An interview taken from our new digital issue. Text and Interview by Martin Rybak. Designer is Léandre Cornette. Photography by Marie Meister. Models are Rei Bourbier, Angelique Kng and Chine Benoît. Maison Éros is the young Paris based fashion brand of multidisciplinary artist Léandre Cornette who had no formal training in fashion or art which results in clothing that is purely inspired by intuition and self-expression.
Léandre uses his brand as a playground to explore his creative ideas and topics without the pressure of the fashion industry: “I use the paint to sublimate the body, distort it, create movement. My brushes are like needles. It is more a pictorial work, I like to work on perception. This is now my touch, my difference and my strength.”
I really want to celebrate the body and its beauty in my work. Spread a colorful and optimistic message in my creations.
KALTBLUT: How would you describe the essence of Maison Éros?
Léandre Cornette: Maison Éros wants to bring flamboyance back into everyday life and interpellate through a subtle eroticism.
I have a carnal relationship with the paint, for me playing with texture is very sensual and erotic, but in a devious way. Maison Éros symbolise erotism but in a different manner, with hidden messages behind the pattern. I try to paint what drives the human body, this is the essence of erotism, love, hate …, what you can’t see.
I always first work on canvas before each drop. The starting point of it is one of my paintings. I also get inspiration from the colors and shape of it. Then transform the pattern so it suits the clothes and create movements with the shape of the body. Or like if you were trapped and enchained by it.
The new summer Collection « Abstract » ,explores the mysterious and invisible links shared by humans, and personifies the mechanisms of eroticism and how they flirt with scientific knowledge. This pattern embodies the sexual chemistry and free-flowing energy that circulates between two people. It tells the story of the inner chaos that submerges us when desire appears in our bodies.
My main art inspirations are Pop art, neo expressionism and expressionnisme abstrait.
For the Maison Éros campaigns I want to tell supernatural stories about a group of people and the relationship between them. For example, for the « Tactile Vibrations » shoot in Dieppe, it was about an apocalyptic yet hopeful journey to another planet, and board a carefree vagabond vessel to a phantasmagorical land, where eroticism reigns free.
The « ABSTRACT » shoot is about a group of lost strangers wandering through the countryside. A sudden overdose of serotonin, slowly taking control of their bodies. They have lost control. They are free. It’s a soul- attack, an explosion of sensuality, gliding through their veins.
KALTBLUT: How important is the aspect of sustainability and up-cycling for you and your creations?
Léandre Cornette: There are so many beautiful clothes out there, with stunning fabric, it is so interesting and challenging to work with. I want to erect those upcycled clothes as work of Art, that is why the sourcing of the piece is a very important and a long process to me. I am uncompromising, the fabric and the cut has to be perfect so the texture of the paint has a beautiful rendering. The concept of Maison Éros is that all the pieces are unique, rare and approach like wearable canvas. That is why it is important for me that the garments had a previous life, tells a story. It’s part of its beauty.
KALTBLUT: How did you manage to turn the lack in formal fashion training into your strength and how important is it for you to let your intuition guide you instead of current trends or learned skills?
Léandre Cornette: As I have no formal fashion training, I use the paint to sublimate the body, distort it, create movement. My brushes are like needles. It is more a pictorial work, I like to work on perception. This is now my touch, my difference and my strength.
My work is very instinctive, the clothes are more like a canvas to me. I get most of my inspirations from Art. That is why I have this freedom in my creations, I do not want to follow trends. I want to make people look flamboyant and elegant at the same time. So you get noticed when you wear Maison Éros pièces, look different. My pieces call out but stay elegant. The challenge is that the paint do not prevails on the person who wears it. It has to sublimated the person.
KALTBLUT: What was the biggest challenge for you as a creative person during the current health crisis and how did it affect you and your work in a negative but also positive way?
Léandre Cornette: I had to keep the inspiration ! What stimulates my creativity is meeting new people, sharing moments of life, it’s sometimes in the simple interaction of everyday life that gives us ideas. When you can see the human energy around you. Being isolated and socially restricted makes you drawn to your memories and sometimes you lose some of your optimism and the energy to move forward.
On the other hand you have more time to create and really think about what you want to say in your creations. It changed my perception of human relations and how important and fragil it can be. It is the fact of having been away from people that made me want to paint the invisible links that bind us. What drives us, why we feel such emotions and how to personify them.
KALTBLUT: What is something you would change in the fashion industry if you could?
Léandre Cornette: I think that the fashion industry changed in many very positive ways on the human side, more tolerance and acceptance about diversity, sexuality…So I am really happy about it and so everyone can be represented. The image of fashion is not a cliché of perfection anymore, which is great.
If I had to change something it would be the seasons and the frantic pace of the collections. I like to work by drop because you are more free to propose the kind of clothes you want at the moment. And do not depend on weather and trends.
KALTBLUT: Anything else you want to add?
Léandre Cornette: I really want to celebrate the body and its beauty in my work. Spread a colorful and optimistic message in my creations. And that everyone can also question themselves on the human itself, and the foundation of its emotions and relationship with others. Maison Éros is a total cross-over between Art and Fashion, there is a message, though behind the brushes. It is not only aesthetics, it is also poetry and philosophy.
Text and Interview by Martin Rybak / Instagram: @martinmanuelry
Designer is Léandre Cornette / Instagram: @maisoneros
Photographer is Marie Meister / Instagram: @hypsoindia
Styling by Miako Girre / Instagram: @miakogirre
Make up by Swan Arnaud / Instagram: @_swan.a_
Models are Rei Bourbier / Instagram: @mereipasdetoncoeur
Angelique Kng / Instagram: @angeliqueuwe
Chine Benoît / Instagram: @chinebenoit
Production by Maya Bourbier / Instagram: @mayabourbier
Assistant production by Oscar Ducaruge / Instagram: @oskarlmarx
