Gauthier Borsarello (Paris, 39 years old) likes the past. The new seems confusing and devoid of life. For him it is important how things, people and ideas stand the test of time. With a similar argument, he maintains that he is not interested in fashion either and that he has never been interested in it, despite which he accepted the position of creative director of Fursac, a brand, in January 2022. ready-to-wear of the SMCP group (Sandro-Maje-Claudie Pierlot-Fursac) with a DNA that we could describe as tailoring Parisian It is significant that the door of the office where we do this interview is kept open thanks to several kilos of a heavy leather and wooden clog from a Dior Homme collection. Without guilt or shame, Borsarello adjusts the door with the luxury accessory. “It’s a gift,” he reports. The shoe in question is perfect for barring a door, but it will probably cause painful metatarsal injuries to anyone who dares to wear it frequently. Borsarello neither confirms nor denies.
In his studio at number 12 Richelieu Street, garments from all periods of the 20th century coexist. And in his clothing today, too. Let’s see: a jacket that has survived the Second World War, circa 1930, combined with French pants, American shoes and a black cloth coat from the 1950s. The socks and underwear are new, from Fursac. The whole group adds up to more years than our interviewee, born into a family of six siblings on the outskirts of Paris, has reached. From the age of 13 he began collecting military clothing vintage and has a solid knowledge of men’s clothing. Not only is he able to defend his style, but he can theorize about it for 10 minutes straight sitting on a stool between two huge wooden speakers built by his grandfather, who also owned a vast collection of old magazines. National Geographic that take up an entire shelf.
If you are not interested in fashion, why did you accept the position of creative director of Fursac?
For the challenge. I thought: this is a brand of suits for going to work. It’s not very sexy, so I have to turn it into something more interesting. For me it has been really exciting to be in the development of everything: the image, the marketing, the products, the merchandisingand start from scratch to build a global story. We are in it. I am obsessed with the idea of creating a French but very global lifestyle brand. I think it’s important to be super French about this. I don’t want to look American or Asian, nor Spanish or British. So I study French cinema a lot, looking through books and a lot of photos to try to define the style of French men, which is very confusing. My ultimate goal is that when people see an image, even a chair or a car, they think, “That’s so Fursac!”
Well, everyone thinks they know what French style is… Look Emily in Paris.
It’s terrible. In any case, it is easier to describe the French feminine style than the masculine one. In France we had a king who decided fashion trends, now red, then pink, now high heels, then wigs. When we cut off their heads in the 18th century, men became very radical, and dressed simply for their work: the baker, the butcher, the civil servant, etc. Going overdressed was considered a pro-crown political stance, and so it was until World War II when Americans brought jeans, white T-shirts, and Coca-Cola and imported the concept of dress. cool. What I enjoy is combining classic French clothing with a rock and roll jacket, or mixing a tailored tuxedo with well-worn jeans. It would be the closest definition of French, and what we see in Godard and in the French films of the sixties and seventies. It is the best time in France and what I want to bring to Fursac.
And how do you think French is perceived outside of Paris?
Pretentious. American girls come to Paris and dress up with a beret, an impeccable suit jacket, and long hair. exactly like Emily in Paris. And there is nothing less French than that. Do you know what is very French? Always wear the same thing and see how things age with you. Be a little stingy. Buy yourself a good bag, an Hermès, and use it every day of your life until it is old and it irritates you to continue using it, or keep your hair half dirty and somewhat disheveled and you don’t care too much.
You say you are not “a fashion guy”, how would you like to define yourself?
I make clothes. And the difference is important, because first I develop a piece and then I style it, I don’t design silhouettes. I make a jacket, the best one possible, and then I mix it with other things. That’s why I see myself more as an editor and creator of clothing than as a fashion designer. And all the people who interest me in the world of fashion, Massimo Osti, Martin Margiela or Jil Sander, work like this. I don’t like those who chase hype and the likes from Instagram. Those who inspire me don’t try to be cool all the time.
How would you say masculine elegance has evolved?
I wish it had evolved more. My idea of elegance is buying the best clothes according to your lifestyle, your work and your purchasing power. Clothes that coherently express who you are, and then wear them as long as possible. Because you won’t have any style until you forget what you’re wearing, until you get used to it and stop giving it importance.
So, style is indifference and disdain?
If you buy new clothes all the time, you will never have personality, because style comes from having good clothes that age with you, we have seen it in Steve McQueen, Robert Redford or Serge Gainsbourg. All my icons were wearing old clothes. The idea is to buy new, good quality, and use it for 15 or 20 years, because at some point you will forget about the clothes and start living in them. If you are tense because the jacket is new and the sneakers are white, there is no style there and there won’t be until the sneakers get dirty and the jacket has a half-eaten shoulder. There is nothing sexier than someone at a party in a worn-out tuxedo, you immediately think: I want to become friends with this person who has been to so many parties. For me it is definitive elegance.
Thanks to your training as a classical musician – 10 years ago Borsarello played double bass in a symphony orchestra in Toulouse – you are a man of iron routines. What is a typical work day like in your studio?
I believe there are various types of creativity and mine needs a framework. My brain is a mess. I am always thinking, looking at people, analyzing and drawing conclusions. It’s exhausting. So I need everything else to be very structured. In the mornings I take the kids to school, take the subway, have a coffee at Starbucks. I get to the office first because I wake up very early because of the boys, and I eat the same thing every day at the same restaurants. I watch a lot of movies and a lot of books, I don’t read them at all, I just look at the images. And to nourish me, the street is my best friend. I love seeing how normal guys dress, not those from Le Marais or those who go to expensive restaurants. I love my cousins from the suburbs of Paris, I want to dress them well.
You are a great collector. From how many decades can we start talking about vintage?
It takes at least 20 years to know what is the best of an era. I now see a piece from the 2000s and I can tell with complete certainty, by how the fabric has aged, whether it is history or a hype. The quality of the fabric, the thread and the zippers never deceive.
How long have you been collecting?
I started collecting military clothing when I was 13, then sportswear, work clothes and punk clothing. I was never interested in the designs of big fashion houses. My father collected furniture from the 18th and 19th centuries. As a child I used to accompany him to the markets. He taught me how to look, but he hates clothes, so I taught him how to read the details of zippers and seams.
How do you manage your passion for vintage within a brand like Fursac?
I look to the past to study which fabrics, threads and zippers have aged well and with that information I try to make a garment that, after 30 or 40 years of use, is still perfect. I don’t like fake vintage, so you will never see me fake stains or patinas, what I do is called deadstockwhich is when you work with old fabrics, for example from 1913, that have never been used and have aged very well. With these materials perfect pieces are made. I am the guinea pig of these garments, I study and try each one before making something for Fursac.
Is it true that you have been obsessed with Levi’s 501? How many do you have in your collection?
They are very grateful pieces for a collector because they are 150 years old, and in each decade they have undergone a more or less radical change. I was very obsessed, but I don’t wear them anymore because I want to dress like a Frenchman, even though I must have between 30 and 35 in the collection. There was a time when all the furniture and closets in the house were filled with Levi’s 501s, there were even batteries under the armchairs. Maybe I got divorced because of that, because my ex was very angry. I would say that the icons of a men’s wardrobe are Levi’s 501 jeans, white cotton t-shirts, core jackets French shoes, loafers and, I hope, Fursac jackets.
What type of collector are you?
A totally emotional one.
