The brand also hired all-American modern grunge goddess Erin Wasson to star in its Spring 2011 campaign and design a capsule Fall collection. Since then, the label’s Stateside cachet has skyrocketed: two more New York stores popped up (with big plans for other US cities). In 2009, Zadig and Voltaire finally made its intrepid journey across the Atlantic, settling into Manhattan’s Meatpacking District-a neighborhood milestone Cintra Wilson christened as the arrival of a new era of downtown dressing. The brand’s Sloane Street location in London magnetizes boldfaced names-including Mark Ronson, who starred in a recent ad campaign with girlfriend Joséphine de la Baume, hot on the heels of Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl’s striking ads. Soon, Zadig and Voltaire’s pursuit of sexy, sonically-inclined youth spread to the UK and beyond. Urbane young Parisians gravitated towards the brand’s upscale version of the grittier styles that flourished in the aftershocks of grunge. Looking like you just walked offstage might seem as easy as bedhead, but the French label Zadig and Voltaire pull off the quintessential rock aesthetic with an unparalled, sophisticated panache.įounded by designer Thierry Giller (whose father founded Lacoste), the label first opened its doors to Paris’ Marais district in 1997 and earned an instant crowd. For millennials, a generation raised by MTV and their own (guitar) heroes, life can seem like a lot like an extended performance.