Jessica Michault 6/23/21 Jessica Michault 6/23/21

🎙️ Mary Katrantzou

I’ll never forget the first time I discovered the work of Mary Katrantzou. It was in London in 2008 I believe, and I just happened to wander into a room where a rack of her now-famous perfume bottle printed dresses was on display. On hand was her mother who was proudly showing off the stunning creations her daughter had dreamt up.

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And Mary’s mom had every right to be proud. Her work was unlike anything else going on in fashion at that time. Advancements in printing and computer technology had made it possible for this young woman to create architectural designs on fluid fabrics. Blending beautifully her passion for interior designs and her studies in the field of architecture at Rhode Island School of Design with her Bachelor of Arts in Textile Design and her Master’s in Fashion from Central Saint Martins. But it wasn’t just the print work that set Mary apart from the pack,it was that combined with her choice of vibrant rainbow colorways. The result was a collection that was the harbinger of the 2010s colorful print fashion revolution.

Since she started her signature brand in 2008 Mary, who was born in Athens, Greece, has found a way to modernize trompe l’oeil, help women fall in love with print and color again, and showed the world that clashing aesthetics can be boldly feminine and empowering. This is why powerful women like Michelle Obama, Cate Blanchett, Beyoncé, Lizzo, Jane Fonda, and Zendaya have all flocked to her creations.

But Mary’s success goes beyond her ability to reinvent her core design principles every season. She is a very savvy businesswoman who saw early on in her career the power that collaborating with other creatives and brands could have in expanding her reach and name recognition. Her recent partnership with the high jewelry company Bulgari on a line of limited edition bags is a perfect example of this. But so is her work with Victoria’s Secret, Longchamp, Topshop, and Adidas Original. And her recent decision to create the size-inclusive year-round holiday capsule collection called Mary-Mare also is indicative of how Mary is able to deftly read the fashion tea leaves as the industry shifts away from seasonal shows and moves into a space where smaller drops throughout a year feels more in keeping with the times we live in.

With over a decade in fashion, Mary Katrantzou is still innovating and challenging herself as a creative, and her devoted clients couldn’t be happier.

Photo from Athens Insider.

Jessica Michault 6/11/21 Jessica Michault 6/11/21

🎙️ Spencer Phipps

Designer Spencer Phipps is a born risk-taker. There isn’t a limb on his body that doesn’t have a scar from one escapade or another - that he jumped into with both feet before asking questions. The man is even missing a significant portion of one of his pinkie fingers from one memorable misadventure. And when it comes to taking risks, Spencer also has no problem doing that in business. It was, after all, an impulse decision to launch his signature menswear brand Phipps back in 2017. When, after having worked alongside Marc Jacobs and Dries van Noten, he found himself looking to make his next move and couldn’t find a fashion house that ticked all the boxes. So instead he decided to start his own.

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ezgif.com-webp-to-jpg.jpg — Spencer Phipps

Spencer, who was born and raised in San Francisco and graduated with a degree from Parsons in New York, has over the past four years created for himself a label that scratches a very interesting sartorial itch. His clothing celebrates timeless American wardrobe staples that allude to wide open places, outdoor activities, and manly pursuits. Garments that Spencer has designed so that they revere nature, appreciate the artisanal hand, and seek to leave as little an impact as possible on the planet. While simultaneously his goal is to have them hold a long-term place of honor in a man’s closet, another sustainable pursuit.

From its inception, one of the pillars of the Phipps brand has been its commitment to sustainable sourcing and responsible manufacturing. For the designer, this means both leveraging the latest technology in terms of construction and production, as well as fine-tuning a list of transparent, sustainable suppliers that he works with regularly. His fervent commitment to crafting clothing that makes an impact but doesn't leave one on the Earth is one of the reasons why Spencer was an LVMH prize finalist in 2019 and, after just two seasons, the brand was added to the official Paris Fashion Week: Menswear calendar.

But if I am being completely honest, on top of all the reasons I have already mentioned, Spencer is just a really cool guy that you always have fun hanging out with, as you will discover yourself with this interview.

Photo from GQ Magazine.

Jessica Michault 5/27/21 Jessica Michault 5/27/21

🎙️ Joseph Altuzarra

You get the sense, when you speak to designer Joseph Altuzarra, that he is that perfect combination of creativity and commerce. That as a French American, he has an innate sense of style coursing through his veins. While his American roots give him savvy business sense and a “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” attitude.

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From a young age, Joseph - who was raised by his French Basque father and Chinese- American mother - has always believed in the transformative power of fashion. A self-taught designer who got a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art and Art History from Swarthmore College, his approach to this sartorial art form has always been focused on how the clothes someone chooses to wear tell a larger story. It can be the story of who that individual is or it can be one about the person they hope to become. That clothing telegraphs a message to the world about how we see ourselves.

As luck would have it, Joseph landed an internship in the design studio of Marc Jacobs in 2004 and he went on to work with Proenza Schouler before getting tapped by Riccardo Tisci to join him in Paris and become the designer’s first apprentice during his tenure at Givenchy.

Then in 2008, Joseph returned to New York to strike out on his own. And from the moment he launched his signature brand, his work stood out from the other fashion collections being shown at New York Fashion Week. His sexy, sensual aesthetic that wove together elements of his multicultural heritage into his designs did not fit into the American Sportswear approach of many of his peers at that time.

But standing out from the crowd served Joseph well. He was honored with the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Award in 2011 and the CFDA Swarovski Award for Womenswear Design in 2012. He was then named the winner of the US Woolmark Prize in 2013 and in 2014 he nabbed the CFDA Womenswear Designer of the Year Award.

Suffice to say, Joseph, with his accolades, his brand collaboration with Target, and his stint as a judge on the first season of the Amazon Prime television series “Making the Cut” turned Altuzarra into a household name. And now with his label well established in the fashion industry, Joseph is thinking about where he wants to take things from here.

In our conversation, we discuss what the future holds for this talented designer as he looks at his career from a post-pandemic perspective. A viewpoint that has been changed by the arrival of his daughter Emma and a desire to lead a balanced and intentional life. But one that will always have fashion at its heart.

