The World According to LDSS

• On names and identity
  The full name is a mouthful, even in French. LDSS exists so the world can say and recognize it easily while still honoring who he is.
  
  
• On an itinerant childhood
  Born in Brussels, raised in Abidjan, then dropped into Paris’s 16th where labels mattered. It was the shock that taught him how clothes define presentation and power.
  
  
• On finding fashion
  From sketching landscapes and Disney to sketching clothes in Paris. A mother who spotted the obsession early and sent him to draw, paint, and sew.
  
  
• On family and those legendary road trips
  Seven siblings across three marriages, languages braided together, summers packed into a car from Brussels to Portugal. A chaotic joy that shaped his sense of community.
  
  
• On travel as fuel
  Travel began as risk and escape and became a network. Work trips are less sightseeing than people finding. Inspiration now comes from the community he builds city to city.
  
  
• On launching the brand
  Leaving Balmain, making a first collection alone, putting a diary on the runway, and discovering a business on the fly when buyers immediately placed orders.
  
  
• On message and responsibility
  Autobiography became brand DNA. The work mirrors his story and holds up a mirror to queer life today, insisting on visibility without losing grace.
  
  
• On Mapplethorpe and making it personal
  A full circle collaboration treated like a six-month devotion, with hand work by Ludovic himself and the show in New York to honor the photographer’s city and spirit.
  
  
• On the designer as muse
  He steps in front of the camera when the story is intimate and the image needs his body to make sense. Be your own muse as liberation, not vanity.
  
  
• On what is contemporary now
  Visibility, audacity, community. Cultivating uniqueness with confidence and surrounding yourself with people who help you build the message.

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Notable Quotes: 

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• “If they try to say the full name, it is very brave of them and I salute them.”
  
  
• “That first day of school in Paris I realized how important fashion is and how presentation and what you wear represents who you are.”
  
  
• “There is so much power in choosing what you are going to wear in the morning. That can define your day or your year.”
  
  
• “I left Balmain and did the first collection mostly on my own, sewing from home. It was like an extract of my diary and I wondered if anyone would relate.”
  
  
• “Autobiography became a tool. The brand is my story but also a mirror to what society and my community are going through.”
  
  
• “With Mapplethorpe I asked what he would want to do today. I wanted the people from his pictures to come out of the frame and onto the runway.”
  
  
• “I never want to be vulgar or pornographic. If it is a beautiful image, it should be accepted.”
  
  
• “Every time we put me in the picture it has been spontaneous. Be your own muse and be who you are, not in a cocky way, but in a liberating way.”
  
  
• “I want to do a collection as if I am still in fashion school, but I am also responsible for a business and for people. That is the tension.”
  
  
• “Being contemporary now is being recognized for your uniqueness and cultivating it with audacity and strength, with a community around you that helps you build the message.”