Vincent Moustache

We caught up with Paris- and Valencia- based fashion illustrator Vincent Moustache to ask him a few questions about his work, his workspaces, and his love of all things Paris…

1. How did you fall in love with art and illustration? Did you have any major inspirations?

I grew up in a very artistic family where reading and creating art and music was encouraged. As a child I studied drawing and painting. I grew up by the sea and in the mountains and am very attracted to nature, its simple beauty and all that it teaches us. I grew up in the Mediterranean, in Valencia, so I love food, music, and being with people. I love to look at the night sky and imagine that the stars are imagining me. I have very vivid dreams and I usually remember them…from these dreams I have drawn illustrations and written stories. My big dream since I was little was to be an artist and live in Paris. I did it!  And Paris is still and always one of my biggest inspirations. 

2.  How did you make the transition from artist/art lover to professional illustrator?

Being a freelance illustrator was the dream of my life, but I wasn’t really sure how to get jobs. Early on I was working for a fashion brand, living in Paris and I didn't know what the next step was. There was an app called Instagram where at that time very few people were posting illustrations professionally, but I saw an opportunity to be one of the first. I made a very minimalist portfolio and showed the work I imagined I could do for luxury and fashion brands. 6 months later I joined Illustration Division and, a year after I opened my instagram account I got my first commercial job: official illustrator of the LVMH awards. I was able to quit my day job and become a full time illustrator. Dreams do come true, you just have to keep dreaming.

3. What advice do you give to new illustrators who are trying to navigate the industry?

Dear new illustrator:

What would you like to draw every day of your life? Hire yourself, don't wait for clients to do it. Draw as if you already have that dream client: What would they like to see? What would feel new to them? Don't be afraid, never be afraid, draw and paint for you, for your dreams. The worst that can happen to you is that you go back to where you started. As I answer this, I say the answer to myself. To be an illustrator, artist or creative in whatever discipline, is to start from 0 many times throughout your life. It is to wake up every morning with the same illusion of an art student who has the whole future ahead of them. Whatever you do, always draw for yourself and have fun. The industry knows who's having a good time and wants to hire them. And most importantly: take your career seriously and respect it, but don't take anything else in life seriously. You'll do just fine.

4.  What is it about Paris that inspires you and influences your work? 

In Paris I like: that it often rains, my beloved Butteschaumont park, the Pailleron swimming pool (it is an Art Deco pool where I always go), the streets, the buildings, the cafes (where I go to observe, listen to and draw people), the bookstores, the art galleries and museums, the metro, the Guimard metro tickets... also there is a card for the cinema where you pay 20€ per month and you can see as many movies as you want. There are some of the best museums and exhibitions in the world and it is one of the world capitals of fashion, culture and gastronomy. You always meet very interesting people. In my work I draw and write about my life, what I see, what I live. I have a special connection with this city that my drawings do not fail to convey. My favorite museum is Arts Decoratives, which specializes in design. I usually go to work at the Bibliotheque Fournier, in the Marais, it's a library specialized in fashion and graphic arts.

5. Are there any other artists, or any other visual, music, dance, theater, or film that have been inspiring you lately?

I could tell you so many things that there wouldn't be enough lines on the internet to explain it. I spend my days listening to music, mostly current and vintage French pop. Classical music, soundtracks, jazz, even dance music. On Spotify I have some open lists, stop by and get ready to dance "liking yourself". I love the illustrators of the 20's like Garcia Benito who published some mythical covers of Vogue. I love Vogue magazine in all its eras. My favorite book is "La jugadora de Goh". My favorite television series is "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel". Recently at the Venice Biennale I discovered Louis Fratino, he has a gay and costumbrist style, close to cubism but updated. He depicts everyday images (two angry lovers sleeping apart, still lifes of dishes to be washed) but his color palette is surprising: very energetic, complementary and even neon. He has very large paintings where he paints restaurant or discotheque environments. I love his work!

6. What is it about fashion that attracts you?

Fashion speaks from afar, it says who you are and in what moment you live without using words. Fashion communicates, attracts, creates a group. Fashion explains an era, a society, and at the same time it defines the individual who wears the garment. Fashion is the inevitable aesthetics of every human being. Fashion is the second skin and at the same time a spectacle to see, like the skins and colors in the animal and natural world. I think it is impossible not to be attracted to fashion because it has been created for centuries to attract.

7. What other subjects do you love to illustrate? Why?

Love and humor. The pleasure of living. Humor, positivism and love are the basis of my personality, so I want to draw things that I love and enjoy such as: dachshunds, croissants, coffee, my family and friends, my lovers, any kind of food and drink, people (people in Paris!), decoration, parties, trips... and food, lots of food! Everything I love will always have a place in my visual world. And I love breakfast very much, VERY much (hahaha)

8. What are the most important things for you to have in your space? Are there specific types of spaces that you love working in?

