PATRIK SANDBERG How did the idea for Pâté arise?
FATIMA AL QADIRI The first time I met Lauren I was leafing through her library of magazines and texts and it was too overwhelming. I wanted to show her what I had (which was pitiful in comparison to her mega archive) so I pulled some Kuwaiti magazines and showed her some of my photos. She coined the title.
LAUREN BOYLE Pâté pays homage to The Better Class by Alice Columbo. “They all agreed the pâté was excellent” was a quote from The Better Class. I was obsessed with this novel at the time we met. Published in New York in 1980, The Better Class explores the relationship between revolutionary politics and revolutionary couture. Quotes like “Terrorism is like accessories. It should not be understated.” inspired us.
PS How does pâté the cuisine relate to Pâté’s content?
FAQ Pâté is a murky meat, the origins of which are dubious. It’s really rich and fatty—just like Kuwait.
LB Pâté is expensive and elitist. It’s also a classic Western delicacy, not Arab.
FAQ It’s from all parts of the animal but you can’t make out which parts, that’s what’s so fascinating. You’re hit with a finished design or image and its inception is not easily decipherable. It is impossible to thoroughly document a nation’s style. With Pâté we wanted to encapsulate Kuwaiti taste: a thin slice of pâté!
PS Are you making a political statement by highlighting Kuwaiti taste in this context?
LB It’s hard to separate politics and fashion. Just think about Qaddafi’s incredible picture-frame brooch in relation to his dictatorship and the world makes more sense. I think Pâté does a good job presenting the relationship between style/culture/religion/politics without drawing any conclusions. It’s not too heavy on one thing which is nice. But there is a forced dichotomy presented between images and text. We paired the most unapologetic and self-assured text from Western writers with images of Kuwaiti culture. For example: “The feeling of being in harmony with fashion gives man a measure of security religion can never give him.” That is a quote from René Konig in A la Mode: On the Social Psychology of Fashion.
