Yahoo News EXCLUSIVE: Ami Paris’ Alexandre Mattiussi Shows His Zany, Air-drumming Side in New Documentary
For some, allowing a camera into the studio is a way of revealing an unseen facet of their work and personality.
Not Alexandre Mattiussi.
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“I’m not that different from what you usually see of me,” the Paris-based designer told WWD ahead of a screening of “Alexandre Mattiussi, Ami, Naissance d’une collection,” a documentary directed by French filmmaker Dominique Miceli that will be released on June 16.
If the 52-minute film that goes from fabric swatches to fittings with Diane Kruger, Laetitia Casta and Lou Doillon ahead of the fall 2024 show is anything to go by, there is never a dull moment when working with Mattiussi, who is a dab hand at wisecracks and air-drumming on top of making handsome, relatable clothing.
In one scene he is making his way through the brand’s studio, conspiratorially declaring: “It’s Monday morning, I’m going to [bug] them with a crazy idea,” before suggesting to his knit team covering a sweater with gold domed buttons. The result goes unseen, the designer having in the interim deemed it ridiculous.
Miceli long had her eye on Mattiussi as a potential subject for a follow-up to her 2019 documentary on Isabel Marant. She met him shortly after he showed his first collection in 2011, a 15-look lineup coincidentally presented in a bar just off Place des Victoires, where the brand is now headquartered.
“We hit it off. I liked what he did, wearable fashion [using] beautiful materials and I immediately bought a men’s coat. I followed his evolution,” recalled the filmmaker, who also directed the 2007 “Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton” documentary with Loïc Prigent.
“The filming went really well, I wanted a bit of madness, to show him the way he really is,” she continued of the Mattiussi project.
Zany moments included a work session where Mattiussi slapped a piece of red leather on his mouth, deeming it a better beauty move than lipstick since you didn’t need makeup remover, and pulling a multicolored feather duster from under his desk.
Asked if there was anything he didn’t want to show, Mattiussi said his cover of a Céline Dion song ended up on the cutting room floor. “With all the love I have for her, that really didn’t do her proud,” he admitted.
Cinema is a long-standing interest for the designer, who started coproducing independent films, including a biopic on Niki de Saint-Phalle that was presented in the “Un Certain Regard” competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
Even so, having a camera around for months was an intimidating prospect, although Miceli and her filming style put him at ease as he finessed and finagled his designs.
“Our jobs are exceptional but the reality of our daily lives is about work, research, hesitation,” he said. “There isn’t one truth in our profession. The moment of truth arrives when things are done and it’s about putting something that feels right. It’s a bit like being in a kitchen.”
Though Mattiussi takes the lion’s share of attention throughout the feature, he was quick to remind that a brand isn’t a designer creating alone.
“Dominique’s gaze was on me but don’t forget that Ami is me and hundreds of people around me, particularly in the studio, the dozens of people who accompany me on a daily basis,” he said. “It’s teamwork and that’s really important because without them, we don’t amount to much.”
The Ami Paris documentary will premiere on June 16 at 9:45 a.m. CET on French channel Paris Première.
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