Adrien Victor Sauvage is an English fashion designer, director and photographer of Ghanaian desent. His short film, This is not a Suit released in 2011, garnered international recognition and was nominated for the official selection into the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

Early

Adrien Sauvage was born in Wandsworth, London. From the age of 13 he played professional basketball, representing Great Britain at an International level. After taking an early retirement from basketball, Sauvage began working as a stylist and personal shopper under the name of Untiled Muse with female clients of a socially highstanding position. Whilst working with these clients, Sauvage began to style the husbands of his clients, and quickly moved from styling to designing when he saw that their sartorial needs could not be met. With no formal training, Sauvage created looks which were inkeeping of his mantra ‘DE’ – Dress Easy.

A. Sauvage (2010 – Present)

In January 2010, Sauvage announced the creation of the A. Sauvage brand. Sauvage was later joined in this venture by his former client and muse George Lamb

George Lamb

George Lamb was a British politician and writer.The youngest son of Peniston Lamb, 1st Viscount Melbourne and his wife Elizabeth, and the brother of William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, Frederick Lamb, 3rd Viscount Melbourne and Emily Lamb, Lady Cowper, he was educated at Eton College and Trinity...

. The collection was received instantly by world renowned department store Harrods

Harrods

Harrods is an upmarket department store located in Brompton Road in Brompton, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. The Harrods brand also applies to other enterprises undertaken by the Harrods group of companies including Harrods Bank, Harrods Estates, Harrods Aviation and Air...

, and London boutique Matches. To run alongside the launch of the collection, entitled (Collection 000-1.000-11) This Is Not A Suit, Sauvage shot a case study on individualism, photographing ‘Captains and Natives’ of industry, subjects who would not normally be seen in suits. The campaign received positive media attention from the likes of GQ, Esquire

Esquire (magazine)

Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...

, Vogue

Vogue (magazine)

Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...

, Style.com

Style.com

Style.com is a fashion website. It was formerly the online site for the fashion magazine Vogue and [W] W magazine featuring online versions of some of the magazine's content as well as internet-exclusive material such as event photographs and style-related articles, before Vogue developed its own...

, Financial Times

Financial Times

The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....

and the Evening Standard

Evening Standard

The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...

.
To act as a lookbook for his collection, sauvage began curating photography of famous and successful ambassaders in his suits, who Sauvage regarded as ‘Captain’s of Industry’, including Bill Nighy

Bill Nighy

William Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor and comedian. He worked in theatre and television before his first cinema role in 1981, and made his name in television with The Men's Room in 1991, in which he played the womanizer Prof...

, Alex Turner

Alex Turner

Alex Turner is the name of:*Alex Turner , Virginian slave, who escaped at the beginning of the American Civil War and fought in the Union army*Alex Turner , film director...

 and Miles Kane

Miles Kane

Miles Peter Kane is an English musician originally from Meols on the Wirral near Liverpool, best known as the co-frontman of The Last Shadow Puppets and former frontman of The Rascals...

, Spike Jonze

Spike Jonze

Spike Jonze is an American director, producer and actor, whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television...

 and Coco Sumner

Coco Sumner

Eliot Paulina Sumner , also known as Coco, is an English musician recording under the band name I Blame Coco. I Blame Coco's debut album, The Constant, was released in the UK on 8 November 2010...

. ‘

Choosing his Captains

The top menswear model might be David Gandy

David Gandy

David James Gandy is an English model.-Career:Gandy began modeling in 2002 after winning a daytime-TV model search competition . At the time he had a job delivering cars to a car magazine...

. But if you ask the man on the street, he'll say, "I don't know who he is." So I set out to highlight "captains of industry", people who I'm into who are about the cloth. I had a chat with them and ask them nicely. It's like the consultation: they say to me that they wake up and go for a coffee and I'll suggest the perfect jacket and trouser to do that’ http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/style/articles/2010-07/28/gq-style-news-adrien-sauvage-a-sauvage-designer-interview-this-is-not-a-suit-captains-natives.

In that same year, Sauvage produced, directed and starred in his debut short film This Is Not A Suit (2010), which went on to be one of 85 out of 6,467 selected shorts at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival

Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...

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‘Alongside the collections, Sauvage has also made a film depicting the ethos behind his line. This is Not a Suit has been receiving strong attention and has shown at a number of film festivals including Sundance. The success of that film has also led the polymath designer to be asked to create a new short, Le Costumier, which he is currently working on.’(Dazed & Confused Magazine) http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/10046/1/a-sauvage-black-volta

'This is not a suit' (2010)

Narrated By Larry Lamb

Larry Lamb

Sir Albert Lamb, commonly known as Larry Lamb was a British newspaper editor. He was editor of The Sun from 1969 to 1972 and again from 1975 to 1981, and also of the Daily Express from 1983 to 1986...

Featuring Adrien Sauvage

(Directors: Adrien Sauvage, Chris Gaunt, and Jon Clements; Screenwriters: Adrien Sauvage and Madeleine Morlet). An instructional guide to the art of dressing that explores the creative quandaries of the mind. Who is the designer? Well, we will look into that. Here we learn the principles of easy dressing as you have not seen them before. This is not a suit.

Inspired By :
Gus Van Sant "Discipline Of De'
Jogen Leth "The Perfect Human"

Photography

Sauvage's journey into the field of photography begun on Venice Beach, California, with the ‘This Is Not A Suit’ series, described by 'Dazed and Confused Magazine' as a project ‘which challenges our notions of what it means to wear the standard uniform of men everwhere by shooting in black in white some of LA's more colourful inhabitants who, it's safe to say, wouldn't normally be suited and booted. It's the art of formal dressing as you've never seen it before.’ http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/style/articles/2010-05/26/gq-style-news-a-sauvage-this-is-not-a-suit-photos/ron-beals

External links

(www.Asauvage.com)