Le Sang des Betes: Bloody Beautiful
Like a mystic seeing heavenly visions, Trang Chau saw the human form in the vaulted ceilings of gothic cathedrals. Using just a compass and pad of paper, she began drawing arcs and circles, and soon the pattern for her “Catacomb Dress” was born.
An emphasis on line characterizes the work of Chau, a 29-year-old designer based in Los Angeles’ Hollywood neighborhood who holds a BFA in sculpture from the Otis College of Art + Design. Chau launched the line Le Sang des Betes (meaning “the blood of the beasts”) for 2008. The name comes from a 1949 film by French director Georges Franju. Chau was born in Vietnam, where her parents spoke French.
Le Sang des Betes’ debut collection is called Aborigine. “It literally means going back to the origins, or ’aborigine’ of design by using the sphere, arc and circle,” she said. “I was also inspired by the vaulted ceilings of Gothic cathedrals and by creating a contemporary interpretation of them through garment construction.”
The debut collection consists of 16 items ranging in price from $80 for a vest to $500 for a jacket and is currently for sale through Chau’s Web site (www.lesangdesbestes.com).
Chau makes the clothing herself, along with a couple of assistants. She calls herself a control freak who would have a hard time outsourcing and a fastidious sewer. “Every stitch has to be just right,” she said.
Chau considers her design aesthetic avant-garde and admires Belgian designers such as Raf Simons and Dries Van Noten and the tailoring techniques of menswear.
Chau has experimented with plastic and silicon in some of her designs. Her collection, however, is made entirely from wool, cotton jersey and denim sourced in the Los Angeles Fashion District.
For example, the “Cathedral Coat” comes in white denim. “I made it specifically so you can dress it up or down,” Chau said. “You can unzip it and use a belt and it becomes a dress, or you can wear it as a jacket in spring, because it breathes, or in winter and it will still keep you warm.”
Wholesale prices are $30 to $60 for vests and tops, $75 for pants and $80 to $160 for dresses and jackets.
Chau formerly worked for the design collective We Are Lucid Dreaming. She was originally a fashion student at Otis but changed to sculpture after finding that apparel courses put too much emphasis on practical market skills. “They’ve definitely set up the program so you can get a job in the industry,” Chau said, “but I didn’t feel free to do whatever I wanted. I felt like I couldn’t be creative enough. There was a restraint to make things commercially.”
Now that she’s in business, however, Chau sees the virtues of market success—and longs for it. “I want to have a successful brand,” she said, “but I want to merge the two things I really love: clothing and art.”
For more information, call (213) 840-1956.—Christian M. Chensvold
