Inside the Factory with Cyril Bourez

Inside the Factory with Cyril Bourez

An Inside Look At Cyril Bourez’s Creative Process

The original concept involved collecting variations on the archetypal “boyfriend t-shirt”, and elevating them into couture pieces (traditionally made for women), transforming a stereotypically masculine and slightly cliché garment into avant-garde and playful silhouettes. The collaboration also drew from AZ Factory’s own vision of athletic-couture, a term Cyril played with by selecting sporty, varsity themed garments that he reworked with AZ Factory’s existing couture elements, including opulent fabrics and exaggerated details like oversized ruffles.

Every piece is unique, and spontaneously made – there were no patterns, and the construction feels more organic as a result. Here, Cyril knew that plans wouldn’t necessarily translate into reality, and so the design process was more natural and free flowing. He describes this project as having allowed him to extract only “the fun part” of creating, without the frustrating, industrial constraints. “It’s still technical”, he says, “but not industrial. It’s just craft. 

It felt important, given the wider industry and environmental context, to make a statement by producing the full collection with existing garments, without bringing anything new into the project. In order for this to work, Cyril zeroed in on fashion archetypes, as a way to strengthen and clarify the message. The final pieces feel to him like what a girl might steal from her older brother’s wardrobe, pieces that feel cool, cheeky and comforting. He views the pieces like a sort of fashion equivalent of a collage, something a little silly and handmade, but compelling and interesting.