Photo © Bruno Staub.

Jessica Michault 5/12/21 Jessica Michault 5/12/21

🎙️ Alisa Volskaya

I wanted to interview Alisa Volskaya, the founder of the public relations firm AVEC, for a few reasons. First of all, every time I would bump into her at a fashion show or event, our conversations about the state of the industry, future trends, and fashion in general always went well past surface chit-chat. Secondly, I was impressed by her drive and third, it just takes a lot of guts to launch a PR company during a moment when that field is in the middle of such a paradigm shift. Not to mention doing it in 2020, the year the world stood still.

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WhatsApp Image 2021-05-12 at 1.44.34 PM.jpeg — Alisa Volskaya

Alisa started out her career working at Condé Nast International in Paris and was in charge of the fashion publishing house’s digital projects and partnerships. In 2015, she became the Executive Director at Naked Heart France, a charity founded by the top model and philanthropist Natalia Vodianova, where she was in charge of international fundraising and partnerships. Then just five years later, she decided to go out on her own and launch her firm AVEC.

Alisa’s PR philosophy is right there in the name of her business - AVEC. She sees the work that she does for brands like Chaumet, Ralph Lauren, Chopard, and Balmain as a real partnership. One where her role is to be there with the companies every step of the way in their strategy journey, from conception to completion. But what exactly does that mean in the post-pandemic, social media-centric metaverse world we now inhabit? Alisa, just like every other time I have spoken with her, had some insightful and sometimes surprising answers.

Jessica Michault 4/30/21 Jessica Michault 4/30/21

🎙️ Alexandre De Betak

Consummate creative Alexandre de Betak is an industry touchpoint in the world of fashion. He is behind some of the most era-defining fashion shows, events, and exhibitions of the past three decades. The proverbial man behind the curtain, Alex has brought to life the visions of designers as diverse as Raf Simons, Michael Kors, and Gabriela Hearst, and brands big and small, from Dior and YSL to Jacquemus and Rodarte.

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Throughout our fascinating conversation, we talk about where the spark of creativity comes from, how to keep those creative juices flowing, and how Alex is instilling in his own children that desire to experiment, to explore, and to see the world, and what it could be from different perspectives. Perspectives that will help those around them also experience a moment in new ways that challenge, delight, and mesmerize.

Jessica Michault 4/6/21 Jessica Michault 4/6/21

🎙️ August Getty

Fashion designer August Getty is a gentle soul whose goal is to create a fully inclusive, fully immersive sartorial world where everyone is welcome. All that is required is that you be yourself 100% both in the real world in one of his one-of-a-kind couture creations, or in the digital sphere where he recently created a whole new virtual universe he has baptized Tinitus.

It is inside Tinitus that August brought to life four digital gowns for this past haute couture season, with 3D imagery so detailed it probably caused some of the biggest couture houses to turn green with envy. The designer spent six months creating these three-dimensional virtual gowns and he intends to expand on this concept with the upcoming couture shows this summer.

Based in Los Angeles, the August Getty Atelier has become a niche go-to fashion house for celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Cher, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Zendaya..and I could go on. All of them looking for outfits that are bold, unexpected, and wholly original for their galas, red carpets, and event outfits, because let's get one thing clear, August designs ensembles for maximum impact.

For August, who is an autodidact designer, the goal of fashion, which he says he has loved all the way back to “when he was in the womb” is how transformative it can be. It can make you brave and it can give you the strength to be the person you want to become. Turn fiction into reality with fashion. That is what makes it so magical and so powerful.

Jessica Michault 3/19/21 Jessica Michault 3/19/21

🎙️ Sasha Samsonova

Photographer Sasha Samsonova is generating quite a buzz with her striking images of women who are comfortable in their own skin and unabashedly sexy. A female Helmut Newton, Sasha is all about celebrating the beauty and strength of the women who stand before her lens.

Photographer Sasha Samsonova is generating quite a buzz with her striking images of women who are comfortable in their own skin and unabashedly sexy.
A female Helmut Newton, Sasha is all about celebrating the beauty and strength of the women who stand before her lens.

Born and raised in Ukraine, Sasha is an autodidact photographer who was already shooting for Harper’s Bazzar by the time she was 17 years old, having picked up a camera after her plans to become a professional ballroom dancer fell by the wayside. But her innate understanding of how the body can express emotion in the way it moves has had a direct impact on both her photography and the films and videos she is now directing in Hollywood.

Sasha has worked with celebrities like Kylie Jenner, Lili Reinhart, Khloe Kardashian, Emma Roberts, and Kate Bosworth, her images have been featured in the pages of Vogue, L’Officiel, Elle, and Playboy and she has collaborated with brands such as Google, Fear of God, and Revlon.

When you see Sasha’s work it’s all about sensual strength. And when you listen to her speak, you know that her goal in life is to make women feel as powerful as possible. And she has the photos to prove that she is doing exactly that.

Photo from Sasha Samsonova Instagram.

Jessica Michault 2/25/21 Jessica Michault 2/25/21

🎙️ Romeo Hunte

Romeo Hunte first registered on my radar in a way that I have never connected with a young designer before. He sent me a DM on Instagram during the global lockdown last year and suggested that the two of us jump on an Instagram Live to talk about the state of fashion in the throws of a global pandemic. And that is exactly what we ended up doing.

I am telling you this story because I think it perfectly illustrates who Romeo is. He always takes the initiative, he has a clear vision of where he wants his brand and his career to go. And he is open to experimenting, trying new things, meeting new people, and just seeing how the creativity all comes together to build something new and engaging.

Now just a bit of background about Romeo before we jump into our podcast interview. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and turned down a full athletic ride for his skills in track and field to instead attend the Fashion Institute of Technology to pursue his dream of becoming a fashion designer. He launched his brand in 2014 and then he hustled. Using his contacts via his freelance styling gigs and his full-time job as a personal shopper at a luxury retail store he was able to build both momentum and a buzz for his signature label.

