyles I’ve created in my career. It’s very personal and brings back lots of emotions.”