This is Not a Suit

From news shots of traders in the City to Saville Row’s tailor masters and Japanese salaryman manga, the word suit elicits as many connotations as it has styles. Designer Adrien Sauvage, who alongside his business partner George Lamb is creating a buzz with his new menswear label A. Sauvage, set out to explore how we see ‘the suit’, what it means and whether it can support individualism or obscure it. 'This is not a Suit' is an ongoing series of portraits shot by Adrien himself, where individuals select garments from A. Sauvage’s first collection, and are free to express themselves with little directorial guidance. The question is; do they wear the suit or does the suit wear them?

Dazed Digital: Adrien, how did the idea and concept for this photographic project come about and what was your main purpose behind it? 


Adrien Sauvage: This project is a study of the word Suit and what it suggests. The inspiration for the project stems from my ongoing fascination of Individualism. TNS documents man’s many interpretations of the word ‘Suit’. 

 


DD: By exploring the notion of 'a suit' did you come across any interesting or unexpected interpretations of what it is to different people?
Adrien Sauvage: Globally the word ‘suit’ suggests formality. What I find interesting is challenging the preconceptions of my subjects, who by and large don’t wear suits on a regular basis. Studying their reaction to my suits and documenting their experience wearing the suit and how that relates to their preconceptions. 



DD: What is your own personal interpretation of it? 
 

Adrien Sauvage: There is no right or wrong way around it. I suit therefore I am.



DD: The first set of images was shot in Venice Beach, LA, not the most suit-friendly location! Why this particular location and where's next? 


Adrien Sauvage: Venice beach is one of the most surreal places I’ve ever visited. It sits entirely juxtaposed to neighboring Hollywood and yet the two are inevitable intertwined. The natives of Venice beach are a fascinating tribe who consistently sit on the parameters of society and yet in spite of their diversity...skateboarders, surfers, ballers, muscle men there is a wonderful sense of community. The fact that is ‘not the most suit friendly’ location was precisely why I wanted to shoot there. The next two locations are...you’ll have to wait and see one and wait and see two.  




DD: Does this searching quality that's behind 'This is not a Suit' correspond to A. Sauvage as well and if so, in what way? 
  

Adrien Sauvage: There are too many clothes on the market that don’t have any thought behind them. This isn’t down to of a lack of creativity; it’s due to scheduling and the breakneck pace of modern fashion. A. Sauvage does not follow the fashion schedule, we concentrate on fit and add pieces to the range as season and need demands. This allows us to ‘search’ that bit further as we focus on the evolving needs of the customers, the men themselves.

DD: Finally, what's next for both this project and the line?  
Adrien Sauvage: I am currently working on an Exhibition entitled 'Captains', which shows in London July/August 2010. A.Sauvage - Collection 001 – 0011 shows at Matches and Harrods from August.