Meet Naco Paris, a designer presenting his collection outside of Paris Fashion Week

" Ten years ago, Naco Paris, an agitated and rebellious designer, loved to challenge. In 2013, he maintains his punk spirit, presenting outside of the official Paris Fashion Week calendar and speaking frankly about the world of fashion today. Includes an interview with Naco-Paris.We met Naco Paris for the first time ten years ago…an agitator, a rebel, passionate about fashion and a dreamer, he dramatised his shows and his clothes, almost choosing to challenge the world of fashion rather than to please and to sell. Then, a lack of funds and visibility compared to bigger labels made him surrender and lay low before a comeback in 2012/2013, taking himself off the official calendar for Paris Fashion Week but maintaining his slogans which are this time funnier and present a mixed collection for summer 2014, mixing art, sportswear and sequins with humour and talent. Interviews : Naco Paris: Personally, I don’t create clothes according to gender or according to social status; I am free of all that, it doesn’t interest me, I design and people recognise themselves or not, so it was the same when it came to presenting the collection, especially if you have budget restrictions, you cannot compete with the big labels who host enormous shows and I said to myself, let’s do what we know how to do, which is something different, seeing as we are different and finally I invented a new vocabulary and for the first time, my work is really understandable. People understand it so I reused the label’s slogan, ‘Art is Resistance’, saying that is my way of resisting, to create fashion as I would art. But above all, we must never forget that it is a consumer product which must attract customers and sell itself and we have just opened more corners in the biggest department stores in the world to achieve this. The mass market, large consumer groups and luxury groups which have become ultra marketable; I have to find my place between all these and there was a time when I thought I didn’t want to take part anymore, so I said to myself, ‘if I continue it is for these beautifully made clothes but I will do this by contesting those things which I don’t like.’ I am very punk at heart, although this is less obvious than it was ten years ago but this spirit remains and I like to break down things in order to rebuild them and I believe that there is something to reinvent and that is the reason why I continue working today. Music free of right/ Bandit & Nikit 2012.