Tableaux Vivants celebrates its 10 year anniversary this year. The high fashion latex line started by Sonia Agostino in Brooklyn has become a worldwide success, worn by celebrities and fashionistas like Beyoncé, Madonna, and Kylie Jenner. Through her simple, bold designs with pops of color created entirely in latex, Agostino took a material associated with the fetish community, and elevated it to an artistic level.
Agostino creates all her designs and full collections from conception to finished garment as a one-woman powerhouse. Her runway shows in New York City and Los Angeles are multimedia extravaganzas — playful, sexy and rich with visual detail, often incorporating music, poetry, video, and a sense of fantasy.
View this post on Instagram
Cannabis is a driving force behind Agostino’s creativity and inspiration. As a regular smoker, Agostino says that cannabis helps her conceive and execute her ideas by allowing her mind to go to a place of whimsy and wonder.
We caught up with Agostino just as she had finished a custom order — making 10 latex eye patches for Madonna — to speak about how Tableaux Vivants got started, why latex speaks to her, how cannabis inspires her, and body positivity in the fashion world.
Q
Tell us about Tableaux Vivants and how you got started.
A
Tableaux Vivants has its 10 year anniversary this year. It’s crazy how fast it’s gone by, how much I’ve learned and what it’s meant to me doing this. It still means the same thing to me — a creative project where I was able to be a creative person, and nobody could tell me what to do. That I could just put out work as an artist in fashion, to do things I am satisfied with and make people happy.
Q
How does latex as a material speak to you?
A
It spoke to me from my first job working with latex, before Tableaux Vivants. Back in the late 1990s, I had a job working for a woman called the Baroness. She’s a latex designer and very much involved in the fetish world, which I am not at all — though I appreciate it and have a fascination for it, it’s not my thing. Being a person who likes making clothes, I took the job with her, and next thing you know I’m working with a material I had never worked with before, and I loved it. It was an instant love. I really got to know it really well, because that was all the Baroness used. I got my hands dirty learning the ins and outs of latex. So I went forward working with latex, and it really worked out. I guess being a big fish in a small pond — there’s not a lot of latex designers in the United States. I became known for taking a material that was mainly used in the fetish world and using it in a way that was more high fashion. Something like a normal vintage cut dress that I would find and put into latex made it really elevated.
Q
What are your fashion, art and visual influences?
A
My aesthetic leans a bit a vintage, 60s vibe, but not in a cartoony way. It’s a bit more subdued. I love rock ‘n’ roll and Heavy Metal Magazine — I love those illustrations, and fantasy artists like Boris Vallejo. Those girls are so hot in those sci-fi images, and I want to make that a reality. There’s that fantasy vibe to it, but as more basic, structured pieces. That allows me to fill a whole collection that goes together
Q
How does cannabis inspire you, and how do you integrate smoking with your work?
A
It was funny, one time a stylist had come over to pull pieces, and it was his first time in my studio. He was looking around and asked me, “What inspires you?” and I said, “Weed.” [Laughs]. We both started laughing, but it’s true. Some of the best ideas come from hanging out with friends, smoking and talking or listening to music and letting my brain go where it takes me. Ideas come to mind, and then I’ll sketch and create.
Q
What advice would you give to people who want to try mixing creativity with cannabis?
A
It’s really to each their own. It can be very different from one person to the next. I don’t know if [cannabis] necessarily could make someone more creative. But judging from who I am and the people I hang out with, whether they are fashion designers, artists, musicians or writers, a lot of times the best ideas come from hanging out, smoking weed and talking. That communal conversation really sparks ideas. If you don’t smoke, you don’t smoke. There’s nothing that will stop you from being a creative person. But I’ve found for me, it helps me come up with ideas that maybe otherwise I wouldn’t have.
Q
You’ve done a lot of work in New York and LA. Do you see a difference in the fashion?
A
Both coasts have their specialty. People say in New York everyone likes to wear black, which is not necessarily true. I have seen more colorful things coming out of the West Coast. It all comes from what you’re observing from day to day, it reflects your atmosphere.
Q
What do you think about the stigma surrounding cannabis?
A
In the longest time, I haven’t thought I had to hide it or be careful. Culturally, I don’t know, I’ve always considered it accessible and easy. When I’ve gone to LA, smoking with my California friends has been just as much of a pleasure as in New York. I see more blunts happening on the East Coast, but maybe that’s just the company I keep. I don’t feel any stigma around it.
Q
What do you think about the stigma surrounding cannabis?
A
In the longest time, I haven’t thought I had to hide it or be careful. Culturally, I don’t know, I’ve always considered it accessible and easy. When I’ve gone to LA, smoking with my California friends has been just as much of a pleasure as in New York. I see more blunts happening on the East Coast, but maybe that’s just the company I keep. I don’t feel any stigma around it.
Q
You do a lot of work for celebrities. You just finished making latex eye patches for Madonna.
A
Q
Do you have any funny, quirky stories of working with celebs?
A
A lot of the time, I’m working with their stylists, so it’s not like I’m hanging out with them. Working with Beyoncé, I thought she was really awesome, we didn’t smoke weed together or anything [laughs], she was just lovely to work with. I’ve was called in on an emergency for the VMAs and I remember sitting there with under an hour to make somebody look great, thinking, holy shit if I mess this up I will destroy everything. That will definitely put some sweat on your brow. But it’s always worked out. I consider myself a professional. When it’s time to crunch and do it, I get the job done. I always want to make sure I do the best work possible, whether it’s a celebrity, or someone who wants to hang out and look beautiful with their friends.
Q
You’re a professional working at a high level in your field. A lot of people would be surprised that someone working at the top of their game is also using cannabis.
A
I think it would be sad to judge somebody — that if they smoke pot they might be a derelict. That’s a real old-school, outdated thought. That’s obviously not the case. I’m a very successful woman, I am a professional, and I smoke weed. I don’t see anything wrong with it. People drink — and personally, I think that’s way worse if you’re going to consider something a vice.
Q
For sure.
A
Q
We’ve talked about not judging. Sometimes fashion can treat women as objects. How do you do the opposite as a woman working in fashion?
A
The name Tableaux Vivants means living pictures, so it does objectify a little I suppose, because you want to look beautiful. You’re not walking into a room in latex and thinking people won’t see you. That being said, I cater to the needs of fit. Fitting is a priority, whether you’re a size 18 or a size 2. It’s my job to make sure you’re satisfied with how you look in your garment. I come at it from the point of view of: how is this person going to look their best in the type of look they want? You can’t just create a bikini for a size 2 and expect a size 18 to look the same. You have to change the lines around. I’ve gotten to work with a ton of different types of bodies, and always heard great things. It’s all about being comfortable. When you’re comfortable, you are at your sexiest.
All Images courtesy of Tableaux Vivants | CC BY
