Erdos Director, I Am A Chinese Designer (Figure 1).

He worked for Chanel for 15 years. He was the right arm of Karl Lagerfeld, the fashion Kaiser king. He also served as the design director for the three quarter of the hottest French veteran Balmain. In 2008, French President Sakorzy himself wore the highest honor for the French national "Knights Medal of honor".

Now he works for Ordos in China. He says he is "a Chinese designer".

He is Gilles Dufour, Jill Du Fu.

"Now I am a Chinese designer", the technical director of Ordos group and the former Chanel art director Gilles Dufour.

"Now I am a Chinese designer," an exclusive interview with art director of Ordos group and former Chanel art director Gilles Dufour

From ugly duckling to fashion master

Why would a fashion master who worked for international brands like Chanel, Balmain and Pringle work for a local brand in China?

What kind of person is he?

Dufour is preparing lookbook for the 2011 autumn and winter series. The new clothes on the hanger of the studio are just hanging from the press conference.

Although it is also the designer of Chanel, Dufour and Karl Lagerfeld are completely different.

Compared to old Karl's cold face like a mask, the face of tall Dufour can be called Angel's gentleness: a pair of children's eyes sparkled with charming light, modesty and shyness, and the whole person exudes affinity.

As a fashion master, Dufour has no secret of his past. "When I was little, I always felt like an ugly duckling at home."

Gilles Dufour grew up in a very traditional French family. There was never an artist in his family. His parents gave him a plan to be a psychologist.

But he loved art, and he loved drawing.

When he was a child, he liked to apply paint. When he answered the phone, he painted the phone he had imagined.

Expression.

So when he graduated from college, he abandoned his parents' expectations of psychology and went to Pierre Cardin to get an assistant position.

In Pierre Cardin studio, he began his career in fashion design.

He began to make some designs himself, some Collection.

At that time, a friend of his knew Yves Saint Laurent. Dufour liked Yves Saint Laurent very much and wanted to study there.

However, when he looked at Yves Saint Laurent with his own design, the result was not satisfactory.

Yves thought he was too young and his work was not mature enough.

Destiny is magical.

A few years later, he got to know Yves Saint Laurent's "dead end" Karl Lagerfeld. Karl liked his design very much, so he became an assistant to Karl and started designing Fendi and Chanel together with him.

Gilles Dufour has changed from assistant to Karl Lagerfeld's left and right hands for 15 years.

In Chanel, Gilles Dufour grew up.

He used to be a shy child, full of doubts about himself, and not afraid of his work.

Working with Karl Lagerfeld enabled him to learn "confidence".

Dufour said he liked himself better than he was when he was young.

Fashion design is an interesting job that allows you to collaborate with outstanding figures in different fields and work with Chanel Karl, the design director of Karl, to design costumes for the performance of the Russian ballet master Rudolf Nureyev at the metropolitan theater in New York, and to design the dress for the French actress Catherine Deneuve.

After that, they became his best friends.

Leaving Chanel, he was the fashion director of the famous French veteran Balmain, and he designed the three season series.

Since then, he has worked as a design director for the British luxury brand sweater Pringle of Scotland for four years.

In 2008, he won the highest honor of the French national "Knights Medal of honor", which was presented by President Sakorzy himself.

As a past person, Gilles Dufour hopes to learn fashion design friends to know: "designers should not pay much attention to popularity, and need to have confidence in themselves and do what they want to do.

As an artist, you tend to be more sensitive and face more subtle and unusual ideas. When you are young, you may not know if these things are good, do not know how to release yourself, do not know how to explain what you think, so you will be suspicious of yourself.

But believing in yourself is the most important thing.

A gentle childlike innocence

His 2011 autumn winter series designed for Ordos has just been released.

He is like a impatient student who has just taken an exam waiting for his grades. Before I ask questions, he raises a question to me: "what do you think of yesterday's show?"

He told me that all the background music in the show was selected by himself and brought specially from France: the most popular pop songs in 80s, Elvis's love songs, and Tchaikovsky...

They are all his favorite music.

Dufour is a perfectionist who is full of childlike innocence. Ordos's 2011 autumn and winter show from theme, form to music, he is all willing to act as a parent.

