Seventeen-year-old Charles Guislain fancies himself “the goth counterpoint to Tavi,” but he doesn’t even have a blog — or a high-school diploma (yet). What he does have is a keen sense of style, first discovered by cult journo Diane Pernet, and later adored by the fashion-loving masses on YouTube. And though he’s already been featured in Italian Vogue, he still makes time to read Rimbaud, Barthes, and Proust, the T blog reports. Like Tavi, Guislain is pretty humble about his newfound fashion fame: “There are too many rude people,” he says of the industry. “People forget that fashion can also be funny.” The kid’s awesomely world-weary, considering how at that age, we were more or less just thinking about how to snooker $20 out of our parents so we could eat at Houlihan’s.
“I’m not really into parties, to be honest,” Guislain says. He first fell in love with fashion at age 13, when he came across a pair of Dior Homme suspenders designed by his idol, Hedi Slimane. Now 17, he’s already toying with retirement from the show-hopping scene: “I need to escape European life. I am a little bored with this now.”
So is he a French Tavi, or more Chuck Bass? Check out his YouTube interview after the jump and decide for yourself.
