Paul Boudens, graphic designer and actor for " The Man With The Suitcase "

            

   Self-portrait by Paul

“The first time they asked me, I said NO, NO, NO!” Paul Boudens says, laughing, referring to his role in the COMING SOON film “The Man with the Suitcase”. Indeed, he was supposed to participate only as the graphic designer for the poster and the top and tails, “and then, suddenly, I was the butler…No, no!”. Paul is shy. However…He had this idea of a Bob Dylan inspired top and tails, and accepted the role to be the one who turns the pages at the end of the video; then, he became the butler in the film, to announce his presence on the tails. He took the role very serious, and at the end of the shooting, he eventually thought it was “quite a good experience”.

His story with Yohji Yamamoto began in 2003. That year he had designed the catalogue for an exhibition at the Fashion Museum of Antwerp which drew the attention at Yohji: he was asked to design a Yohji Yamamoto postcard, the first step in a collaboration that has continued. Maybe because it began with a sign: the same year, 2003, he was publishing a monographic book of his work with a linen cover absorbing the red ink of the text, reminiscent of the Winter 2003 Y’s fashion show that Yohji Yamamoto was doing at the same time in Paris.

Five years later, apart from several graphic projects that he is still doing for Yohji, he has created the COMING SOON poster for “The Man with the Suitcase”, that he wanted to embody “Antwerp”: the inspiration for the black aged letters were the worn signage painted on harbor buildings in Antwerp; for the top and tails, he chose handwriting because he is “sort of in transition; since the New Year Eve, I am back to craftsmanship, the hand-made, and using less of the computer”, he says laughing.

Paul has been a graphic designer for 17 years now. He studied in a graphic academy in Antwerp before working for Walter Van Beirendonck, Dries Van Noten, Haider Ackerman and many others. Paul Boudens is definitely part of the Antwerp fashion world: he works for the most important Belgian fashion designers and he talks about fashion with passion, saying for example that he does not like logos, “except these four small seams on the back of sweaters, so Antwerp !”. He loved wearing COMING SOON as the butler in the film, a brand that he describes as “apparently classic but always with a little twist”. But he does not want to be contained by the boundaries of the fashion world. He explains smartly that he needs diversity –fashion, culture, dance: apart from fashion shows invitations etc, he designs programs and graphic work for a theater in Brussels, the Museum of Photography of Antwerp, and he also designs children books!

Paul’s description of COMING SOON could perfectly suit him as well: classical at first sight, but definitely with a little twist.