"It is thanks to my friends that I am free", estimates Sulivan Gwed

• Sulivan Gwed released his book "Fashionology" on Wednesday.

• A very personal book in which he talks about his passion for fashion and distills his advice.

• Private life, view of others, criteria of beauty… The influencer answered questions from

  20 Minutes

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From the web to glossy paper. A step that Sulivan Gwed decided to take, one of the most famous YouTubers of his generation, who has nearly 1.7 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. On Wednesday, he released

(published by HarperCollins), an inspiring book in which he declares his love for fashion, which he owes in particular to his style-savvy big sister, whose magazine covers and fashion icons lined the walls of her teenage bedroom. A passion that he kept to himself for a long time despite his very young entry into the world of videos and social networks, in 2014 with his UnPandaMoqueur account.

He has since become knowledgeable on the subject, and at the height of his 21 years is one of the young influencers in this field.

In his book, he testifies to the importance of fashion in his daily life and also gives advice on how to dress freely and dare to break the codes.

Sulivan Gwed also reveals a little of his life, his career and his experience as a “child of the Internet”.

An affable, enthusiastic and particularly mature young man whom

met.

Behind this book there was also the desire to reveal a little more about you?

I am a very modest person. I've been on social media since I was 13 so I quickly learned to protect myself in my little shell. And then I'm cancer, when you love you open up a lot, otherwise you're not the type to want to show yourself. I have always been very discreet and never showed much of my private life, the real me, for protection. With this book I didn't want any barriers, I wanted the process to be as honest and sincere as possible. I indulge in my debut on YouTube, on my family while I never talk about it… Still not about romantic relationships, but a little nonetheless. This book was very therapeutic for me: retracing my crazy adventure on the Internet which was sometimes very positive, sometimes very negative.Every time I got out of work sessions I lost weight.

When you started in videos, didn't you talk about this passion for fashion?

When I got on YouTube I said to myself “do what works”.

With my friends Johann (SparkDise) or Bilal [Hassani] we brought back the

a bit

which did not exist in France, at the time there were a lot of podcasts with people like Cyprien and Norman doing sketches. It took straight and I stayed in that editorial line because I told myself I couldn't afford to talk about fashion overnight when people were kicking me for my lifestyles. I locked myself in this little bubble. When I was 16-17 years old I had a big existential crisis, which is normal when you are a teenager but also when you are so exposed so young. I said to myself "now I don't care, I no longer try to please or not to please, to force myself to be a certain person". It took a while anyway, but I had this realization that I couldn't live for everyone, and not for a million different people.

Does this change coincide with the time when you were the victim of cyberstalking?

A little bit yes.

I had no examples of people before me who had been harassed on the Internet.

I was alone because it was very, very early.

I didn't really have any role models to take an example and tell myself “it's going to be fine, it only lasts a while”.

I walked straight through a tunnel with no light.

I forced myself a little to stay in a certain box and despite that I did not live the look that the others had on me… So why not just be myself?

Since that episode, I don't care whether you like me or not.

More than a passion, to explain to you that fashion is according to you a way to assert yourself, to flourish.

You even say that it is "a necessity" for you.

How does it help you on a daily basis?

Many people need to sing, dance, paint, to feel good and at ease with themselves.

Me it's fashion, my passion is to dress.

But it is also thanks to my models, and especially Lady Gaga, who taught me that fashion is the only art form that is worn.

The day I understood that I said to myself “wow, I want to wear art all my life on me!

"

In this book, one of the advice you give is to dare to break the codes.

What enabled you to free yourself from some of them?

My friends.

We are in a sphere with my friends which sometimes can seem a little terrifying for others, sectarian, we are so comfortable between us!

We are together almost every day and we do what we want.

Bilal when he started wearing wigs it was only with us, it was only after that he dared to wear them on the Internet.

Together we free ourselves, and then we ask ourselves the question of whether it suits us or not.

It is thanks to my friends that I am free.

I'm very likely to have them.

Another tip: ignore the criteria of beauty or the codes of the feminine and the masculine.

One of the lessons you learned is not to get stuck in these standards?

Since I was 13 I have to please people, and you are directly reduced to "beautiful / not beautiful".

You are a bit of a product that we find beautiful or ugly.

At one point or another you have to ignore it.

Either way, my head is there and it's here to stay.

As much to say that I look like what I want, even if I do not meet the standards of beauty.

It is important to set an example in order to try to break down these barriers.

Would you have liked a similar reading yourself when you were younger?

I would have loved it.

But I still managed to find small models that helped me a lot.

If I can be - without putting myself in the same line as her - the little Lady Gaga of someone with this book, my job is done.

I'm not trying to make this book a commercial success, obviously it's still cool, but I'm really trying to make sure everyone who reads it can find something cool and inspiring.

We can compare you to Léna Situations who released a book and which was very successful last year.

Do you like this comparison?

It doesn't bother me at all, already because Lena is my friend. I am grateful to people like her, but also EnjoyPhoenix, Natoo, all the people who were there before me and who dared to release a book, in a world where literature is still something elitist. They dared to do it and break a lot of barriers so that I could go a little more quietly. They made a little path for me to be more comfortable. To take out a book, knowing that I am a person who doubts a lot and who is very anxious, in a world where there would not have been these people before, it would have been all the more complicated. It's like me, to compare, I was one of the first young people to have a big platform on the networks and to be

[harass] as not possible.

Cyberstalking I have known it and in a rather important way.

But I know that it allowed to open some conversations little by little.

And then there were people like Bilal who came along and opened up these discussions even more about the fact that it is not normal to go through this.

I hope that the next people who arrive on social networks, dare to have a platform and be themselves, will not have to go through this anymore.

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