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Perennial patron of happiness and joy, Simon Porte Jacquemus, has offered some much-needed light in the darkness. In a time of unprecedented change, of upheaval and fear and tension and tragedy, the French fashion designer has asked his near-2 million Instagram community to harness their creative potential in an at-home art challenge.
Calling it the #Jacquemusathome Challenge, Jacquemus fashioned pieces from his Spring Summer 2020 collection, Le Coup de Soleil, with other bits and bobs from the home into works of contemporary portraiture. His La chemise Peinture shirt and Le Pitchou in neon green, for example, was paired with a peg and matchsticks to make a rad dude. In his company, another cool dude in the form of the La Casquette Porte hat, mints, flowers and a pen lid. A madame joined them, forged from his Le Sac Filet in lavender and two oranges and petals. There was also peripatetic monsieur, made of foraged items like pinecones and curly green beans and leaves (along with his Les lunettes Yauco).
There were even artful faces that didn’t use his fashion wares just things around the house, like a mademoiselle with golden hair (made from spiral pasta) and bold statement earrings (cherry tomatoes hanging from the vine).
Intent on sharing the love, the designer pledged he would share the works of others – “I will repost” – and that he did as a stream of brilliantly quirky and original faces lit up the Instagram stage. There were apples and oranges and bananas and carrots alongside some of Jacquemus’s greatest hits: his Chiquito and Pitchou and Baci bags, his sunflower shirts, even bucket hats and board shorts.
There were also quarantine essentials like pasta and phone chargers and bread and toilet paper, and of course, masks, which took on new artistic expression like my mother’s below which was turned into a hat (along with other Corona necessities like soap and ventilators). While GRAZIA friends Billy Mitchell and Michael Porter brought their wedding recovery party to Potts Point in matching Jean shirts, after their Italian wedding was inevitably cancelled, and my own champagne-toting, side-fringe bearing rendition joined in on the recovery festivities.
A beautifully uplifting way to respond to the crisis, surrender yourself to art and let your imagination run wild while at home. Because, at the end of the day, love – and creativity – trumps all.
Here’s some of our #jacquemusathome favourites:
