He was recruited by Jean Paul Gaultier twenty years ago when he moved to Paris, after a childhood spend moving between French Polynesia, Corsica and Tahiti. Two years ago, at the age of 34, Eric Tibusch started his own 'Maison de Couture'.
Just ahead the unveiling of his new winter collection this exciting young designer talked to the Epoch Times about his beginnings, his current collection and the future for his "Maison de Couture".
Q: When did you discover your love for fashion?
A: I discovered my love for fashion when I was quite young, about six or seven. My mother was a dressmaker. I started making little dresses for my cousin's Barbie doll. This passion has been with me since the start. When I turned 18, I became more interested in fashion. My love for fashion became even stronger when I arrived at Jean Paul Gaultier in 1998.
Q: That's how you started?
A: Yes, at first I was recruited by Jean Paul, he asked me to take care of sales, I was 25.
Q: What attracted you to haute couture?
A: I worked with Jean Paul on haute couture. There, I was able to enter this small and closed off universe. I learned all the techniques there. I spent eight years there – it was a marvelous place to learn.
Q: Would you like to make ready–to-wear clothes?
A: Yes, we already launched this one year ago. The brand is called Tibusch Paris, we are distributed in multi-brand shops. It would be marvelous to one day have our own shops.
Q: Which aspect of your work gives you the most pleasure?
A: The dressmaking. Creating, searching for prototypes and doing research all give me an enormous amount of pleasure. As does the technical aspect, the cutting…
Q: What is your favorite design?
A: It's hard to say. I like so many things. Up until now, it's the new collection, the one I am working on now.
Q: What can we expect from this new collection and why is it called 'Anti Chambre'?
A: Anti-Chambre (Anteroom) is the anteroom of a traveller, of a modern day globe trotter. A modern woman, a working woman of today who, on her own, manages her own life. Mixtures, mixtures of different cultures, mixtures of her travels and of different towns have all been transcribed into this collection. It is the boudoir of a client of couture, of a traveller, a modern day globe trotter. Nowadays, one can be in New York tomorrow, in Tokyo in the evening. It is very easy to travel. Women are more and more emancipated, they work more and more, it is this theme I am handling.
Q: Did your clients give you this idea?
A: No, its something I had in me. One always has a mental picture of a woman, These days the women I clothes and the women I want to clothes are free, emancipated, autonomous and elegant. Elegance is something very important. At the same time these women are truly consumers and lovers of fashion.
Q: What kind of cloths and colours are you using in your new collection?
A: There is a lot of silk muslin as well as a new type of treated linen. As for the colors there is carmine red, violet, pink, green, gold, black, turquoise, bronze…
Q: You will be launching a website selling tailored clothing on the internet.
A: Yes, this project will see the light of day around September or October. It is called 'Anti Chambre-Tibusch Paris'. It will be the first online designer boutique in the world.
Usually, clients go and shop in a boutique such as Dior or Channel. Here they will be able to visit our website to buy the current collection, that is the September-October one. Items will be instantly available, delivered in less than three weeks it will include an indoor collection that will be tailored to the measurements clients will have given us.
Q: Do you think there is a market for this?
A: Yes, an enormous one. I think the internet is the future for our field. Nowadays, people work long hours, time is a luxury and a lot of people like to buy via the internet and don't necessarily want to go to luxury boutiques. We may also discover new markets and new clients who we might not have expected.
Q: Have you anything to add about your latest collection?
IA: wanted it to stay modern and especially, comfortable.
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