And then it wasn’t long before Romeo found his statement-making outerwear on the likes of Beyonce, Dwayne Wade, or Tobias Harris. Zendaya was a very early adopter of his colorful ensembles, and Michelle Obama has been spotted wearing his tailored blazers and denim hybrid jackets.

Step by step, Romeo has been building a reputation for making cool, reconstructed pieces that take the best elements of different items of clothing and creating CRISPR-like hybrid pieces designed to get noticed. One person that early on took a shine to Romeo’s designs was Tommy Hilfiger.

The two designers have built a strong relationship over the years, and Tommy recently gave Romeo free reign to forage through his archives. Romeo took it upon himself to revisit and reinvent some of Tommy’s iconic designs and give them a new lease on life. This clever collaboration is just the beginning of the long road ahead for Romeo in fashion.

Photos by from USA Watchpro website.

Jessica Michault 2/8/21 Jessica Michault 2/8/21

🎙️ Declan Chan

Declan Chan is one of those front-row fashion fixtures that you always keep an eye out for at the shows. A fashion editor and stylist by trade, Declan has also become a favorite subject for anyone who loves to appreciate those who take the time to put together a look. Declan always looks put together, but with flare. And his outfits are just as eye-catching as the spreads he creates in the pages of publications like Vogue Hong Kong, The New York Times, the South China Morning Post, and Men’s Uno Hong Kong, or the campaigns he crafts for companies like Calvin Klein, Cartier, Estée Lauder, and Lane Crawford.

Ostensibly, Declan is based in Hong Kong, but if you follow him on Instagram, his real home, up until the pandemic, seemed to be on an airplane...or a series of hotels... as he is continuously crisscrossing the world to oversee a fashion shoot, attend a fashion week, or just be a part of all of the “you had to be there” fashion happenings.

What I like most about Declan, besides his style, is his honest, frank and often funny reflections on fashion in general and fashion shows in particular. I always look forward to checking in with him at least once a season to get his thoughts on what he saw - the upcoming trends - and even which pieces he has already put a personal order in for. Declan’s point of view is important because he has become one of the central go-betweens linking the Chinese consumer to the fashion catwalks. Communicating via his editorials a sartorial message that will shape how the Middle Kingdom sees a collection, understands a designer and ultimately, which brands they decide to invest in.

I know that once you have listened to this podcast you will be as enchanted by Declan as I am.

Photos by Hywel Jenkins for Men's Fashion Post website.

Jessica Michault 1/25/21 Jessica Michault 1/25/21

🎙️ Pascal Morand

It is hard to miss Pascal Morand when he arrives at a fashion show. Not only does he tower above most of the guests, but he is also always surrounded by the who’s who of the industry, designer hopefuls, and fashion journalists who all want to bend his ear about one aspect or another pertaining to the business of fashion. But that is what you sign up for when you are the executive president of the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode.

However, Pascal wears his title with the ease of someone who has spent years in the industry and knows it well. Having had paid his dues with tenures at both the Institut Français de la Mode (IFM) and Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris (ESCP), not to mention his time as the deputy director-general of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the Paris region before his current job – shaping the future of French fashion.

His years teaching and his studies in Organisational Sciences at the University of Paris Dauphine have come in handy at the Fédération where he is both helping to nurture the next generation of designers who dream of showing their work during Paris Fashion Week, and wrangling those current calendar members who are always angling for a better spot. And Pascal’s love of innovation and technology has very much come in handy over the past year when, almost overnight, all of the collections - from menswear and womenswear to haute couture moved from real-world runway shows to fully digital experiences that only exist online, on a platform that the Fédération built up to frame the virtual shows as well as enrich them with added content. Including exclusive designer interviews, round table discussions about hot button fashion topics, and in-depth looks at the savoir-faire that is the beating heart of French fashion.

I spoke with Pascal before the Fall/Winter 2021 menswear collections got underway in January about how he sees the fashion week evolving in the future and, as always when I speak with Pascal, I was blown away with his overarching vision when it comes to the fashion industry. It is one of the reasons why I am often part of the crowd that tries to catch his attention at the shows.

Image from Fashion Network website.

Jessica Michault 12/18/20 Jessica Michault 12/18/20

🎙️ Anna Dello Russo

Anna Dello Russo is a fashion force of nature. To the uneducated, she is the eternal star of the concrete catwalk. The colorful, upbeat and sometimes outrageous outfits she wears to the fashion weeks she attends are always the must get shots for the photographers that stalk the streets outside the show venues.

But for those who know Anna, she is much more than a fabulous clothes horse. She is one of the industry’s leading stylists and art directors. After getting a master’s degree in fashion at the Domus Academy in Milan, Anna had the good fortune, right at the start of her career, to cut her teeth at Vogue Italia under the watchful eye of its longtime editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani. There she spent 18 years honing her skills and worked alongside all of the biggest photographers of the 80s and 90s. Then in the year 2000, she was tapped to become the creative director of L’Uomo Vogue before going out on her own as a creative consultant in 2006. She is also currently the fashion editor-at-large for Vogue Japan, creating one iconic cover image after another for the magazine.

Throughout her career, Anna has been paying forward the generosity and mentorship she received from Sozzanni to up and coming stylists. Many of her former assistants have gone on to their own successful careers in the industry after being trained up by Anna. And three years ago she took the concept of giving back even further by becoming the international brand ambassador of the Istituto Marangoni, teaching its students from around the world about how to telegraph their sartorial ideas through visual storytelling that both grabs the viewers’ attention and makes them dream.

Full disclosure, I have known Anna for years and she is hands down one of the most positive, heartful, and generous people working in fashion today. You can always count on Anna to find a way to make any situation fun and unforgettable.

Image from Fashion ABC website.

Jessica Michault 12/14/20 Jessica Michault 12/14/20

💭 Charles Jeffrey for ODDA Magazine

Creative consultant Steven Philip is the mastermind behind the vintage emporium Rellik in London. He also has his own private archive of designer clothing that spans almost half a century of collecting. That archive is a must see for any true blue fashion lover. And it is thanks to that amazing archive that Philip became good friends with Charles Jeffrey.