He was very happy when he heard that I was very pleased with the matching of cashmere sweater and pparent gauze skirt at the Ordos show, and immediately led me to a row of clothes hangers, showing me his creativity: a cashmere cardigan with colored crystal and a pparent yarn long skirt and a feminine flavor; and the same gauze skirt was full of girls' temperament with a simple coloured high necked cashmere sweater; and when this cashmere sweater matches a taffeta long skirt, it can be used as an evening dress.

He stroked the fabrics and told me how the cashmere had to collide with other fabrics to bring the magic to us.

Dufour said he loves cashmere. He loves skin and touches the soft and comfortable cashmere.

Although he brought the development of all kinds of fashion to Erdos, his design could not be separated from cashmere, and those shirts, long skirts, dresses and coats always started around cashmere, cashmere as the core.

Dufour's cashmere is full of story.

Dufour brings 2011 fairy tales to the Ordos autumn and winter series: the rabbit under the night sky, the rabbit under the sky, the rabbit in the nightmare, the rabbit in the Chinese painting, the fable of the fox and the crow, the chase game of the cat and the mouse, the butterfly flying in the flowers, and the mother of the ape carrying the child.

He was like a little boy who counted glass beads. He spoke of every story on the knitted sweater. His eyes were full of intoxicating luster. Flowers, animals and nature gave him joy and inspiration.

When he lifted the camera to take a photo, he said he wanted me to pat the flowers on the table. He loved them. They were so beautiful and gave him inspiration.

Speaking of inspiration, he showed me his "inspiration wall", and he and his young Chinese assistant started the spring and summer new designers in 2012.

On the wall are tannins, lace and prints from Japan, postcards from Japan, 70s magazine (he told me to make this cover a new print), a photograph full of crowds.

All these brought him boundless wonder.

"I am a Chinese designer."

Although Gilles Dufour indicated that he had no preference for color and unchanged molding lines, Chanel's work experience imperceptibly affected his design: the pursuit of low-key refinement and pursuit of detail, and the so-called "hidden luxury" of Chanel.

Those lightweight Chiffon shirts quietly echoed the lining of the thin, soft, colourful cashmere coat.

The double silk dress has different prints on each floor. When the skirt moves with the movement of the body, the stamp will whirl like the shadow of the night.

And those buttons are specially designed to match those coats.

Dufour is trying to bring some landmark products to Ordos, such as the successful Russian composition printing last season. In the 2011 fall and winter, he pformed these colored geometric patterns into a cashmere coat and a color button on the cashmere cardigan.

Just like people use black and white tweed to distinguish Chanel, Dufour hopes people can identify Ordos through his design.

Dufour believes that there is no difference between working in Chanel and working in Ordos.

Ordos, as a localized cashmere brand, needs to change its original image too much.

Dufour wants to inject himself as the inspiration of Europeans, and put himself as a European designer's perspective, idea and color perception into Chinese culture, becoming Ordos, turning Ordos into an international brand.

Erdos had a steady mature customer base. Dufour wanted to stratified the Ordos customers and used his design to attract young people.

However, younger age does not mean "low grade".

In China, young people have few choices. They want to catch up with European and American fashion and can only choose H&M or Zara, but they also complain that the two brands are not satisfactory.

Ordos, designed by Dufour, wants to design exquisite fabrics and high-quality fabrics for young people in China.

Before taking over Ordos, Gilles Dufou made a personal brand.

But he discovered that after all, an artist is not a businessman. A brand needs not only a good designer, but also an excellent production team, promotion team and logistics team.

This is what Ordos can provide for him.

Gilles Dufour became the first to be employed in China.

Brand foreign designers.

Now, in Shanghai, Beijing, Ordos opened a special hall for Gilles Dufour.

Apart from the trouble caused by not understanding Chinese, Dufour said he prefers to work in China: "here is more interesting and challenging than France, and people here are more passionate and active." fashion designers are not single individuals. The fashion industry is not alone. Designers need teamwork, and teams will support and coordinate designers so as to do more things.

Ordos set up a new team of young people who worked with young people. Dufour felt very happy.

He said humorously, "I am a Chinese designer now."