The dancer and choreographer Martha Graham, known worldwide for her innovations in modern dance, said that “movement is a language and the body is the vocabulary.” A perfect formula capable of expressing emotions, ideas and narratives through something as pure and genuine as one's own being. This is how Germain Louvet, star dancer of the Paris Opera, understands his profession, who becomes the protagonist of Antik Batik's first men's collection.
Gabrielle Cortese, founder and creative director of the brand, shares that sensitivity for the beauty of dance and is engaged in the search for inclusive fashion that embraces the body without limiting it. To this end, embroidered, printed and hand-woven shirts and vests, surfer shorts, Indian kurtas and even elegant Chinese fisherman pants are part of an immersive journey that begins at the Paris Opera.
Why did you decide to work with Antik Batik?
I like the aesthetics of the brand's universe. The quality of their fabrics, how they slide over the body, the silhouettes...All of this inspires me and I think it matches my personality very well.
Fashion is also very relevant in his work as a dancer.
Everything is relevant to a certain extent and it is important to keep your feet on the ground. Dancing is my life and it is what I dedicate 6 or 7 hours a day to but, in short, it is just dancing. I am not a doctor who is saving lives, nor am I fighting for my survival. I think the same about fashion. It is a very important industry, of course, and it employs many, many people. Fashion has the superpower of creating beauty and providing personality and security, but it doesn't seem vital to me. I perceive it as another way of expressing myself, of playing. It also helps me be more creative in my work and this amuses me a lot.
How would you define your style?
I have many styles, I think my wardrobe is made up of a wide variety of possibilities to play with. Sometimes I love to dress super chic, with oversized coats, scarves and leather boots. And the next day I love dressing in a tracksuit with a sweatshirt and giant sneakers. I also share my wardrobe with my boyfriend because we have exactly the same size. Except in the shoes. Every time I get to the dressing room I find a new garment, a different accessory...
Do you follow trends?
For me, trends give me a very broad vision of how people think. Faced with a war like the one in Ukraine or a conflict like that between Israel and Palestine, the public debates and, in some way, some trends are created. It is very interesting to see how fashion reacts to global crises. That now people are dressing again with a very 'trash' aesthetic, similar to that of the nineties and two thousand, is no coincidence. In the end it is a way to escape from a certain bourgeois style, although all those big brands and fashion companies are aimed precisely at that elite.
I work at the Paris Opera, a place very frequented by wealthy people, sometimes I go to the gala dressed in a tracksuit to provoke a little. It's my way of saying: 'Hello! The world is not only here in this beautiful opera. Terrible things are happening out there and reflecting it through your wardrobe seems very interesting to me.
Do you identify with the new masculinity led by Harry Styles or Timothee Chalamet?
I don't identify with them as individuals, but I do identify with the way they express another aspect of what masculinity can be. And it is something that especially interests me as a dancer, because for 20 years I have been practicing something that is not considered an ideal of masculinity. Ballet is seen as something very feminine and since I was a child I was made fun of when I said I practiced this dance.
I find it very interesting to see how they play with gender codes, but this does not solve homophobia, nor all that bullying that someone who is gay or not has to endure, for being considered too feminine. Being queer doesn't just mean wearing dresses and skirts or sparkles in your outfits. It can't stay in a photograph. There has to be a discourse behind it orchestrated by someone who is in the same situation of vulnerability as the group.
With this I don't mean that they are not doing enough for the cause, but something similar happens with racism. If you are not black, you will never have truly experienced what racism is. I am a white man and for this reason I will always support them but respecting that it is not in my position to say what is or is not right for them.
