This is the story of JCDC, the aristocrat who became an underground hero.
Some people may know him as the Marquis de Castelbajac, a nobleman from southern France, but others will know him as JCDC, the subversive Parisian fashion designer, famed for his use of primary colours and pop art inspired creations, worn by the likes of Madonna, Beth Ditto, Talking Heads and even Andy Warhol.
Jean-Charles de Castelbajac is arguably one of fashion and music’s biggest players du jour: his recent achievements include Gaga’s striped dress in her ‘Telephone’ video.
The genius of Jean-Charles de Castelbajac transcends cultural boundaries. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he is adored by the high society fashion cliques as well as the kids on the street, most notably of late, the UK grime contingent.
It was the US hip-hop community who affectionately renamed him JCDC in the late Eighties, when he brought his cartoon-embellished sweatshirts to The Bronx.
“At that time, people were starting to lose interest in colours and becoming more sombre,” explains Jean-Charles, in his wonderfully theatrical French accent. “So I lost all of my sophisticated customers, opened a new store, and my appeal completely changed.”
He attracted the likes of LL Cool J and Jay-Z.
“The way all these hip-hop stars began to appropriate my work was of course quite surprising,” he says. “It was what I wanted to achieve with my clothes all along: clothes for warriors.”
Although JCDC had been a recognisable name in elite fashion since the Seventies, this affiliation saw his status rise to the heights of street cool, where he has remained.
The Castelbajac name carries a social status and Jean-Charles was destined from birth for the military.
“We were noble, but poor.” Says Castelbajac, “I remember the day I told my family about my career aspirations: My uncle said that we acquired our name by the sword, not by the pencil.” Coming from this strict army background, his desire to create satirical ‘armour’ from clothing was the ultimate act of teenage rebellion.
Born 1949, JCDC says his aesthetic is a response to a repressed childhood. There is a huge emphasis is on colour and he has a penchant for using toys. His most iconic design is a coat made entirely of teddy bears (which was bought in the Eighties by American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, as a gift to Madonna).
“When I was a child I was at a very strict military boarding school and I didn’t have many toys,” he says, ruefully. “Making that coat was a reaction to this. After all, when you are starving you don’t want one hamburger, you want twenty.”
In 1973 JCDC dressed Farah Fawcett for an American Vogue. Having previously worked for companies like MaxMara, his designs had minimalist and accessible in their tone up, but the eccentric Frenchman came out with his experimental agenda to blur the boundaries between art and fashion.
“I was always fascinated with pop culture and the way it can be subversive, so I came up with the concept of putting cartoon faces on sweaters,” he says. “At the time there was only really Missoni and Pringle making decent sweatshirts and mine were a completely different take on these.”
He says Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren were both major inspirations: it was seeing Westwood’s iconic ‘Bones’ T-shirt that encouraged him to pursue a career in fashion and it was while living in Paris in the Seventies when he first met the late, great McLaren, the man who introduced him to the New York Dolls and with whom he was to strike up an immutable bond.
“Malcolm was like a brother to me,” he says, remembering the punk legend. “He was my mentor and definitely gave me my political conscience. He taught me that fashion can be a medium of power and always has a social consequence.”
After opening his flagship London store in 2008, JCDC has become intertwined with the UK fashion scene and culture. Recently he has collaborated with British sportswear giant Gola – creating quirky cartoon crocodiles and studded trainers – and now dresses artists like Ebony Bones, M.I.A and Dizzee Rascal.
JCDC is very much in touch with the Naughties generation. He muses on this and the outcome and success of ‘Propaganda’ for a retrospective exhibition at the V&A this month.
“I suddenly realised that there was a huge amount of young musicians inspired by hip-hop artists,” he explains. “They all knew my work because their historical idols had been wearing my clothes. It all made sense.”
“I reclaimed my primary colour as a weapon and one of the things with the greatest amount of primary colour is Lego or digital toys, so I decided to use regressive tools like a collective subconscious treasure. I wanted to take things that have meaning for everyone and I wanted to touch things that belong to their memory. I will continue to work with that in mind forever more.”
Words by April Welsh
JCDC’s first solo exhibition Tyranny Of Beauty opens in Paris on September 11th. Go to www.gola.co.uk to check out his recent collaboration.
