It is difficult to build a reputation in Paris. But Louis Gabriel Nouchi has succeeded. This is thanks to his ability to create a fashion that transcends boundaries, blending an acute reading of trends with garment design in its strictest sense while incorporating literary and identity-driven political reflections to speak to us about our world. In some ways, it is a meta-authorial fashion, one that references its creator, those who inspire him, and those he wishes to inspire—delivering precise, wearable collections that are always illuminated by a flash of avant-gardism. “I think it adds a very personal level of interpretation,” the designer told us, “I start from impressions, feelings, sensations, and I want to translate them into the world of fashion. I read a lot of novels. Not biographies or essays. I like stories. That’s also how you can build a complete and coherent universe.” His latest collection, inspired by George Orwell’s 1984, is not just a vivid example of his ability to translate literary themes into fabric in a way that resonates with contemporary audiences—it also demonstrates a singular talent for capturing the current zeitgeist and its upheavals. After all, the father of all dystopian novels, which portrays a world technologically and culturally dominated by a totalitarian “Big Brother,” has been materializing before our eyes in recent months and provided Nouchi with a solid creative foundation. When we reached him in Paris following his show, he described 1984 as a long-standing fascination: “I’ve wanted to work on this monument for years. In fact, the last three collections were created as a buildup to this theme.” Undoubtedly, his latest show touched upon contemporary themes that other designers might not have had the provocative spirit to explore: “I truly believe that when you create fashion, you are talking about society, even if it is from a personal point of view. I am fascinated by how people dress. I love sitting alone at a café terrace in Paris and watching people pass by on the street. I also love that a runway show is a ‘phantom’ of reality, a fantasy that must still remain somewhat approachable.”

Nouchi is particularly drawn to the cyclical nature of history and how past events echo in the present: “I am obsessed with the fact that you always see connections between what is happening now and a past reference, as if history were repeating itself. The choice is not accidental. It’s always outsider characters, extraordinary stories, and exceptional situations that force you to confront yourself and ask, ‘What would I have done?’” As Nouchi explained: “We start from keywords that we must translate into images, and then we translate these images into fabric and form.” The words encapsulating the novel’s essence for this season were “uniform,” “cold,” “impossible love,” “forbidden pleasures”, and “danger.” Nouchi continued: “If you extend this idea, you find all the textile and formal connotations that instantly evoke these words: lingerie, velvet, workwear, khaki, spikes for danger.” From these elements, he developed fabrics, silhouettes, and details that conjure the dark and eerily close universe of 1984. The result is a collection that merges elements inspired by lingerie, military aesthetics, and functional design, featuring fabrics such as velvet and spiked embellishments to embody both rebellion and sensuality. This perspective is fundamental to his work, as he explained, because he does not seek to reproduce every single thematic detail of a book in fashion—which would be pedantic—but rather to convey its elusive impression, that fleeting sensation, like a blink of an eye, that arises when we think of a book we have loved. For him, “books provoke intense—almost physical—emotions. That’s the feeling I try to capture.” Through his collections, which he describes as balancing on the edge of a “delicate strangeness”, Nouchi invites people to see beauty in the unexpected and embrace the power of individuality.

Louis GabrielNouchi

«Balancing Opposites» Interview with Louis Gabriel Nouchi