To understand EGONlab, the brainchild of Florentin Glemarec and Kévin Nompeix – partners in business as in life – you need just remember one image: two octogenarians standing hand in hand in front of the Palais de Tokyo one fashion week morning, creating mass hysteria among the streetstyle set.
A brand of our times, this Paris-based emerging label is a savvy, digital-first, waste-reduced and distinctive proposal for those who recognize themselves in these sharply tailored designs always with a twist, whether a color treatment, quilting or shape-altering slashes.
Like the visual artists they are, the pair use their collections to comment on the world we live in. In this third collection, they chronicle humanity’s evolution. Climate emergency, the pandemic and the friction caused by social inequity roil roam beneath these slick looks. Yet as we walk through these times of shadows and doubt, Glemarec and Nompeix offer a glimpse of what could like at the end of the tunnel.
A significant portion of this collection was created in collaboration with Sergio Tacchini. Are collaborations a rite of passage of sorts for emerging brands?
These days, we believe it’s necessary for young designers to work in this way. It’s a tangible style exercise that allows an emerging brand to showcase its potential alongside an established brand. Our collaboration with Sergio Tacchini was all the more interesting that it was directly set in continuation of our main collection. To truly fuse our DNAs, we had the opportunity to work with the teams of the brand’s heyday.
L'Appel, New Order, The Myth of Renewal: your names sound like slogans or artistic manifestos. What is EgonLab?
EGONlab is above all else an emerging brand that draws its inspiration of societal culture and all forms of revolution that impact our society. We therefore think that it’s indispensable for the new generation of designers to question themselves and position themselves in the face of the modern world’s urgent questions — cultural, societal or ecological.
In the digital era, we have the will to enlarge the spectrum of our collections by offering a universe that blends fashion, motion design/3D and music to amplify our message. The video for ‘The Myth of Renewal’ has been created in collaboration with the artists of the EGONlabFamily: Kisol (motion designer), Michelle Coppola (motion designer), FX093 (soundtrack) and Blue BK (soundtrack). Built like a three-part fable, it acts as a temporal marker sketching out the past, the present and the future.
We don’t have the pretentiousness of positioning ourselves as an artistic movement or as opinion leaders but we want to be actors of this collective awakening we have been seeing in the world these days.
We are above all a brand that does not judge, we dress all cultures, all colors, all genders and without ever misrepresenting the identity of the wearer.
EGONLab.
You swing between toile de Jouy and razor-sharp tailoring, studded leather and quilted jackets. Is it a reflection of our era of zapping or a call to be free to be yourself?
We have an iconoclastic spirit. Taking up codes and traditional craftsmanship, transcribing them into modern silhouettes is the foundation of our work. Each EGONlab collection must be visually unique. It’s a genuine creative challenge, which we love. Nonetheless, we have created over our three seasons a recognizable silhouette with a pronounced shoulder and fitted cuts.
But you’ve underscored an important concept of our work: the freedom to be. We are above all a brand that does not judge, we dress all cultures, all colors, all genders and without ever misrepresenting the identity of the wearer. This ideology also informs the design of our collection. We give our customers the possibility to appropriate all our looks, thanks to elements like removable chest plates, deconstructed tank tops...
What is the myth of renewal that inspired the fall?
For this collection, we were inspired by Koyaanisqatsi, Godfrey Reggio’s 1982 prophetic and contemplative documentary. The film plays with time and space, multiplying angles of vision and of reading, leaving interpretation open to the viewer, like an artistic meta language. Apologia to some, pamphlet to others, it questions our relationship to the world. Versatile, without a subtitle, free of judgment, it’s also the spirit of this genderless collection. “No matter who we are, we can wear what we want,” that’s the message our brand upholds.
The video itself is a representation of the myth of renewal, which we imagined, echoing many sociocultural references. We imagined, shot and edited this video in collaboration with visual artist KISOL and Michelle Coppola. We invite Behind the Blinds readers to check the behind-the-scenes videos on our official Youtube channel.
The myth of RENEWAL : On Earth, while the darkness ruled the world, a pandemic decimated the human race. At the same time, in the multiverse, the birth of a group of new thinkers took place.
A group which bears no prejudice and no judgment, but instead boundless freedom.
One day, they decided in perfect harmony and democracy to renounce all their privileges and descended on to Earth to heal Mother Nature, to spread love and kindness, to have acceptance for all and to build a new society where everybody treats each other the same.
This utopia became reality and a magnificent miracle occurred and the light came to give back everything that the darkness stole.
This is the moment when they understood that the biggest enemy of the human race was the human race itself.
Interview by Lily Templeton
