By Ruby Zlotkowski
Creator of Rat des Champs, Alix Davidson, invited me into her double shotgun home here in New Orleans. We discussed nostalgic fabulism, authenticity, and sustainability in fabric production and in the immaterial; romanticizing simple pleasures through a ‘less is more’ mindset. We also shared in our desire to wear vintage nightgowns day in and day out.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
RZ: Thank you for having me. Will you tell me a little bit about your background and when you began creating?
AD: I went to art school, which was probably my most pivotal point as a creative person. That’s where I learned to collaborate with other people and incorporate different materials and elements into the creative process. I was a fine art major, so that gave me some freedom to experiment with all different elements of creativity. It wasn’t just painting and sculpture; we did performance and all different kinds of things… My whole perspective on creativity was kind of rooted in my experience in New York as a young adult… Everybody had a very multidisciplinary kind of process…We were taping and gluing and cutting and tying. There wasn’t any actual sewing going on, which is interesting, but we used duct tape. We used what we had available. Very rough around the edges… I stayed in New York for a little while after school, [then] I moved to Dallas and my friends and I started an upcycling group. This was before the term “slow fashion” even existed or people were even talking about sustainability, really… Our lifestyle was thrifting and antique stuff. Nothing was new. We never would even have thought about a lifestyle that incorporated new things because we couldn’t afford them… I had to move back to Shreveport to have help raising Rowan and that’s where I was for twenty years… During that time, probably about the time when Rowan was five or sixish, I started seriously sewing again. I started making clothing from scratch from vintage sewing patterns and vintage fabrics and I just got obsessed with all of that stuff, and I just got really passionate about clothing construction and loved the whole process of making things myself. And so that’s really when I started to learn about dressmaking and all of those intricate details and taught myself how to do it from there… Making things yourself is an important thing and it’s a skill that could be really necessary for people at any point. We could all be in a situation [where] we need to know how to do these things, but also just to know the value and work that goes into making clothes, because there really isn’t a magic machine that does this. It’s done by people.
RZ: How is using hemp and organic cotton different from polyester and acrylic in their production and the experience of wearing them? Why is it important?
AD: Materials are a complicated and complex issue in sustainability, because obviously if you’re using anything new, it’s not sustainable, it’s wasteful in some way. So there’s that issue. If you’re using any virgin materials, it’s not the best thing for the environment. But at the same time, it’s an industry that employs a lot of people. You don’t want to think about things in a vacuum. As far as when you start to choose sustainable virgin materials, natural fibers are definitely better than using anything that’s produced through the refinement of oil and anything chemical. Those things are really bad for the environment. Not on even just an end of [inaudible] scale, but the production process is very polluting and it’s harmful to people’s health… Regular cotton is not great; It’s very water intensive [and] the refinement processes are not always [great]. Ethical farms can use pesticides, so it could still be covered in chemicals. Organic cotton in particular is better. They don’t use chemical pesticides and things and water usage is usually limited, although it’s not as good as, say, fabric like hemp. Hemp requires much less water and it’s naturally deterrent to pests. It repels a lot of the pests naturally, so it doesn’t require chemical treatment, which is good. Not to say that there are some places that don’t use chemicals, so you do have to be careful no matter what. And it’s hard. A lot of what’s available and affordable to small businesses is also a problem. A lot of my fabric is from China, but it’s not as hard now to find more sustainable options made in China because they’ve had to adapt to the demand for it, which is good. They’re just much better at making, especially woven, fabrics now. For the past 30 years, [they’ve] been building their manufacturing systems while we’ve been relying on them and not building ours. So there’s really no fair competition. If China wants to do something, they can do it a lot faster and for less costs than anybody in the United States. They’re just so far ahead of us in manufacturing, which makes another complex issue that we could talk about… You have to know where your stuff is coming from as much as possible. It’s not easy, especially for small businesses, to find out all the information, but I work with suppliers. I don’t purchase directly from mills because I’m not purchasing that much fabric right now, so most of what I purchase is in stock with my suppliers and they have gotten all of their certifications and information from the mills… As imperfect as it is, the fact is that most, especially larger luxury and fast fashion, don’t even try. And so here we are. It’s a lot of work and it’s costly to do, but if you’re doing it, there’s something to be said for that. Interestingly enough, it costs you more if you wanted to, say, buy a bunch of vintage fabric and send it to a manufacturer. The cost of doing that is a lot more too. I started off the business wanting to do that and trying to work with manufacturers. [I’d] send them my vintage fabric to make things. I have yet to find somebody who will do that for a price that is not going to make it a luxury item. I would love to be able to set up my own production. I tried to do that, but it’s really hard to find people with the skills to create. It’s just to create to cover all of the size ranges and all of the details and do it in a way that would be affordable. It’s very hard to set up that kind of a production. But it can be done and that’s one thing I would love to one day be able to do is just a small in-house production for certain things.
