The Interview with UNTTLD:

We were pretty excited to meet Jose Manuel St Jacques and Simon Belanger, UNTTLD backstage for an interview after the S/S’13 WMCFW runway show in Toronto, Canada. Such young talent about to make such a big impression on the fashion scene. They told us about their Japanese inspirations and how they try to transcend the emotions the Japanese express through these traditional theatre performances and try to reinterpret them through their fashion.

They see it as ‘a terrain where we can have fun’. ‘We can concentrate on shape, silhouette, cut. We are interested in working with very basic fabrics and black because “black is forever”. ‘The show is a journey, started as black, Kaki is not a colour like fuscia’, but they confess this is the first time they have used colour.

We of course wanted to know about the fabulous metallic copper fabric. What is the material?  Lurex- drama for the runway. They will find a suitable substitute for the collection made for purchase. They dreamed of a collection that used black, military tailoring, white and then the coppery explosion of fire. Very Dramatic!

UNTTLD is the result of the ongoing collaborative work of Jose Manuel St Jacques and Simon Belanger, both educated in Montreal. Simon went on to Italy to study at the Domus Academy of Milan while Jose went to Concordia University. They are

Their blog provides further insight into their inspirations and is definitely worth a visit. Visually stunning, exciting and very unusual. Delicate flowers, origami, architectural patterns, butterfly wings, a Japanese dance Takarazuka “Susano-O” performance reinterpreted from an old play and based on Buddist chanting and ancient myth, water, fire, smoke, patterns… intriguing and remarkable. Their website is also unusual and highly creative. A list of words beginning with “U” convey the essence of what their fashion aspires to be.

Unconventional Untold unfixed unhip Undefined Unorthodox UNTITLED.

“UNTTLD is an open story. It is about clothes, art and music. It is about freedom to redefine ourselves every day.”

“There are no rules. No names. UNTTLD is inspired by what happens in silence.

We love high-quality garments, old techniques, and tying together all over.”

On UNTTLD’s website you can find their LookBooks. The LookBook for 2012/13 is stunning. Leathers, seudes, rich, dark and subtle that have been braided, fringed, shape; furs, luxurious furs and chains; metal chains crocheted together that form to the body with intricate details and designs. Silhouettes that are shaped, very graceful with form and fluidity.

We are in love with the UNTTLD looks.

-Moira Romano

myETVmedia UNTTLD in the Spotlight: https://myetvmedia.com/feature/events/fashion-week-designer-in-the-spotlight/

UNTTLD website
http://www.unttld.ca/collections/ah2012-13/

Trouvaillesdujour Blog on Japanese theatre costumes: http://trouvaillesdujour.blogspot.ca/2012/04/art-of-kabuki-japanese-theatre-costumes.html