Nicolas Aksil and his partner Angelina Basile have produced a line of t-shirts under their newly established label, Couduroy Paris, which celebrates the majestic history of France.  Made out of bamboo, the range of t-shirts are dappled in a print of collaged images from the reign of Marie- Antoinette.

Aksil may also work for Comme des Garçons, but his designs could be no more different than that of its industrious designer, Rei Kawakubo, who always has her eye on the future of fashion. Instead Aksil and Basile are firmly inspired by history and classic imagery from France’s royal past. They modernise their inspiration by employing the work of contem. We asked Aksil about his label, their elaborate designs and their unusual presentation.

Lucy Morris: When and why did you start Courduroy Paris?

Nicolas Aksil: Angelina Basile and I started Courduroy Paris in 2011 but our first collection will come out at the end of 2012. We both wanted to create our fashion label and had a lot in common so we decided to make it together. Our skills are totally complementary and felt we were able to give birth to this project and bring it far. We decided to start with t-shirts because we thought that they are a good way of expressing an idea.. We built our label around a royal theme, that’s why we named it Courduroy Paris (in french Cour du Roy means Court of the King).

LM: Why did you decide to present the collection with a video?

NA: We wanted to show the collection in an artistic way to pay tribute to Queen Marie-Antoinette who inspired us from the start. Marie-Antoinette loved partying so we thought a dance video would make sense. The music is an original creation that we made with a French composer and sound designer – we wanted a remix of a Mozart sound. Then we asked Nicole Winhoffer, who is one of the most talented choreographer, to dance for us. We wanted to ask “Who would be Marie-Antoinette if she were a rebelious queen living in our century?”. In the video Nicole embodies Marie-Antoinette and CJ Tyson (Broadway dancer and singer) embodies her lover. When Angelina and I first saw the choreography Nicole made for Courduroy Paris we were absolutely amazed!

LM: For the collection Courduroy Paris commissioned an artist for the print but it was inspired yours and Angelina’s art direction, how does the design relationship at Courduroy Paris work?

NA: Angelina and I work from a theme, and then we take pictures of work of arts which fit our theme. Once we know exactly what we want to design, we find the right person to team with. We need French artists whose has the same culture as us and will understand what feeling we want our prints to express. It can be very long because we want every single print to look perfect.