RZ: Yeah, that would be so cool. Rat des Champs has a lot of layers, so I’d love to get into that a little bit. Could you paraphrase The Town Mouse and The Country Mouse fable and [explain] why you named the brand after it?
AD: I wanted [the brand] to have a very childlike, love of life imagination, and that feeling of childlike whim and exploration, and so I knew that the essence of my brand was something in my core from my childhood that I loved, [such as] the little ditzy florals that remind me of a time that was good and joyful. And so that was really the essence of everything that I was putting into the brand. I really wanted the name of the brand to have the essence of childhood in it. That’s why I started looking into fables and children’s stories. I had a small child at the time when I started. That might have affected it. But I think I’ve always been very into children’s books and fables and stories and fairy tales, even as an adult. I think artistic type people tend to live in a fantasy world and never fully grow up. I think maybe that is a goal that we have, to not lose that, because in order to be creative, you have to be free, and what’s more free than the mind of a child? You’re always trying to find that core. Then I started thinking, are there any fables that relate to slow fashion or sustainability?… So, The Townmouse [Fable]: The city mouse invites his little country cousin to come for a visit so he can show him all the fancy stuff and have this really luxurious experience. When they’re running around they get stalked by a city cat and that cat tries to get [eat] them while they’re having this luxurious meal and the country mouse is like, ‘I don’t need this. I would rather be in my little country house, [in] my safety, even if I’m just eating little beans.’ I like that. I want that. I want that peace of mind, and that story just simplifies and encapsulates [that] sometimes less is better, but also, more comfortable.
RZ: Absolutely. You want that peace of mind– will you elaborate on that?
AD: The world we live in [is] fast paced. We don’t really have the time to stop and think about our consumption and the things that go into making what we’re buying and the dangers that are created by our lifestyles, whether it’s environmental or working conditions. But it’s also down to you knowing what a seam looks like on the inside of your clothes and knowing how to fix a button and knowing how to hem your own pants, or things like that. [Being] secure in your own ability to care for your garments and yourself and also just appreciate and see things as a whole– not fleeting, not disposable.
RZ: Well said. How do your designs emulate nostalgic fabulism? What does that mean to you?
AD: I feel like in so many ways, it’s dress up. It all goes back to wanting to create your own story, wanting to live in another story, wanting to pretend and wanting to imagine what you could be and where you could be, whatever that would be; whether it’s a maiden frolicking in a field or it’s a dancer in a club. I think people have all different kinds of things that they want to experience in their lives at different stages or on different days even. So, I want to offer clothes that people can play with, that aren’t too serious, that are more about setting a stage [that] you can create your story with. It has an element of fantasy, and all of my fantasies are like fairy tales or fables. If I imagined who would be wearing Rat des Champs, it would be an anthropomorphic little mouse woman. That is my imagination. I want to live in a world where my neighbor is a little mouse, you know?
RZ: Yes! In terms of your personal style, what story are you telling these days? Is it the same one that you’re expressing through Rat des Champs or is it a different one?
AD: Well, according to Rowan, my son, it would be Rosemary’s Baby, the way I dress around the house. It’s like a little nightgown… my little lacey ruffley nighty. I’m in my Rosemary’s Baby era. She wears these little robes and nightgowns because she’s sick and at home all the time… So I think pajamas are definitely an aesthetic. Anything with eyelets and a little floral stripe.
RZ: Yes! I’ve acquired a bit of a vintage nightgown collection and it makes my nights magical.
AD: It does. It really makes the difference… I would love to be making [nightgowns], which are on the list of things that I want to produce with Rat des Champs. Little housecoats and things like that are good for when people come over, but still as comfortable as when you got up.
RZ: Oh my gosh, there’s a Rat des Champs nightgown in the future?
AD: There’s definitely a Rat des Champs nightgown. I’ve actually created all of the sketches for those already. If we could be in this world all day every day, I would. I don’t have all of the sizing for myself to even live a one hundred percent Rat des Champs life, but it’s coming. That is the goal. If I could spend every moment and every situation in something that has that vibe to it, I would. I feel like we would all be a lot happier if we had choices that we could make that really reflected our innermost imaginative worlds. If we could live in that state like it’s not dress up, it’s our actual life, that would be so centering.
