Backstage — and sometimes on the front row — at fashion shows, one seemingly incongruous character can always be found amid the bustle of models, editors and celebrity guests. Typically wearing a flannel shirt layered over a T-shirt, circular glasses and a cap, his presence is now so established that even the stars recognise him instantly. “How are you? Good to see you,” says in greeting the multi-hyphenate musician and designer Pharrell Williams as he arrives at a show.
Williams is addressing Loïc Prigent, a French documentary filmmaker and journalist, who this year, aged 51, celebrates two decades of capturing the fashion industry through his unique lens. Packed with all-access footage of events and punctuated by a charmingly French-accented English voiceover, Prigent’s videos are shared on his YouTube account (where he has amassed 664,000 subscribers) as well as on local channels, such as France Télévisions.
Informative, witty and entertaining, there’s magic in Prigent’s videos, which respectfully explore the diversity of fashion and its many cultures, and bring his globe-trotting adventures to viewers back home. In a way, they feel not too dissimilar to those by the late TV presenter and chef Anthony Bourdain, whose food-filled travels did wonders to expand the appeal of cultural dishes from across the world.
Prigent, the son of farmers from Brittany, traces his enthusiasm for fashion back to his childhood. “I remember watching my mother buy magazines, such as Jours de France. There would be reports of fashion weeks, with photography, so you could see all the models,” he says, on the phone from his Paris office. “At the same time, there was an Egyptian singer Dalida who would perform on French TV; once she sang 36 songs in 36 haute couture dresses.” Prigent was captivated.
On moving to Paris, Prigent’s first job was writing for the French newspaper Libération, a savvy career move that helped him to develop a stronger voice. Local broadcasting channels Canal+ and then TF1 took notice, and Prigent transitioned to television. One day he observed some producers working on a news programme; instead of taking soundbites, they had filmed nonstop, which allowed more intimate moments to be captured. And so, Prigent took inspiration and applied the technique to his own work.
Working in TV opened up the closely guarded doors of luxury for Prigent, who gained access to film the shows of big brands, including Saint Laurent by Hedi Slimane, Chanel by Karl Lagerfeld and Louis Vuitton by Marc Jacobs, among others. One of his most memorable shows was by the feted French designer Christian Lacroix, in 2000. “It was so chaotic. The dresses were arriving from the atelier and the seamstresses were still finishing them off on the models, who Lacroix himself was pushing on to the runway,” Prigent recalls.
A turning point came in 2004, when the French-German culture channel Arte commissioned Prigent to produce a documentary on the late Lagerfeld’s work at Chanel and also the making of the house’s Haute Couture autumn/winter 2004 collection. By that time Prigent had already been filming Lagerfeld regularly. Signé Chanel, released in 2005, catapulted Prigent’s career, as access to the inner workings of a luxury company, at the time, was out of the ordinary. “For many people it was a new way to see fashion, backstage and inside the machine,” says Prigent.
Two years later, in 2007, Prigent launched his video production and distribution company Deralf, whose letters, he explains, are an acronym: “They stand for entertaining and revolting in French.” It represented Prigent’s light-hearted approach, which “I think was fresh at a time when [fashion] felt more academic”. Launching his own company, which today employs a team of seven, was never part of the plan, but was a necessary business move, he explains. “As the years went by, I realised I didn’t own my own footage, and when I wanted to use archival footage I had to pay for it, even if I was the author. It was quite frustrating.”
One of Prigent’s primary influences is William Klein, the American-born French photographer and filmmaker, whose unconventional ironic approach revolutionised image-making. In 1981, Klein went behind the scenes of the French Open as the first documentarian to be granted full and exclusive access. “He really shows as much of what is happening backstage as [on the main stage],” says Prigent. The end result is a vivid and honest chronicling of events, “like an onion with many layers”.
It’s why Prigent takes great care to capture anyone that matters — not only the famous singer or actress, or the designer at the helm of a brand, but also the industry professional whose face may not be as widely known in the public eye. At Balenciaga’s spring/summer 2025 show, he’s seen interviewing stars such as Katy Perry as well as under-the-radar guests such as Loïk Gomez (who goes by Bfrnd), the brand’s music artist and husband of creative director Demna.
On the selection process, Prigent says: “Sometimes we didn’t even interview the designer but the people attending, the models or anyone that we felt was interesting. And we’d go about it without a script, so it was free-flowing and I guess very anarchic.” While there’s always some form of jest — see his fictional voice laid over footage from the Balenciaga show of Anna Wintour in conversation with Nicole Kidman — Prigent never goes so far as to overstep. “I hope [the people I film] feel respect while I [make it] interesting and real.”
“I think people understand that he genuinely loves fashion and is not making an unpleasant observation about it,” says milliner Stephen Jones when I asked why he was willing to participate in one of Prigent’s recent videos. “He likes and respects fashion. I think he is a very personable [and] likeable person, and he is funny! Doesn’t take himself too seriously.”
Prigent initially found his audience, who tune in from France, as well as the UK, Germany, the US and increasingly Asia, a surprise given that most of his videos are in French (they now include English subtitles). Yet, he has come to realise that “there’s a real appetite” for craftsmanship and authenticity. “If somebody talks with passion, if they are famous or not, people will watch because it’s humanity that we relate to.” Indeed, these are characteristics that luxury brands are keen to align themselves with: it’s why brands including Max Mara now work with Deralf to film their ateliers.
Paid partnerships don’t seem to deter viewers either. “This past fall there was huge interest in a video we did on the 100th anniversary of Lesage [in collaboration with the embroidery atelier],” says Prigent. Footage of the late co-founder Marie-Louise Lesage, which was included, appealed to viewers: “Every time she [spoke], people were hypnotised. I think that luxury fashion has gone too corporate and blockbuster, and the magic of the craft is still powerful. I feel reassured that I don’t need to interview 20 superstars on the front row to have people interested.”
Prigent recognises there are other formats that can be used to reach fashion enthusiasts. In early 2024, he and his team launched Fashion Moodboard, a website (or “data bank” as Prigent calls it) containing photos, interviews and musings that don’t make it into his videos. In October that year, he also released his new book A Thousand Billion Ribbons with the French publishing house Éditions Grasset, which traces the history of fashion from the early 19th century to the opening of Coco Chanel’s first boutique in 1913. “I lost myself in the tunnels of information about Madame Grès and other designers that everybody forgot or might not have known about before.”
Fashion history writing is something that Prigent hopes to do more of. But, there’s also plenty of newness to look forward to, he says, gleefully listing this year’s designer debuts, including those at Chanel and Givenchy. “The market will be super competitive and it’s going to be tough for a lot of brands, but I think creatively it’s going to be very interesting.” Plus, he adds, it’s vital. “Fashion is all about change.”
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