Garçon! Olivier Saillard Steps Into the Role of Waiter-Poet for J.M. Weston
Garçon! Olivier Saillard steps into the role of waiter-poet for J.M. Weston.
J.M. Weston’s artistic, image, and culture director flipped a classic Parisian script in more ways than one last night. For the occasion, he transformed the ’30s-era Café de l’Epoque at the Véro-Dodat passageway near the Palais Royal into a performance space for a 20-minute presentation called Commandes Très Speciales, or “Very Special Orders.”
Dressed as a typical Paris waiter, an homage to a profession rife with Weston loyalists, Saillard presented 17 new bespoke variations on a house classic, the Mocassin 180. Some were simple, such as a black box leather version made of a single piece with a chalk-like trompe l’oeil outline. Others were elaborately embellished, such as one pair with colorful hand-stitching, a tribute to couture in general and Cristóbal Balenciaga in particular. Another style had “alligator” embroidery by Lesage, and yet another Cubist silk-screened lettering. For each, Saillard went to town like a true Dadaist, as poetry; puns; innuendo; Freudian slips; and a cascade of cultural references spanning the Kardashians, Benjamin Millepied, and gibes at rival shoe brands tripped off his tongue—to the delight of the crowd and bemusement of the real waiters behind the bar.
In a preshow interview, Saillard said the sole-expanding exercise has been as blast—might we say kick? “When I got to Weston after working for museums for 25 years, I had no idea where to start, but I wanted to shake up a classic,” he explained. “In the end, I just mistreated the 180 every which way. It resulted in curious things, but it was really fun.” Once he had stretched soles from single to quadruple, turned the shoe inside out, and brought on the studs, the renowned poetry lover decided to describe the style in verse, as if the real J.M. Weston (who never existed) were composing alongside him.
Inès de la Fressange took the Roger Vivier jokes in stride. “What nourishes fashion is fantasy, extravagance, and talent. That’s Paris. Who needs market studies? When you look in the mirror, you should see poetry, not selfies,” she quipped.
Concluded Saillard, “In the end, it was all about bringing friends together and having fun, because that’s not something we’re having a lot of in fashion right now.”
Starting tomorrow, J.M. Weston Very Special Order styles will be produced by special order and delivered in two months. Price: from 2,000 euros. A triple-sole style will be introduced in stores in February.
