We had a chat with sometime VogueFabricsDalston collaborator Loulou Reloulou about her clothes, Paris and her upcoming performances and shows at Rio Cinema and Dalston Superstore.
Why did you come to London? How does it compare to Paris?
When I decided to develop a very personal artistic project I believed in I felt like I needed a big departure, so I decided to be born again in London. I knew nobody when I arrived in London six months ago, I spoke very bad English, I had to completely rebuild my life. It was a big challenge.
London is really the place to be when you want to work in fashion. People experiment a lot here, there is an atmosphere for freedom that doesn’t exist in Paris. Paris is more like window-shopping for fashion, it’s not really a city which encourages you to be different.
What’s the idea behind your clothes and how do they fit into the performances you do?
I create clothes to explore and establish relationships between people. You can wear my cloths on your own or you can share them with another person (or even two). I don’t want to make clothes just to make clothes, I want to create life with clothes and building relationships between people is a great way to produce beautiful moments in life.
Sometimes people just need a good reason to get close to somebody else, they want to meet people but they don’t know how to start a friendship or relationship with them. It makes me happy if I can help them with my clothes.
It was brilliant to see people having fun while the were sharing my clothes during my first performance at Vogue Fabrics. It makes me happy to see that I can create fun and happiness an see everyone with a big smile on the pictures after the event is one of the best experiences in my life.
What is the piece you’re doing for At Home with the Ludski’s about?
I created a very specific sharing clothes collection for the performance at the Rio Cinema this Saturday: The ACROBATIC Clothes. They mix circus and sexual positions, they’re fun and crazy. There are eight pieces of clothing and I will have to people on stage trying on and exchanging them. It is a love story unravelling with each piece. I hope I’ll have sex with the guy I’m performing with on Saturday. Let’s see.
What and who inspires you?
I am really inspired by gay magazines! The idea for my first official party at Dalston Superstore next Sunday was born while having an English breakfast at the bar. I was browsing through magazines and dressed the naked bodies with a marker, touched them up on photoshop and sent them to the venue. A day later the curator called me.
Why are you called Loulou Reloulou?
My real first name is Lisiane. When I was a child, my mother always called me Lili… it was my emotional name… now, I prefer Loulou, it’s more sexy no? I’m a woman now after all. But I want to keep the memory of my childhood, when I was a little girl playing in my room. Now, I create games for adults with clothes but I will always have a child’s soul.
I didn’t really know what to do about my surname, I don’t really like surnames so I just decided to use Loulou again. In French you use the prefix ‘re’ to say the same thing again so I just put that in front of it.
Last Saturday evening, I was registered on a guestlist as Lou Lou Re Lou Lou.! It’s funny, no? Just syllables… like when you learn how to read in primary school… it is so nice to be 6 years old