At a Louis Gabriel Nouchi show, nobody can hear you scream.
That’s partly because of the thumping techno, but it’s also a heavy-handed reference to the theme the designer threaded through tonight’s show, which kicked off just before 9pm in an underground car park in Le Marais. Nouchi titled the collection “Alien” after the sci-fi horror movie franchise he wasn’t allowed to watch as a child. “I heard the sounds in my room of the screams and the slime, and I was terrified. So I had nightmares of this movie before seeing it,” he said backstage before the show.
This season, the now-38-year-old put those childhood nightmares to work in a collection with as much extraterrestrial eroticism, sweat-slicked skin, and peculiar mass-appeal as the work it was referencing. Face-hugger headpieces were created from braided hair, and elasticated veils made the models appear as if their heads were bursting forth from the membranes of their outfits, which included swooping vampiric coats with shearling shoulders, anthracite tailoring, and space-crew jumpsuits worn by a diverse cast. Particularly visceral were the body-hugging black T-shirts dresses and bodysuits with the subtlest of ruched slits down the centre, reminiscent of H.R. Giger’s yonic designs.
Less subtle was the tight white vest and budgie smugglers, clearly inspired by Sigourney Weaver’s iconic look and scrawled with ‘ONLY FANS.’ Nouchi recently started his own account on the platform, which he says includes erotic readings and ASMR; a freer way to communicate with his fans than through more traditional social media. “As a gay person you are really conditioned with the type of bodies you watch, the way you should act, and we are doing the opposite,” he said. “It allows me to be more intellectual about the way that we are thinking about sex.”
Also on Nouchi’s mind was how the word “alien” is being used to classify and dehumanize people (the biggest global news story at the time of writing is that ICE has detained a 5-year-old boy in Minnesota). “In the US, ‘alien’ can be a very pejorative word, and for me as a European, I’m very shocked about that, you know, because I’m an alien too,” he said.
And so for all of its cosmic horniness, this was a collection full of pieces that were intended to unite, not alienate. In the vein of old Helmut Lang, Nouchi is skilled at making subversive fashion that can mostly pass in the heteronormative world while also offering enough provocation to keep things exciting. “In the end, we are doing good clothes!” he said with a grin. “Everything is about comfort, you know? It’s effortless.” There’s nothing sexier than that.
