Backstage with Loïc Prigent: Documenting process from Gaultier to Chanel

Seen as the leading contemporary maker of behind-the-scenes documentaries about the world of fashion, French journalist Loïc Prigent has established a career from delving into the methods and processes involved in fabricating designer fashion. His popular television series Le Jour d’avant (The Day Before) (Prigent, 2009–10) mixes traditional information and observation with a more performative and selfreflexive mode with ironic nods to factual entertainment formats and reality television. This article unpacks Prigent’s documentary method underlining his sociological precision and particular interest in the creative process through analysis of his filmed portrait of Jean-Paul Gaultier at work recreating and contextualizing his most famous designs in front of the camera. The article concludes by critiquing Prigent’s possible collusion with the luxury mega-brands arguing that his work illustrates the precarious position of the documentarian working in global fashion in the twentyfirst century, torn between a journalistic ethic of information and the lucrative lure of covert promotion.