This article first appeared in the ODDA Magazine 19th Issue “You, Me, and Everyone We Know”.

CHARLES JEFFREY

Back in the day, the young designer reached out to Philip to get a look at his vintage Vivienne Westwood pieces, and ever since then, the two men have never stopped talking.
So it made perfect sense to ask Philip to interview Jeffrey for this issue of ODDA.

In a whirlwind conversation, the pair touched on everything from how the Charles Jeffrey LOVERBOY brand got its start and the pressure of being named the Alexander McQueen of his generation, to how having fun is the driving force behind everything that Jeffrey does.

STEVEN PHILIP. Tim [Blanks] called you the Alexander McQueen of your generation. That is quite a weight to bear on your shoulders. How does that make you feel
CHARLES JEFFREY. It all happened very quickly and I was not in a position where I could completely digest it. I just came out of an MA program and I did not have any money at all. I did not know where my next rent was coming from. When all these things were happening, I was not in a stable position to take on board these statements calmly.

S.P. What did you take back with you to your own label from your time working in the couture ateliers of Dior?
C.J. When I was there, it was this thing of imposter syndrome. I did not know why I was there, but I jumped at the chance to do it. I tried to take on everything like a dry sponge; I was also very excited to be in Paris. What I gained the most understanding from there was the amount of time it took, the attention to detail and how important working with your hands is on every single level. Even if you are not necessarily an expert with making some, it is about attention to detail. It was also about the infrastructure and how they work.
One thing that I really took from them is the idea of if you design a 3D sample, it becomes important to designers. So here we make a lot of them too. We do that now in our own studio; we get our interns to make 3D projects. That method I took from Dior. I did struggle at that internship because I was not very good at sewing. Basically, I got along really well with the woman who was head of the casting so she was like “I will offer you a job because I got along really well with you.”

S.P. Another side of your creativity manifests itself in the fashion styling you do for magazines. What creative itch does that work scratch?
C.J. That is how we met actually. You were like a mentor to me. I was working with Alister Mackie on a shoot which was supposed to be a celebration of Vivienne Westwood. Alister hired me and my friend, Jack, to style the shoot. I remember Alister saying “you have got to meet Steve. You need to listen to him because he is filled with really good information.” So we went to see you and your archives. When you were talking me through all of it, it was this whole world; our meeting had a huge impact on that shoot. In any case, making images for me has always been a part of my creative
process.

S.P. What do you think it is about Glasgow, where you are from, that all of
these fantastical and rebellious creatives come from there?
C.J. There is this thing about Glasgow that people liked to be cultured. My grandfather is a prime example of that. He worked as an engineer for trains but he was an incredibly cultured man. That creates a humble work ethic that comes from working-class places.
But there is this real thirst for culture as well so it makes for really dynamic creatives. I think that is why there is always a new wave of us every couple of years.

S.P. If you were to go back in time, where would you go?
C.J. I would love to live in the late 70s or early 80s. I would love to be in the Warhol type of moment. I think we tapped into that a little bit with my designs.

S.P. Do you think that the pandemic is causing the new generation to buy less, buy better, buy from smaller brands, etc.?
C.J. I would say in my bubble, yes definitely. I guess Depop is a good example of what people are latching onto; this platform that allows people to swap and share clothes. I do not know if the actual message of being sustainable is still as popular. There was definitely a moment where it was a hot word. The pandemic sort of cleared it off the way and now it is more about being comfortable.
I will say a real fine example of a store that a lot of young people are contributing to is the Fantastic Toiles by Nasir Mazhar. Half of the pieces are just things stitched and they are all inside-out with raw seams but there is an energy and intention in that which is so pure, which is validated by having that space.
I remember there was MACHINE-A before it was as big as it is now, I remember going there when it was just on the corner of Oxford street. There were weird and obscure goth designer pieces. There was a sex toy section in the corner of a room. There were these spaces where weird and wild fashion were accepted. When you first move to London and you want to change things up when you just started, you don’t care about commercial clothes. You just care about stuff that looks mental and completely new that you can associate yourself with.

S.P. How has Lulu Kennedy impacted you and your career?
C.J. She saw something in my work when I was in the MA’s at Central Saint Martins. I was actually convinced by a teacher of mine that said to me, “you are not a designer. No one will ever hire you. You are not going to get a job anywhere.” I remember being like “yeah, I guess so.”
Then Lulu came in when we had our MA exhibition. She saw my rail of bright colored jackets and I had my portfolio stuff with obscure ripped papers with photographs of myself and clothes. Then I had a whole other side of my desk which was covered with all the Loverboy stuff like the posters and paint. It is always a big deal when Lulu comes into the MA studio. She usually picks one or two people that are going to be the next big thing in fashion.
She came in and everyone thought it was going to other people, but she only spoke to me and everyone was absolutely raging at me. Soon after, she called me and said she loved it. She asked me if I wanted to do another collection, but I said no because I believed I was better as a stylist. She persisted but I continued to say no.
A week later, I got an email from her assistant saying “Hi Charles, we just wanted to check in on your decision. We thought maybe a good way to do it if you don’t want to do a collection is for you to just do your party. We will celebrate and make that your platform.”
So then I thought okay, I will do it. We basically took my MA collection and remixed it. I did this project where I made some bright acid blue cashmere, then a pair of shorts, then I painted on hundreds of pairs of denim and t-shirts. Then I got my old mates to get their old scraps of Loverboy and I made them into something. It was a day where I was literally like a headless chicken. It was like this mini-Loverboy army that we built, it was so much fun.

S.P. What have you been listening to on loop during this period of confinement?
C.J. I have been listening to hardcore techno like “The Horrors” or something like this Bulgarian choir called “The Bulgarian National TV Choir.” Their voices are a specific type of singing which is so mental but haunting. It sounds like weird witches in space.
Also, “Portishead.” I have been listening to quite a lot of it while designing my new collection.

