🎙️ Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele
Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele has always been a woman who follows the beat of her own drum. She speaks her mind. Follows her gut. And has an unparalleled eye when it comes to making unexpected sartorial combinations work.
Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele
The godmother of the high/low fashion mix, she famously and fearlessly combined the most basic pair of stonewashed denim jeans with a Christian Lacroix haute couture top that featured a beaded and bejeweled cross for Anna Wintour’s very first American Vogue cover as the magazine’s editor-in-chief, back in 1988. It was a watershed fashion moment that people point to as the harbinger of modern fashion. Where wearing off the rack garments with custom pieces is not just permitted, it is expected and encouraged as a way of expressing one’s true character through their clothing.
Carlyne made the street not only chic but cool.
Born in Saint-Tropez in the south of France, as soon as she could, Carlyne got herself to Paris, the heart of the fashion action. There she let her innate sense of style speak for itself, first at Marie Claire then at Elle, before she left for the United States to work at American Vogue.
She is an instinctive layerer - I know that isn’t a real word but Carlyne is famous for making up her own so I am sure she would approve. She loves to pile on the accessories and clothing until a look is just right. Even if that means very little layering at all. Her career is also multilayered. She is a stylist, fashion director, and creative consultant all rolled into one slender powerhouse.
She has worked with the best photographers and designers in the business. From Irving Penn and Richard Avedon to Patrick Demarchelier and Steven Meisel. Helmut Newton even captured her on film at her most dramatic. And she shaped the iconic visual identity of both Versace and Chanel during the 1990s, and today gives Jeremy Scott’s Moschino collections her unique polish.
Carlyne and I caught up over tea in the heart of Paris, just off the rue saint honoré in a busy little cafe. And while there are lots of things I admire about her, perhaps what I admire most is that even after so many years as an insider at the top of the fashion pyramid she still sees herself as an outsider.
She calls it like she sees it. And what an eye she has.
