Hi, I'm Louise Chen, I'm a DJ, I'm 33 years old.
I've been living in this apartment since 2011 and in Paris for 15 years.
I was born and raised in Luxembourg, but neither of my parents is from there.
My mom is from Alsace and my dad is from Taiwan.
I have been an obsessive fan of music and pop culture since I could speak.
My living room is actually divided in two:
there's my workspace, the music space, which is more or less my office, my studio,
and there's the other part, which is actually the living space.
I fell in love with this sofa, Mario Bellini's Le Bambole,
a sofa designed in the ’70s
and whose primary inspiration was the butt of a woman in a pair of jeans.
I found it so sensual and sexy that it really blew my mind.
I love hosting people.
I love cooking for my friends.
What I like to hear from people when they come to my house
is that they feel comfortable and that it's cozy.
I think that's really the energy I wanted to convey.
I wanted it to feel like it's true to life.
I like having my knick-knacks around.
There's my alarm clock from when I was a kid,
lots of artifacts and memorabilia that tie me to my history and my journey.
This is my aunt's tape.
She was an actress and singer in Taiwan and it's the tape she recorded in Paris,
it's a love song.
Otherwise, I also collect VHS and E.T. stuff, because it's my favorite movie of all time.
This is a mug from Moscow.
The first time I went to Moscow was to mix
for the 20th anniversary of Vogue Russia with Chanel.
And this is my biggest guilty pleasure.
It's a banana split that never melts.
I came to Paris to study
and I did all kinds of internships and odd jobs in music
to eventually fall in love with a DJ who totally pushed me.
He said to me, "You absolutely have to do this".
So, since 2012, I'm a DJ.
I DJ in parties, clubs, festivals.
I'm also a big vinyl collector.
I buy at least 500 euros worth of music per month, between vinyls, MP3s, and even CDs.
That's where I spend all the money I earn.
I know that it'd be a hit in a club just by seeing the label.
See, that's when I really miss clubbing.
For example, this is a gospel re-release,
and since this is kind of the niche that I decided I was going to explore
and became a big fan of,
here, for example, I've got a whole shelf full of gospel music.
And here, it's the nostalgia part.
They're among the first records I've ever bought.
There's "SexyBack" from Justin Timberlake for example.
But there's also some stuff from that time, that is, the early 2000s.
There's Booba.
For me, it's my little nostalgic space,
it means it's before I was a DJ
and started playing in bars in Paris, where I used to play at the Café Chéri.
Right beside it, I also have the first turntable that I was offered,
which is a Fisher Price and it works.
You put in batteries and it works.
My father is Taiwanese and when we were apart,
he used to record tapes for my mother and myself.
It's on these tapes that I discovered the Rolling Stones,
Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, all the classics.
Through the music and the tapes, it was like he was here.
It was my connection.
I remember I went to see him in Taiwan the next summer, I think,
and he surprised me by buying me a ghetto blaster,
where there was a recorder, CD, tape, radio.
And this is how he taught me how to record tapes.
I actually think that's really where my music virus comes from.
I had found my inner world.
I think it was my way of connecting and expressing my emotions.
By mixing in fashion events, I completely fell in love with fashion.
I'm very fortunate because I had the privilege of mixing in unique events,
whether it was the opening of the Galeries Lafayette Champs-Élysées
or the Jacquemus fashion show last summer in a lavender field
on a pink background.
These are such memorable events.
Emotionally speaking, it's a bit like playing at a wedding.
Those moments moved me a lot.
I owe a lot to fashion and I love it.
When I'm DJing and mixing, for me it's almost like a game.
It's like a costume.
It's like a stage costume, like in theater.
So, I have a lot of fun dressing up,
wearing dresses, wearing feathers, wearing sequins,
festive outfits that make me feel like I'm playing a role
and contributing to the mood of the party.
Then, in my daily life, if I had to define my style,
it would be more like a tomboy, with jeans, t-shirts, grandpa's sweaters or hoodies.
I have a collection of band t-shirts dating back to '97,
to my very first concert, the No Doubt concert.
That's more like my everyday outfit.
My first festival was to go see this band,
The Mars Volta.
We took the car with some friends to go to Belgium to Pukkelpop 2003.
We broke down on the road,
and in the campsite, the first evening, we obviously were flooded in the tents,
in short, all the worst things, all the worst misfortunes
and the worst troubles happened to us.
But for me, it was obviously the best memory of all times.
I want to do this all the time.
So, this t-shirt brings back great memories.
Same thing, it was a whole era.
For my generation, the introduction of the Strokes was a real moment of pop culture.
And I love the American raglan sleeves.
It reminds me of my twenties, when I was a baby, 19-20 years old.
Often, when I post a picture on Instagram with just a t-shirt on it,
I get a lot of messages saying,
"I also was a huge fan of that group, I was a huge fan of the Strokes".
So, when we went into lockdown,
I started posting my t-shirt collection on Instagram almost daily, with anecdotes.
I would share a lot of my memories
or information I had about the music, the artists, the clips,
things that touched me,
and I would invite people to share their memories if they had any.
Pretty soon, there were a few people who came back regularly
and shared their memories as well.
It's like I found a micro-community during lockdown
with who I could talk about music and exchange stuff.
For example, at one point, I posted stuff about Marvin Gaye
because I got really obsessed with Marvin Gaye,
like I read his bio, etc.,
and as a result, somebody from Canada said to me,
"Wait a minute, did you read that book about Marvin Gaye?
It's another book. You should check it out too".
And he sent me a package with books,
and with the famous Marvin Gaye bio that he was telling me about on Instagram.
During lockdown,
I honestly thought it was quite wonderful to connect with strangers.
It brought so much joy to me
to be able to communicate with people I don't know,
all thanks to my t-shirt collection,
whereas I thought it was a serious niche thing that nobody would care about.
For me, it was a revelation to think that if I opened up,
if I agreed to reveal a little bit more about myself, my personal life,
my private life, my own memories,
I could create deep connections with people I don't know,
so that's nice.
That's why these t-shirts now have a different resonance.
It's almost like carrying a signal, a flag, an invitation to exchange and connect.