S.P. What do you want to accomplish with your website, which you just launched?
C.J. We have seen the benefit of exploring an online consumer model because we can extract a lot of information from the client. We also make a lot more money directly which is great. We want it to be this really immersive space. I loved video games, anime, and cartoons. At one point I thought I was going to be a video-game designer, but then I saw people that were making clothes that could be seen in that realm; that made me so excited. I wanted to try to emulate and bring that into the digital space, so I gave a nod to a lot of things I used to play. I have this press start character selection page, and it has this carousel of different looks that you can see. They look like characters that you can play, then there was a whole audio element. The thing that I like about my work is that
any daft or silly idea I have, I can give that a lot of time because I do not work for anyone
else.

S.P. I have talked to some young designers that have said “I just want to be successful enough. I want to have my brand and grow it naturally. I am not looking for world domination.” What is your stance on that?
C.J. I actually really just want Loverboy to be the best thing it can actually be because I do not think I can do anything else. I think in terms of doing another label, it is such a scary landscape. People are harsh to big designs like that and if you have got a big brand, you have got to have really strong skin. Part of me just wants to stay in my own lane because there is no traffic in my own lane and I can just do really well.

S.P. Can you talk to me about the whole Loverboy club night concept and
how that fit into you going to fashion school and starting your business?
C.J. I was working three or four jobs when I was doing my Master’s. I was working in a call center, a bar, and in a fabric shop. I was working a shift in the bar and one of the owner’s younger brothers was chatting with me and told me about this club night he was putting on, on the first of August, which is my birthday, and he did not know what to do about it. I told him it was my birthday and he asked me if I wanted to do my birthday then. I always wanted to DJ so I took the opportunity.
I was living with my friend and I was telling her about the space I was given to do my birthday, and how I wanted to do a club night. I was saying how much I missed the club night scene in the early 2010s when I first moved to London, how everybody used to dress up and how there was a complete lack of that now. I wanted to make a night that encouraged everyone to dress up.
We did this poster and it fell out of my mouth to call it “Loverboy.” We added this whole romance side of things like “come meet your match, but make sure you are dressed right.” For some reason, I painted myself blue which was on impulse. It was based on my drawings; it was just really free.
The night was so popular. My friend, Jack, made these cardboard kissing booths and we bought all these weird balloons. When the first club night was really successful, the owner told me to do another one; I really got a sense of validation from that. So after that first night I wanted to do it properly.
I did a full-on shoot to advertise the next one. I styled all my friends and we took photos in my friend’s living room. The photos went viral online and everyone started to get more and more dressed up each time we did a Loverboy club night. We were taking photographs more seriously. We were doing videos and secret codes. We just got really, really into it and it was a gateway for me to be creative. And I suddenly started to make money from it from the door. Since it was so popular, I could not run away from it. I did not have to work from the call center which was so soul-destroying, so that was another great thing about it.

S.P. Why do you think you are so fun and have such a playful personality?
C.J. I think we all have this bad habit of “prepare and despair,” where we all think we should take ourselves more seriously. That sort of thinking makes me have no energy. It makes me small and slow. It makes me question myself and not move forward.
Whenever I tap into who I am, my authenticity, that really is my driving force. When I am myself and trust my gut, so much unravels and so much can happen at one time so quickly. The reason why I am fun is that it is my creative vehicle to get from point A to point B most efficiently.

Photographer PHILIP ANDELMAN
In conversation with JESSICA MICHAULT

Jessica Michault 12/14/20 Jessica Michault 12/14/20

💭 Sarah Andelman for ODDA Magazine

What do you do after you have created one of the most iconic multi-label fashion stores in history? For Sarah Andelman, the co-founder of Colette, her second act is all about making creative and unexpected connections between brands. Her one-woman consulting agency, which she perfectly baptized Just An Idea, is a natural extension of her character. The concepts and collaborations the agency facilitates are all upbeat, original, and have just the right amount of joyful pop. Here, Andelman discusses what she sees for the future of luxury retail, how her life has changed post-Colette, and why she always wears skirts.

This article first appeared in the ODDA Magazine 19th Issue “You, Me, and Everyone We Know”.

SARAH ANDELMAN

JESSICA MICHAULT. Sarah, let’s dive right in. I want to know all about your new adventure, Just An Idea. Tell me a bit about the origins story of your new company.
SARAH ANDELMANN. It happened really quickly. We announced the closing of Colette in July 2017 and very quickly people started to contact me, and I was like “wait wait wait, I’m still 100 percent with Colette until December 2017, right until we close.” From January 2018, I did many interviews and all I wanted was to keep up with the diversity that I had at Colette’s; fashion, beauty, design, art, streetwear. And that’s what I did with Just An Idea over these past two years. Very quickly, projects started coming, different from each other, but a lot of them revolved around collaboration, curating pop-ups. In the end, it’s a lot of connections, a lot of connecting the dots.

J.M. What are the tactics and tricks of the trade that you learned during your years at Colette, that you still use today in your new adventure?
S.A. Obviously on the practical side, a lot of contacts since throughout the years, I’ve met a lot of wonderful people. I think I have a sort of positive outlook, an open mind to say anything is possible. I always say you need to try. It’s not because someone never did a collaboration that they wouldn’t be open to the idea. Maybe they were waiting for the right one. You have to try. Today, that is what I am trying to apply, to try going towards the unexpected, all while keeping something authentic, that makes sense for the brand.

J.M. And you are that connecting factor, that guiding thread between different brands. How do you do that? It really is an art form; the idea of networking, of connections, especially as you are and forgive me if I am wrong, but someone who is rather self-effacing. How do you grow this network around yourself, all while being someone that isn’t necessarily comfortable with networking to start with?
S.A. For sure I am not what you call a “party animal.” People realize I have a very simple rapport. I’m very respectful, and of course, there are a lot of people with whom I’ve collaborated multiple times. It wasn’t just “I’ll work once with you and then move on to the next.” There are a lot of relationships that took time to build. I’ve tried as much as possible to accompany all the brands I have worked with, even if there were moments where I was forced to evolve. I had to keep this objectivity and that is why, I think, I keep a distance from the people I work with. Obviously, my professional and private life are very tied together, but at the same time, there are a lot of people with whom I first and foremost have a professional relationship with. I keep that limit, and that’s what you want.