I have two spaces to work in: one public and one private. The public one is the cafés, especially if they are beautiful and old. They smell of coffee, of food, people come in and out, you greet people, you hear incredible stories from strangers. But the real world of adults needs a computer, a nest where you can work and paint quietly. In Paris now I have a small space, a room. I don't need more for the moment because I enjoy the city so much. In Valencia, Spain, I have a bigger and brighter studio. I have the studio I would have loved to have when I was little and there I draw on the same table as I did when I was 8 years old. I can paint, draw, sew, exercise and meditate. In any space what I need is lots of light and lots of table space. I like to surround myself with objects that inspire me, with stickers, with dolls, with papers, with phrases of mine that encourage me, and I surround myself with books too, lots of books.

9. What does a typical work day look like for you?

I get up in the morning, drink coffee, take a shower, get dressed. I go to a nice café, preferably an antique one with marble tables. There I write my diary, organize the day, draw and paint while I order several coffees and a croissant. Then I do sports, cook and continue working. I leave the more computer-based work for the afternoon. I usually work on international projects and the time change allows me to have the mornings to myself. Then in the afternoon I try to read, meditate, watch a movie or meet friends. I do all this even on weekends and when I am traveling. My days are usually all similar but, based on where I am, what may change is the city, coffee, landscape, people... I like to have a routine that always surprises me. I constantly live in a job/vacation that I love. If I visit a cafe I've never been to before, it's work and it's pleasure. If I draw an illustration for a client, it's work and it's pleasure, because I love my work.

10. What have been your favorite collaborations?

We did a Christmas project for the Swiss department store Globus and the theme was a large Art Deco hotel inspired by my drawings. It was a complex project with many different formats from a stamped coin (with a self-portrait dressed as a bellboy) to animating the biggest LED screen in Europe that had to be approved by the city council of Zurich. At the beginning I wasn't supposed to do the animation myself, just the elements and the storyboard. I made a crazy script: lobsters dancing on trays, presents falling from the sky and children coming out of them. I thought "oh the poor animator who has to bring this to life". SPOILER: finally the animator was me (hahahaha). The result was incredible, wonderful. I went to Zurich to see it and I dressed up as a hotel bellboy. When I entered the store all the staff was dressed like me, in red hotel bellboy uniforms, with black glasses and moustaches. Truly one of the most magical experiences of my life.

11. What is your dream collaboration?

I would love to work for THE NEW YORKER as a correspondent in Paris. To paraphrase the movie GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL: "The New Yorker is an institution". I like its style, its content and its editorial line very much, they are simple, modern and connect the formal with the humorous.

12.  Is there anything about your work that you wish people knew, or understood better?

My work only aims to make people happy and bring beauty, whatever it is, to the world. If seeing one of my illustrations has made you smile, if one of my stories has made someone else's day better, I already have the biggest possible prize.

8. Are there specific types of spaces you love working in?

I am definitely a work from home person. Even though I appreciate the social aspect of shared studios, the coffee shop situation and such, I tend to be easily distracted and anxious when working around too many people.

9. What are the most important things for you to have in your work space?

Practically, a large table in a well-organized space. A place for chaos when you need it, but generally everything in its place. Also my books and a coffee maker.

10. What does a typical work day look like for you?

I am a bit of a workaholic so I like to draw everyday – either for commissions or personal projects. Other than that, it will be something like starting the day with a coffee walk and getting to any urgent matters like emails or any managerial aspects of freelance life. At some point in the day a short pause for exercise and back at it. Like I said, being a bit of a workaholic, I have the issue of not having a hard stop hour, I do love never ending sessions of drawing.

11. What have been your favorite collaborations?

There are for sure collaborations that I have enjoyed more than others, mostly driven by the topic, but I try not to categorize it that way. With each project I have found something of value.

12. What is your dream collaboration?

Tough to pick, there’s a lot of people I’d be happy to work with someday. But surely something like Apartamento Magazine would be amazing. It is beyond doubt one of the best magazines out there.

13. Is there anything about your work that you wish people knew, or understood better?

There is often a personal side of the work that is less revealed in commercial assignments.  I am trying to show more of that, and also doing more exploration with different mediums on paper.

14. What have you been the most curious about lately?

I listen to lots of podcasts while I work, anything related to the cosmos, space exploration, etc has been top of my list for a while now. Pioneer Works has done some great lectures on this topic.

15.Thank you for your answers! Any final words you'd like to add?

Some of these questions can be hard to answer, so thank you if you got to the end of it 🙂 
And thank you Illustration Division for this feature and your support!