Portable Fashion Festival – Yoann Lemoine: A True Polymath

Yoann Lemoine is a veritable modern-day Midas (figuratively, of course).

Everyone’s got that friend. The friend who’s not only good at everything he puts his hand to, yet is also so fun and nice that one can’t ever have a hostile feeling towards them. (Is there such a thing as affectionate envy?) I can only imagine that being friends with Yoann Lemoine is somewhat like that. Who wouldn’t want to be in his entourage?

The 26 year old Frenchman is an award winning director of music videos for Moby, Yelle, CSS and Richie Havens. He’s working with Italian Vogue. His animations are absolutely exquisite. His photos are beautiful. To top it all off, he sings, and has an album in the works under the name of Woodkid.

We’re featuring his clip for Yelle (‘Ce Jeu’) this week as part of the Portable Fashion Festival:

Having studied illustration, it’s no surprise to learn that he’s also provided magazines and childrens books with illustrations on both sides of the Atlantic. After a few very impressive animated commercial and musical endeavours, Lemoine soon turned his hand to the world of live action, and probably surprised no one when the big clients, and then the awards, began to pour in. And he’s not even 30 yet!

Calling himself a “do-it-yourself-er”, Lemoine splits his time between Paris and New York, working as a director in media such as “video, 8 to 35mm film, 2D and 3D animation, stop motion, photography, illustration, painting, screen printing, sculpture, collage, knitting, holograms, and more.

“I could say my creations are related to subjects such as childhood, absence, nostalgia, sexuality, fashion, symbolism, and of course that patchwork, that collision between different worlds and techniques, which is what I’m made from, I guess.
My work has always been very related to music too, first of all because I grew up learning to play instruments, but also because my images are mainly inspired by songs and melodies that move me. This is why collaborating with other artists such as musicians is for me the most fulfilling way of working.”

We’re featuring his gorgeous and infectious video for French electro-pop songstress Yelle’s Ce Jeu, as part of our Fashion Festival today. With designs by Jean Paul Lespagnard, it was without a doubt one of the first emails sent off by us.

Before checking that out however, here’s an award-winning animation by Lemoine for Tiji TV. To anyone who’s ever watched and wondered as a balloon flew off into the heavens, you’ll enjoy this:

Tiji – Le ballon
Uploaded by Materialiste. – Arts and animation videos.

For more of Yoann’s work, check out his website: http://www.yoannlemoine.com/film.html as well as his myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/yoannlemoine