RZ: Absolutely. The time and energy and that type of freedom is a privilege.
AD: It is a privilege… I would like to eventually have the elements of that in my business so that I could provide as much and as close to that lifestyle to myself and everybody else that might want to participate in it as possible. And I think that it’s just aligning your desire with your reality. It’s not one hundred percent possible for any of us, but yeah, that would be my goal.
RZ: Some of your garments feature gingham and denim. What story is being told through this choice or what cultural or personal associations do you have with them?
AD: I think those materials just remind me of that country mouse aesthetic that I started with. Eyelets, trims, whether they’re chunky trims or delicate trims, I think anything that has that connotation to it that reminds me of this little country mouse character. That’s what I’m drawn to.
RZ: So, we’re talking a lot about childhood and nostalgia. How would you describe the aesthetics of your childhood? What did your childhood look like?
AD: My early childhood home was in an older neighborhood and was built in the twenties. We had a lot of Laura Ashley, a lot of Ralph Lauren, country aesthetics, Julia Child cookbooks. My mom was just kind of like that. I’m probably one hundred percent my mom plus fifty percent me adding on my own crazy spinoff to it. It’s really how I was raised.
RZ: What is your favorite phase or moment of the creative process?
AD: My favorite thing is definitely the fabrics and the design process. I just really like the buttons, the trims, and the artwork. I would say that all of that coming together for me is the most exciting thing. I love imagining this world. This is the world that I’m trying to create, that I want to live in, and so building that from all of the inspiration I have is the most fun part. And then it quickly becomes unfun.
RZ: What part of the creative process do you find frustrating or get stuck in?
AD: I think that wherever my ability starts to require me to work with people that are technical is where I start to immediately feel drained. As much as I love sewing and wish that I could do that one hundred percent of the time, because I am not able to produce here myself means that I have to work with manufacturers and other people and some of them are really creative and interesting, but the whole process of doing it as a business means I have to be the eyes and the ears and the person that makes sure that things are working correctly. I don’t really enjoy being that person, and I don’t really enjoy being a boss to be honest with you.
RZ: How do you re-energize?
AD: I’m not really good at that right now. I really do need to reset… It’s really difficult to be a one-person business. So I honestly don’t have the full answer to that, but I do know that I drink a lot of hot tea. That is like the thing that really calms me and centers me…
RZ: Me too! I think you can relate [that being] in a vintage nightgown with a cup of hot tea is peace.
AD: Yeah. If I ever have an aesthetic moment, that’s very pleasing to me. So I try to live in an environment where I can look up and see something that makes me happy. It’s really important to me to surround myself [with] things that are old and things that have stories. If I’m stressed, I can zone into something in my environment that brings me happiness. Those things are really important to me. I love listening to jazz on the radio on my old speaker that crackles. Things like that. I’m a homebody, so pretty much everything that I enjoy doing revolves around my house: cooking, listening to the stereo, watching one of my favorite shows, whatever that may be at the time. Things that are very comforting to me are usually in my house. I don’t like to really get out into the world…
RZ: Why is authenticity important?
AD: There’s something to be said about someone’s perspective and what drives them, and one thing that has always driven me is being authentic and telling the truth and not trying to hide behind somebody else’s story. Accept yourself [and] love your story because you’re unique. It’s kind of cathartic to try and accept yourself and not care about what other people think, because you’re never going to be the most interesting. You’re never going to be the smartest, the coolest, but like all of the little things that make you you are different. I feel like it’s an ongoing conversation that everybody has with themselves: Who am I? How do I fit into the world and what is my story and how am I going to tell it? How am I going to present it? How is that presentation going to be the truth and how do I stay on the truthful path? I think we all have aspirations and we want to be at a place where we’re not quite there, and I think that there’s a push and pull between those things and it’s really interesting to find a way to authentically be in that push and pull. Trying to keep yourself centered and aware in your fantasy, in your hopefulness, in your drive to change– that’s what authenticity means to me. It also comes down to working with people and giving people credit for the influence that they have over you, because I work with a lot of other creative people and it’s a collaborative venture. So, I think coming from a place of the importance of being yourself really helps you to be a collaborative person… People give a lot of creative energy back to me. I hope as the business grows that those things will bloom and keep growing. I just get so much from those partnerships and working with other creative people, and I don’t think you can create a symbiotic relationship with another creative person unless you are aware, authentic, and know what that person is giving to you.
RZ: Thank you so much! I really enjoyed this.
AD: Me too! It was great.
All photography by Kayla Mendiola
