“MICK NEVER NEEDED ME FOR CLOTHES“

“Oh, Mick! This was in Cannes, about 10 years ago, I think, at an agnès b. party. We’ve met several times over the years; he invited me to his birthday party one year. But he’s never needed me for clothes – he’s good at dressing. So was David Bowie. I liked him. I dressed him for about 15 or 20 years. I used to send suits to him on the other side of the world. He wore agnès b. for his 50th birthday and for his 60th. I’d made him a three-piece suit in tweed with a silkscreen print in silver on the vest. How did we meet? I don’t recall exactly, but I remember one day I found myself backstage in the dressing room after one of his gigs. He was in his brown phase, and his clothes had lot of pleats, and volume.

I’d prepared a little bag holding a pair of leather jeans with a note in one pocket that said: ‘You should stick to rock’n’roll style’. Next thing I knew, he went into our London store and bought himself four pairs of leather jeans. Then he asked me to dress him. I love dressing artists. We’ve been outfitting David Lynch for years and years; we make those white shirts he famously wears buttoned all the way up, with the soft collar. I also provided the wardrobes for the guys in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. I dress women, too, of course. Patti Smith, for instance. I’ve known her for ages. We met in Venice; she was about to do a gig in Saint Mark’s Square. I saw a chair on the stage. In those days, I’d often carry some heart-shaped stones in my pockets. So I wrote a note with my phone number on it and laid it on the chair with a stone on top. She rang and invited me to have dinner with her the day after her concert. I write lots of notes like that, and people often respond. Even [French President Emmanuel] Macron responds. Although the responses aren’t always nice.”