J.M. And today, if I understood correctly, you work alone? There is no team, no one around you. What has that shift been like for you?
S.A. I feel lighter. I feel content being alone, being able to work as I see fit. Obviously, for each project, if needed, I’ll find people to help, be it a graphic designer or a writer. So for every project, if I need it, I will find it. But otherwise, I feel lighter, more flexible. People who contact me are contacting me for me now.

J.M. You mentioned you have different projects, you talked about pop-ups, of consulting, of accompanying these brands. How do you deal with the egos of it all?
S.A. At the base, there needs to be a lot of openness, of curiosity. I need to be at ease with the message the brand wants to share. I feel, the more different it is to what I know, the more challenging it will be, the more exciting it will be. I am still trying to find myself. I’ll keep doing it while it gives me pleasure but sometimes I do say I just want to publish books or expositions. I’m always on the lookout. Obviously, the brands I’ve already worked with, Sacai or Valentino, were projects where I knew the designers. It was good that there was a specific aim. We knew where we wanted to go from start to finish. I like projects like that.

J.M. It’s also interesting because before, with Colette, it was in the world of Colette, the four walls of Colette. And now, the sky’s the limit in a sense. I wonder, do you like having limits?
S.A. It’s true that our way of thinking at Colette was 360 degrees. I had the chance, with Colette, to control projects from A to Z, from concept to the final result. Today, I realize what a big corporation is and that I can be surprised, like, “Ok we managed to do the product, convey a message. Oh but you didn’t do the Instagram post this way?” And I can’t say anything because this brand has its way of working and sees things differently. So. I always learn from that and the frustration it may create. I learn and organize myself differently for next time.

J.M. Talk to me a little about the “Sarah signature.” Can we recognize your work easily?
S.A. With Colette, we didn’t manage to stay in the shadows. It was very complicated at the time, but with Just An Idea, when I worked with the brand, I have to tell them “don’t put my name down. It’s not necessary. There’s already a lot of things happening.” I really tried to stay, for the most part in the background. However, if we are talking about my signature aesthetic, I think there are obvious influences; maybe a bit of pop. I also always tried to merge extremes together but it isn’t always easy. I would say something happy, positive. I try to bring that to whatever I work on.

J.M. What are your impressions now that you stepped away from it running a multi-brand retail store? Because we know they have been hit hard by the pandemic, what do you think is in store for multi-brand shops in the future?
S.A. It isn’t obvious. When my mother and I decided to close Colette, it was a personal choice. We never could have imagined everything that was to come and we have no regrets because I think it would have been very hard to manage in Paris with the yellow vests, the strikes, and these past few months have been terrible for retail. Even if you decide to go online, people don’t consume in the same way.

I think today for a multi-brand they need to forgo the huge brands that are very available in their own circle. Multi-brand stores must have brands that are not yet broadcasted all over with a real selection. The service is what will differentiate them; the little extras, the personalized experiences, and I am surprised at how much it’s changed. I didn’t use to go to many other stores before, and in these last few years, I have had that sort of disdain that clients feel in stores. So yes I understand why we want to buy online more and more.

J.M. I think there are three big topics facing fashion in the near future. There’s the sustainability aspect, the whole buy less but buy better idea and the direct to consumer shift in retail buying. How do you think those three concepts will evolve?
S.A. It’s been a few years that a brand has been able to directly sell to consumers. Be it beauty, street, or fashion, without the need to go through a multi-brand. They just need to have visibility for their clientele. Sustainability is obviously a priority. I don’t see how some brands don’t put that as a top priority. When you meet young designers, I’m thinking of the LVMH prize and other young designer awards, what’s good is this whole new generation that is just entering the industry now. For them, sustainability is an intrinsic part of their work, unlike a few years ago. I think it will eventually become just second nature to brands. At least I hope so.
Talking about buying less, but better, I’m curious to see how that will continue considering the crisis we are currently facing. You tell yourself you need to save more, that you don’t need to buy something new every week. But when I see how we’re going back to our norm, I think that shopping habits will come back.

I think sustainability has a better chance of staying than others. I do wish and hope people will buy less, that products will be more durable, and I am curious to see how, in practice, it will happen.

J.M. Today, for younger brands, is it better to create that online connection and forgo being in a physical shop?
S.A. Completely! All the brands with whom I talk, I tell them to sell directly to consumers. However, it’s true that for some that means creating stocks in advance when they don’t have the ability to do so. Ideally, you should sell directly without having stock. I think Emily Adams Bode is a perfect example because every piece her company makes is unique. It’s upcycled. There’s this personal aspect to it. They are an e-shop and it is fantastic. So yeah, every creator needs to sell directly to consumers or at the very least offer them this possibility. I find it to be extremely essential, without finding yourself burdened with useless stock. You need to have this choice.

J.M. As someone who has always had a talent for spotting the next big thing, I have to ask, is there something lately that is really fascinating you?
S.A. There is this ABC Crystal puzzle that I really like. They make me laugh a lot. It’s from a couple in Los Angeles and New York. You see, I immediately think of a product when you ask me that question. (laughs). What I did find exemplary during confinement is the people who stayed active, the people who did Instagram Live every day, who succeeded in not being passive, looked at what was happening and became a part of it. I have a lot of admiration for that.

J.M. Time for some more classic questions. The future of fashion for you, what is it? I always say we’re in a state of transition, but today that feels truer than ever, so what do you think about it? Where do you think we are?
S.A. From what I hear, being a bit more on the outside than before, I feel like there’s this clash between Old School and New School. There is a group of people that don’t see fashion any other way than via a show, via a certain traditional way of doing things, while other brands have realized they have to speak directly to their consumers and go to them where they are, not ask the consumers to come to them.

It’s not easy to reinvent yourself, to think differently, and there are so many people in this industry that depend on the shows, of the production. I think that before the pandemic we were at a time when there was too much. You see now brands saying we don’t need this many shows. We don’t need to go all over the world. Creativity will always win but the way it is presented, I think will evolve.

