HYPETRAK 專訪 Maison Kitsuné 聯合創人 Gildas Loaëc

喜歡街頭時尚的朋友應該都對法國時裝品牌 Maison Kitsuné 的聯合創人 Gildas Loaëc 十分熟悉，不過鮮爲人知的是，除了時裝之外，Kitsuné 還是一個集合了藝術與音樂的概念性品牌。而 Gildas Loaëc 便認爲音樂與時尚之間有著密不可分的關系，並經常從源自巴黎街頭的時尚中汲取靈感，然後將其融入音樂的創作中去。最近 HYPETRAK 網站便對 Gildas Loaëc 進行了專訪，探討他對于巴黎音樂發展的看法，品牌在亞洲的業務擴展，以及 Kitsuné 所代表的不羁精神等話題。下面便帶來此次訪談的節選內容，完整版本不妨查看这里。

Where do you see France’s position in international music? Kitsuné, Daft Punk or Ed Banger as movements had a large impact on international music. How do you explain that?
Melody is very important to us. Obviously, there is a certain linguistic barrier for French people (laughs). However, we have found a way to overcome or let’s even say compensating this barrier and have been reaching international audiences. On an international scale, our focus has never really been on the writing process but rather focus on coming up with a catchy melody. In addition, we’ve always been strong in marketing the whole package through great graphic design and visuals and creating an interesting story behind it. At the end of the day, it’s also in the hands of the media to some extend. The media decides on which direction they will promote your material.

You have managed to successfully run Kitsuné a music and fashion business entity between Paris and Tokyo with your partner Masaya Kuroki for over ten years now. Being from Paris, how do you perceive Asia in general and its musical potential? And what do you think is the biggest misconception people in Europe have about Asia?
Due to having close business relationships with Masaya in Tokyo I am obviously traveling a lot to Asia a lot. We frequent places like Seoul, Jakarta, Bangkok, Hong Kong and so on. What strikes me most is how diverse Asia as a region really is. Everyone is always talking about China and its population of 1 billion but people tend to oversee the fact that there are also countries like Indonesia that has a bigger population than the U.S. There’s also a significantly younger demographic among their music consumers. So the potential is definitely huge. And if you’ve attended any events there you know there are audiences that are very passionate about music.