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Creative Director Gauthier Borsarello: Brand over Trends

From Music to Fashion: A Passion-Driven Shift

Before bringing a fresh perspective to French menswear, Gauthier Borsarello was a professional musician with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. But alongside concerts, he was nurturing another passion: clothing, especially vintage.

From a young age, he spent his weekends at flea markets and evenings hunting for treasures online. This shaped his understanding of style and quality. “Vintage clothes taught me what makes a good pair of jeans, a good garment, a good vintage T-shirt,” he explained. Closely studying those pieces sharpened his eye, helped him develop his own aesthetic, and made him realize that music no longer fulfilled his creative drive.

The turning point came from a remark made by his partner at the time, who encouraged him to follow his true calling: One day, she said, "You don’t want to go to the orchestra anymore, you don’t enjoy touring or the lifestyle… But you get up at 5 a.m. every weekend to go thrifting, and you spend your evenings on eBay. Why not make it your career?"

This wake-up call pushed him to walk away from everything with no career plan, no industry connections and start over as a sales associate at Ralph Lauren. An unconventional path, but one led by a deep belief that creativity should always take precedence over purely commercial logic.

During his masterclass at IFA Paris, he encouraged students to listen to that inner voice. Following your passion, even when the path is unclear, is often what allows you to build a meaningful and lasting career.
 

Being a Creative Director: Why Brand Identity Matters

When he took over as creative director at Fursac, a long-standing French menswear brand, it was struggling to stay relevant. The pandemic had shifted consumer habits, and its officewear-driven identity was no longer viable. Gauthier Borsarello had to rethink everything.

His first move: define a strong brand identity to steer all creative decisions. His reference point? France during the post-war economic boom known as les Trente Glorieuses, a time of renewal, functional elegance, and understated precision. From that era, he imagined a character, a target customer, a distinct aesthetic. Any idea that didn’t align with that vision was ruled out, even if it could have been commercially successful.

To him, a strong brand rests on a clear direction and a single voice: “If everyone gets to decide, the coherence disappears.” He refuses to follow trends blindly: “If it’s not in the brand’s DNA, even if it sells, I won’t do it.”

A bold stance that can sometimes clash with market pressures focused on fast profits. Yet for him, building a strong brand takes time, consistency, and a long-term vision.

His personal journey proves it: it was during tough times that his most authentic creativity emerged. During the pandemic, jobless and living with his parents while raising two children, he launched a vintage clothing website. A difficult yet defining period: “Struggle is part of the creative process. It forces you to ask the right questions.”
 

A Different Way to Create: Advice for Future Designers

During the masterclass, Gauthier Borsarello shared several tips with IFA Paris students on how to nurture their creativity. He draws inspiration from observation, a mix of Tumblr images, pop culture, and everyday life. "Real inspiration comes from the street, public transport, and people not from the exclusive circles of luxury fashion. If you disconnect from reality, you risk losing touch with the end customer,” he warned.

He encouraged students to deepen their cultural awareness, learn what makes a good garment, old or new, and develop a strong sense of style. Sustainability is central to his approach. He urged students to buy less, buy better, and hold on to what they already own. “Ask yourself with every purchase: is this something you’ll wear for a long time? Wearing a fast fashion item for ten years may be more responsible than buying secondhand pieces you’ll never wear. The key is intention and consistency.”

He also cautioned against the illusion of inspiration through endless online images, which can lead to homogenized creation. “Someone recently told me: ‘If it’s on the Internet, it’s dead.’ It may sound extreme, but it reflects a truth: if an image is too easy to find, you’ll see it in ten collections within six months.”

"The real challenge, he insists, isn’t to follow a trend, but to interpret it in a personal, authentic way." Convinced that artificial intelligence will never replace human sensibility, Gauthier Borsarello believes in the future of more qualitative, thoughtful fashion.

His final message to students: be yourself and take risks. If you too want to forge your own path and learn to create differently, explore the programs at IFA Paris and find your place in the fashion industry.

His final message to students: be yourself and take risks. If you too want to forge your own path and learn to create differently, explore our Fashion Designing & Creativity programs or our Fashion Business & Marketing programs to craft your place in the fashion industry.