My big break: Dean & Dan Caten, Alexandre de Betak, Michel Gaubert recall their first jobs

At the very beginning of a career, the road ahead can potentially lead you in any direction. What tends to defines that direction is a combination of skill, will and sheer fortune – a factor that is often fated to lie in the hands of the people you work alongside, or who mentor you. Here a cross-section of fashion’s most professionally gifted individuals in their respective fields recount the first jobs, caring bosses, chance encounters or sheer accidents of luck that went on to prove formative in building their working identities.

DEAN & DAN CATEN

“At the age of 19, we set the course for our future, our vision and our lives with our first official work experience in fashion. It was a time that we look back on with respect and pride and something we keep close to our hearts. It was about 1985. That greatest first experience lasted for six years and we will genuinely cherish it for the rest of our lives. Prior to that, everything started at Parsons School of Design in New York City. We attended the school for a part-time course during the summer, and it was there that we befriended Miki Tanabe, the youngest of the six daughters of the Canadian manufacturer and owner of the Ports International brand, Luke Tanabe. We finished the course in New York and returned to Toronto. While working as waiters to pay the rent, for extra money we developed our first pieces for Sublime, a multi-brand store based in the trendiest shopping area of the city. The store happened to organise a fashion show for the brands it housed, and we took part in it. The review read: ‘Most applause were reserved for the Caten twin’s contribution to the show.’ Our friend Miki and her older sister Chris, who was the creative director of Ports International, saw the show and our potential and they said, ‘You should meet our dad.’ Mr Tanabe was so enthusiastic after our meeting. He liked us and that does not happen every day. He was looking for young energy to give a fresh twist to the brand. Two young but very motivated Canadian twins got the OK from the boss! On our first day he said to us: ‘If you bring me coffee that would be a help; if you turn the company upside down that would be a bigger help! Do what you can do!’ That was all we needed to hear, so we shifted into fifth gear and went for it! Mr Tanabe brought us to Hong Kong to design the new collection for two months, and he treated us with respect, guidance and kindness. He and his family of girls became our second family. We were the sons he had never had. It made us feel accepted as well as part of the team. He was our mentor, the most precise and rigorous gentleman. He taught us everything about the job. We designed womenswear, but he instilled in us other aspects of running an empire – marketing matters, sales and showroom dynamics. He was the perfect combination of business visionary, master craftsman and salesman extraordinaire. Additionally, while designing for the Ports brand we had the opportunity to work with great photographers such as Patrick Demarchelier, Chuck Baker and Sante D’Orazio, and supermodels like Gail Elliott, Yasmin Le Bon, Kim Williams, Yasmeen Ghauri, Kara Young and Ally Dunn. We loved it! We put so much energy and passion into that job and into the brand and we felt thrilled and grateful every day of those six years we were there. The brand was about clean shapes, purity and linear codes, and Mr Tanabe taught us the impor-tance of functionality, balance and proportion. We learned all of those elements from him, and still today we preserve those principles. He really was the first man to believe in us as designers and as people. He always pushed us to do better, to want the best for ourselves and in our work. It was a challenge every day and we did not want to disappoint him. He took the risk and gave us a reason. He trusted these two young kids from the street instead of listening to his CFO who told him to hire a real pro! Therefore, we needed to make him proud. Thank you Mr Tanabe and your family. It was such a pleasure meeting and working with you. It was the hardest but the most formative experience, and at the same time it was unforgettable and beautiful. We would not be the people we are today if it were not for you! We carry your torch! RIP.”

ALEXANDRE DE BETAK

Alexandre de Betak’s path to success began while working on his first job as a photographer. “To sign my first contract at 18, I sprayed my sideburns grey to try to look older, and I wore a vintage suit and tie,” reminisces de Betak. “I was very young, fresh out of school, and I met the fashion designer Sybilla in Madrid while I was starting to shoot reportage for the Spanish magazine Primera Línea.” This was the encounter that acted as a springboard into his profession as a show producer. After a few years of organising Sybilla’s shows, in 1990 de Betak founded his Bureau Betak agency in Paris and subsequently moved to New York. He has since become one of the most prolific fashion-show producers in business. In a career spanning more than 25 years, he has created almost 1,000 events, exhibitions and runway shows. His endeavours range from Miu Miu’s first-ever fashion show in 1995 in New York, to the most recent Jacquemus show for Spring/Summer 2020, which was set in the lavender fields of Provence.

Alexandre de Betak

MICHEL GAUBERT

Before he became one of the most sought-after sound directors in fashion, Michel Gaubert served his apprenticeship behind the decks at one of Paris’s most debauched nightclubs. “My first real job was as a DJ at Le Palace, a place where everyone was going at the time,” says Gaubert of a venue that was a revolving door of personalities from every cultural sphere. “For instance, I soundtracked the exhibition of Andrée Putman’s reissues for Ecart International that was shown there. Claude Montana and Kenzo were regulars. Loulou de la Falaise, the iconic Yves Saint Laurent muse, had her wedding party there. The staff of Le Palace were dressed by Thierry Mugler or Karl Lagerfeld and, in general, the whole fashion world would go there to party,” says Gaubert. It was at Le Palace that Gaubert refined his formula for the perfect aural alchemical interplay between music, fashion and drama. Gaubert would curate soundtracks for entire evenings at the Parisian club, adapting the sound effects to whatever was happening in the scene, “like for the stage arrival of a giant mermaid, the neon wall going up and down, or the space-ship landing in the middle of the dance floor”. Since those beginnings, his work has been commissioned by top maisons including Valentino and Dior. His longest-running collaboration started in the 1990s and was shared with Karl Lagerfeld.

Michel Gaubert

Read the full article in the October issue of L'Uomo, on newsstands from October 23rd.

Opening photo: Dean and Dan Caten, photo courtesy of DSquared.

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