Most fashion shows feature run-of-the-mill dance or classical music. But imagine if the soundtrack was “sonic couture?”

French record producer Damien Quintard is a proponent of the latter, using his platform, skills and connections as cofounder of Miraval Studios to further tighten ties between music and fashion, bringing more zest, surprise and emotion to the runway — and beyond.

Recent examples include a brooding Bfrnd remix of Britney Spears’ “Gimme More” that was broadcast at Balenciaga’s spring 2025 show, and the sweeping, orchestral rendition of Lauryn Hill’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” that premiered at Balenciaga’s spring 2026 show, the debut effort of Italian designer Pierpaolo Piccioli.

Quintard credits Balenciaga’s longtime creative director Demna, who recently moved over to Gucci, and his musician husband Loïck Gomez, aka Bfrnd, for pioneering new sonic possibilities, calling the latter “quite the genius.…He taught me a lot about this fashionable world and the musical aspect of it, too.”

With his tousled hair, boyish charm and irrepressible enthusiasm, Quintard has also lent his formidable talents to Rabanne, masterminding a remix challenge that crowned up-and-coming singer-songwriter Wallette Watson the victor, and dusting off the founding designer’s Afro-disco and funk catalogue from the ’80s.

The Spanish-born couturier, who catapulted to fame in 1966 with his “12 unwearable dresses” in plastic and metal, is touted as the first designer to integrate music into his fashion shows. Before, they were conducted in silence. 

“So if you think about it, it’s only been 60 years since this love dance started,” Quintard marvels. “And I think now we’re getting into round two. Whereas before music and fashion were very separate…now we’re going into a more hybrid world where music is linked to fashion directly.”

A giant case in point came two years ago when Louis Vuitton appointed musician and record producer Pharrell Williams as creative director of its menswear division.

“It’s a radical shift, and it’s an interesting shift to watch,” Quintard says in an interview at his office atop the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris with its groovy low-slung white couches and slamming analog stereo system. “I think it would be great to push it even more as to how the collection can be linked to the music and vice versa, and I think that’s what we’re trying to do with our project.”

While most fashion houses conscript specialist DJs to curate their fashion-show soundtracks, Quintard advocates for more unique, unexpected sonic experiences.

“We need people to push for new designs, new ideas, new songs, new compositions,” he says. “I love when people have crazy ideas, and they actually do them. It’s so fun, I think we need more.”

To create the soundtrack for Balenciaga’s fall 2024 display in Los Angeles, Gomez tasked Miraval with creating more than 50 “fictional ads for non-existent companies and record them with professional voice actors to create material to integrate into the music.” Mission accomplished.

“Damien is a hard worker with a deep sensitivity,” Gomez says. “He perfectly knows how to tune in with the artist to make their wish come to fruition as it is in their mind. He is a go-getter. For him, no isn’t an answer.”

Originally founded at the Château de Miraval in 1977 by French composer Jacques Loussier, Miraval Studios famously welcomed such recording artists as Pink Floyd, The Cure, Sade, Sting and Elton John before going silent in 2005.

It was brought back to life in 2022 by Quintard in partnership with Brad Pitt, owner of the estate in the south of France, which produces a scrumptious rosé wine. A mechanical engineer by training, Quintard designed the new spaceship-like, sun-drenched studio with a dramatic control console constructed by a boatbuilder.

While Travis Scott, Kendrick Lamar, Justin Bieber and Nick Cave have already recorded new material there, Miraval’s remit is much wider as a creative agency, consultancy and production house. That means collaborating with fashion brands and major events like the Olympics, or hosting filmmakers or other creative types at the domain for specific projects.

“We’re both active into trying to make this a successful adventure,” Quintard says of himself and Pitt. “You know, it’s really never easy to start a new company. It’s even harder to start a new recording studio in 2022. Like, who does that? But I think we were managing to create an ecosystem that can support this improbable sanctuary to exist in the world.”

That means supporting the studio through other ventures and services, including music supervision and music direction for brands. “But mostly we just want to make sure that when an artist is involved, the artist is really involved,” he says. “It’s fantastic to see how music can translate visually, and I think partly it’s through fashion.”

Several of Quintard’s passions converged in a recent project for Travis Scott, who last year conscripted Rick Owens and Michèle Lamy to iterate on their modular architectural system dubbed Glade, incorporating areas for lounging, sleeping and working — hence the integrated recording studio Miraval contributed.

Quintard was overcome with pride and emotion hearing Scott perform at a packed Dutch stadium tracks from his “Utopia” album that had been recorded at Miraval.

“I was there when it was created, and we were so blessed that it was created in our home, and now millions of people around the world listen to it every day, and it has a real impact on pop culture,” he says. “Musicians still have a huge role to play, and maybe even more and more in this new world of influence.”

And while Quintard obviously has great ears, his heart is dedicated to helping the deaf community experience the wonders of music, and the sonic elements of culture and urban life via his SoundX start-up, founded in 2019. Its patented vibration packs translate sounds in real time and were offered to deaf attendees at Coldplay concerts last year, for example.

“They can have access to the world of culture, because they can understand more of their world around them,” he says. “It would be amazing if people could see the richness of the culture in the deaf community, and it’s one of my most important missions.”

Quintard had his eureka moment for SoundX a few years ago when a conductor invited him to crouch in the middle of the orchestra, and he felt the symphony more than he heard it. 

“I’m a lover of music,” he says. “It’s my life. It’s in my DNA. It’s in my bones.”