Starting the design process with a book is something highly personal for Nouchi. His love of reading, done privately at home, is being shared with a bigger audience. However, he is happy to translate the intimacy and softness of reading, as he shares. “For me it’s a thing I’m doing at home, in comfortable garments. Home wear and loungewear are becoming naturally top sales of the brand because of this.”
Relaxed, fluid and easy to wear pieces are also seen profusely throughout his SS2022 collection. Even more intriguing is the unisex nature of the range, with both women and men featured on the runway. However, this was not the original intention for Nouchi as he tells us from his Paris based office. “I’m doing menswear, but girls and woman come naturally to the brand. So it always has been natural for me to include woman in the show from the beginning, as it gives a different styling to the same garment. We have a lot of female clients in our Parisian store, and so now we see more what is for women or men. At the end of the day people do what they want with the garments; I try to give them the possibility. For example, we do a lot of nude colors for men, as it’s more a woman’s code. But it allows the men to choose if they want to wear it.”
A graduate of L'École nationale supérieure des arts visuels de La Cambre, the prestigious visual arts school in Brussels, Nouchi always wanted to pursue fashion but was hesitant early on. “I always wanted to work in fashion, but it’s a complicated choice when you don’t have the background, or you don’t have a family who is really into art. There are lots of stereotypes regarding our profession, and I’ve been quite lucky to be able to train at La Cambre.” Upon graduation, Nouchi began his career at Vogue Paris then later worked for Raf Simons. His talent soon earned him a nomination at the Hyères festival in 2014, where he was awarded the Camper and Palais de Tokyo prizes.
Nouchi launched his eponymous label in 2017. He has also been busy creating capsule collections for various big-name clients such as, Galeries Lafayette, La Redoute and Agnelle, thanks to both his astute commercial and highly creative abilities. He has become known for his strong regard for ethical fashion. However, practicing sustainability is not about image building to earn brownie points. “Having a good supply chain, with a global way of thinking about waste and sustainability is key for me and my team. It’s a ladder of innovation for us, not a marketing bashing tool. We are using a lot of viscose because it consumes less water, rather than cotton. Natural dying for our soft colors palette is perfect so we play a lot with it. Using laser for denim, or headstock from our suppliers is part of our creative process.”
Citing fashion legends Yohji Yamamoto, Helmut Lang and Tom Ford among his favourite designers, Nouchi has become known for his highly coveted products with precise, fluid cuts adapted to our modern ways of living. He sees the typical LGN customer as someone who enjoys comfortable clothes but with a designer twist. “This person – a man or a woman – is confident and sensual,” he continues. “Clothes are a way to express his taste for art. He’s a sexy intellectual. The brand is very much about working on a fantasy of those stereotypes we put on peoples. The ‘Clark Kent’ (Superman’s man alter ego) effect that no one is fooled.”
Nouchi is currently working on new collaborations with other brands/retailers and developing new window concepts for his flagship Paris store. He is also preparing for his up coming Fall Winter 2022-2023 collection, to be shown in January.
