Portrait“Series outfits” (3/6). Pierre Canitrot plunged with delight into the vintage wardrobe of the 1970s for this humorous Canal + series. He nevertheless took care not to disguise his heroes.
At La Compagnie du Costume, a rental company from Saint-Ouen with whom Pierre Canitrot has made an appointment, a huge hangar collects, on hangers, all kinds of clothes that you often have to go find, perched on a stepladder and armed with ‘the patience of a saint. Impeccably listed, the accessories are locked in labeled boxes. The chronological classification, from the end of the XIXe century at the end of the XXe century, allows you to navigate.
For UFO (s), a Canal + series for which he designed the costumes, Pierre Canitrot headed for the 1970s: this doubly tasty decade is both that of intrigue – the peregrinations of an engineer appointed to head Gépan (Groupe d study of unidentified aerospace phenomena), in France in 1978 – and that of its birth.
“We do not make more custard tart than the 1970s, which we immediately associate with pie server collars, garish orange, sprinkles, paws of eph ‘”, comments on the costume designer, white hair and large glasses. His mission ? Build a credible and pop locker room, without falling into caricature, all over twelve episodes of thirty minutes each, for the first season. “I said yes straight away. ”
Reluctant actors
Professional for twenty years, the self-taught Pierre Canitrot has mastered his business. He carefully builds moodboards, on which he likes to pin paintings by David Hockney or Francis Bacon. He also learned to keep his budget; not to forget anything in the outfit of a character, “From the alliance to the underpants if necessary” ; to plan “Plans B” in the event of a rain or dirt scene; to have on hand various sizes. “Once on the set, this is no longer the time to notice that an extra is wearing a size 38 and that we only have a size 40 available.”
Alain Delon, Steve McQueen, Yves Montand, Robert Redford… “Their looks helped me to precisely define the lines of the two-piece suits. »Pierre Canitrot
Over time, he also learned to maneuver better, with a lot of psychology, the actors reluctant to try a particular jacket or who think they know in advance that a pair of pants (which they have never put on ) will not suit them. “When something goes wrong, it is often on the costume that the problem will crystallize, he remarks. If tight pants, a itchy collar or a dress displease, they become a source of tension. ”
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