J.M. We agree 100 percent on that. There are a lot of people who say that we need to rethink the way we sell clothes and the idea of seasons. Do you think that’s doable, that we go back to the drawing board, or is the industry just too big to change its ways?
S.A. I think it’s really going to go in every direction. I think a lot of it has to do with how long a brand has been around. I saw recently that Burberry announced an exterior show in September. I think it’s very audacious to announce anything right now because who can predict where we will be in September with everything that is going on with the virus. Today in Paris, it’s back to normal and I hope it will continue like that, but you never know where it’s going to go. That must be extremely difficult for brands; to make plans. I don’t think there will be any single format going forward. I think we can say goodbye to four fashion weeks that followed one after the other. I don’t believe in that anymore.

J.M. Finally… I always wanted to ask you this question because I’m a woman who solely wears pants, why skirts? Why do you always wear skirts? It has become your signature, like me with my updo!
S.A. It’s just that pants do not suit me at all! I unfortunately don’t have a model’s body, so skirts are able to hide certain things.

Photographer PHILIP ANDELMAN
In conversation with JESSICA MICHAULT

Jessica Michault 12/12/20 Jessica Michault 12/12/20

🎙️ Steven Kolb

Steven Kolb and I have traveled in the same circles for years. But until this podcast, we never really had the chance to have a deep dive discussion about life in general and more specifically, life in fashion. As the CEO of the CFDA, Steven is basically the ringmaster of New York Fashion Week, so it is a bit difficult to pin him down.

But what I have always appreciated about him is how level headed he is. Even in the eye of the fashion tornado, you can count on Steven to be matter-of-fact with his insights, feedback, and suggestions. Over the years, he has been a driving force behind some of the CFDA’s more important projects, from the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund and the CFDA Fashion Incubator program to the CFDA Fashion Awards. Not to mention the many initiatives he, and by extension, the CFDA, have supported over the years that shine a light on issues such as better representation, equity, and inclusivity within the fashion industry.

Just this year Steven launched RUNWAY360 in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic to create a digital platform for New York fashion designers to show content-rich online presentations of their collections when social distancing made in-person fashion weeks a non-starter. And at the same time, he flipped the script on this year’s CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund turning it into a fundraiser called A Common Thread to aid those fashion businesses that have been most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this podcast, Steven and I talk about where he sees fashion weeks headed in the future, how his outsider’s perspective has helped him be even more effective as the CEO of the CFDA, and what his favorite part of his job is. Also do listen all the way to the end of this podcast because Steven’s answers to my 5 generic fashion questions are just fantastic.

Image from CFDA's website.

Jessica Michault 12/10/20 Jessica Michault 12/10/20

💭 Kaoru Imajo for ODDA Magazine

Taking over as Japan Fashion Week’s director was something of a baptism of fire for Kaoru Imajo. When he stepped into the top job last year, with goals to transform and modernize the bi-annual event. Little did he know that his first fashion week would be hit by a massive typhoon. Then in March of this year, with just days to go before the kick-off of his second fashion week, it was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, Imajo is more determined than ever to elevate and internationalize Japan Fashion Week with the online universe playing a key role in its future success.

This article first appeared in the ODDA Magazine 19th Issue “You, Me, and Everyone We Know”.

KAORU IMAJO

JESSICA MICHAULT. You took over running Japan Fashion Week a little over a year ago just before fashion week got underway. What was that like for you and how have you gone on from there?
KAORU IMAJO. Well, it is kind of like a joke. With the first one, there was a big typhoon and lots of international press and buyers couldn’t fly in. Then, with the second one, there was the virus. But I’m a person that wants to think positively. I think this was a good experience for me. This past season, I really wanted to do the physical fashion show right up until the last minute, but we are a team. It is not just about what I want.

J.M. As you canceled the March shows right at the last minute, there wasn’t a whole lot of lead time to do the digital. How did it function? Were you happy with the results as far as the functionality and turnout?
K.I. It’s true. We made the final decision at the beginning of March but we were talking with the designers and the media starting mid-February. Some were surprised we canceled, but they understood that everyone in the world is going through the same situation.

Luckily for us, all we had to do is open up our website for the designers. They just sent us links or movies to post on the site so it wasn’t that hard for us.

J.M. I remember when we spoke the last time I was in Japan for fashion week, you whispered in my ear that you had lots of plans in the works about how you wanted the fashion week to evolve. What are those big ideas and have they been modified because of the new normal we are living?
K.I. The last time we talked, I was thinking of our website and our Instagram feed, and wanting to make an app for the fashion week. We’re still working on it and still talking with the government. I think we will get a decision in the next few weeks. Because of the confinement situation and the pandemic, it made me focus on doing those online and digital things sooner and faster.

J.M. There’s a lot of discussion with designers about rethinking the whole premise about when things are for sale, when we’re talking about seasonality. What are your thoughts about all of the shakeout within the industry?
K.I. I think it’s a really good opportunity for Japan Fashion Week. We always do our week right at the end of each season, usually in mid-March and mid-October. By then, most of the buying for the season has been done. I think all the designers are suffering in terms of production.

If we decide to reschedule our week, by moving it to the end of August before New York, that could make a huge difference. If they’re saying that they’re going to schedule Women’s Fashion week on to the Men’s Fashion Week season, it would also be really good for Tokyo.

J.M. What do you think about the blending of men’s wear and women’s wear into one Fashion Week?
K.I. I think it’s really good for all our designers. Since our men’s designers show in July in Europe; if they happen to want to do something in Tokyo, it’d be four months after their Europe tour. Europe has showrooms and it will be too late in Japan. So if the men’s and women’s fashion weeks were brought together, that could be incredibly helpful for our designers.

J.M. What about the e-commerce aspect? What are you seeing as far as that’s concerned on your end? What are local designers discussing with you about their online selling strategy?
K.I. Well, Sacai just opened its e-commerce store last week. Yohji Yamamoto opened in April. So all the big brands that have the money are really starting to do e-commerce. They’re changing everything. Also, as you know Rakuten is our main sponsor. They’re professionals in e-commerce so we’re trying to build a new e-commerce Fashion Week site for the young designers with them in the coming months to help support the smaller brands and give them more visibility.

J.M. Rakuten was signed on as the sponsor two seasons ago. How has that relationship been with them? What else have you guys got up your sleeve?
K.I. Making a platform for young Japanese designers is one thing, but another thing that Rakuten wants to do is a special event during fashion week with us. Right now, we’re talking about something with virtual reality in October, but we’re still four months away so we will see.

J.M. Looking at everything that’s happened, what, for you, is the key thing that needs to change, that you want to change for your Fashion Week?
K.I. I think everything is connected. Getting more followers on Instagram, getting a bigger website, and a bigger app leads to getting bigger sponsors. Then getting a bigger sponsor leads to supporting more designers, and having international designers as guests. It’s a continuous evolution, and I am happy that there is this evolution, that we are always looking for new and creative ways to support our designers both locally and globally.

J.M. I think it is also great that Japan Fashion Week’s main sponsor is a Japanese e-commerce company. To have that local connection with the culture, that maybe Amazon didn’t, and the support of the Fashion Week from such a large homegrown e-commerce entity like Rakuten could make collaborative ideas flow more easily.
K.I. Rakuten is everywhere in Japan. They have a popular credit card, a travel agency, and insurance too. They have everything and that’s partly why on e-commerce, they’re doing really well. The problem with e-commerce is that right now—it’s getting better—but a year ago, Rakuten fast fashion was really not good. The price range was really low.

J.M. So Rakuten needs to elevate itself a little bit to move in the direction of a Net-A-Porter for example? Or at least have a new segment on its site that is dedicated to a more luxury offering?
K.I. I think many of the luxury brands, specifically European ones, were a bit lazy on their e-commerce in Tokyo. I have some friends that work at luxury events and they say they’re looking for a solution for that. But it would be great for Rakuten to grow the luxury e-commerce sector on its site.

J.M. Is there anything else that you want to express about the Fashion Week and how you’d like to see it in the future?
K.I. I think right now, whatever we do with Rakuten, is going to be really big. So I want to talk to you more about it when we have all the information but right now, I think that’s coming out in September.

J.M. What about you? Was it always a dream of yours to work in fashion?
K.I. Well, I didn’t study fashion, but I’ve always wanted to work in the fashion field. I think the honest reason I got into fashion in the first place is that I like basketball. Basketball, and what the basketball players wear, are linked with cool fashion labels. That was how I first connected to fashion.

J.M. How did you actually get involved with Japan Fashion Week in the first place? You were working more behind the scenes for about a decade before you got the top job.
K.I. As a student, I worked at a Japanese brand store for two years, and I know how important store employees are, but I thought “I can’t do this for years.” I was also interested in consulting and I like the idea of working on lots of different projects at once. I enjoy how the challenges are different every day and so working with fashion week was a perfect fit for me.

J.M. For you, what do you think is the biggest difficulty for Japanese fashion brands? What do you think are the stumbling blocks for Japanese brands to have a more global reach?
K.I. I think there are a few reasons. One is simply because Japan is really far from Europe and America. Another is that I think many Japanese designers can’t speak other languages, so they’re really shy when they come up to foreign buyers.

J.M. Do you think it’s because they’re just so shy and not interested in being a global brand? Are they just content to make the money that they’re making in Japan?
K.I. That’s pretty much it, but some designers, like Sacai, were more ambitious to go abroad so some are dedicated to doing that. It’s a mix.

J.M. What is your dream for Japan Fashion Week five years down the road?
K.I. I would really like to find a way to bring more international guest designers to show in Japan. I think it is just as important to inspire the local audience with the vision of designers from other countries as it is for our Japanese brands to connect with the rest of the world. The more perspectives and creative points of view we can present at our fashion week, the richer it becomes.

J.M. How do you want to see the fashion week system evolve?
K.I. I think we need to do better. In the past 10 or 20 years, everyone has been thinking about how to do a better presentation, not a classical runway, but maybe doing something more “out there.” I’ve seen skateboarding fashion shows. It was physical. So there is no one right answer. I think fashion weeks that are a mix of runway shows, mini all-day presentations, happenings, online events, and other things are what we need to do. It has to be a creative mix, to keep things interesting while also involving the online community so that they feel a part of the fashion week too.

J.M. What do you love most about fashion?
K.I. I think the good thing is that you meet people and you always see new clothes, new collections. It is such a creative space and it touches so many other creative sectors too. If you know fashion, I think you know food, movies, music. I think fashion is the ultimate culture.

Portrait by YUJI WATANABE

Jessica Michault 12/10/20 Jessica Michault 12/10/20

💭 Christopher John Rogers for ODDA Magazine

Christopher John Rogers has got a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Award on his mantle. His clothing is worn by the likes of Michelle Obama, Rihanna, Lizzo, and Priyanka Chopra, and he just opened his epon- ymous studio space in New York.

This article first appeared in the ODDA Magazine 19th Issue “You, Me, and Everyone We Know”.

CHRISTOPHER JOHN ROGERS

His work is big, bold, and badass. But even better, everyone is accepted into the Christopher John Rogers universe. For this 26-year-old Louisiana born de- signer, the mantra is “the more the merrier”and that is why this inclusive designer is currently positioned as the fashion world’s next big thing.

JESSICA MICHAULT. How did color and print become your happy place? Because, to me, that’s what your collections are — sartorial happy places.
CHRISTOPHER JOHN ROGERS. I would just say it’s always been a natural thing that I’ve gravitated towards more than anything representational, historical period, or specific era of costume. Color, more than anything, has been sort of what drives my creative force. Seeing the material or even something blowing in the wind like a trash bag or whatever, color really just gets me excited. I started taking art classes when I was really young with encouragement from my grandmother, and that’s sort of obviously where I started mixing colors and playing with paints. Seeing that when you add, you know, red to green, instead of getting black, you get this really unusual brown, which is also just as valid as hot pink. Exploring all of that within the context of a collection really excites me.

J.M. Tell us about what your starting point is like for your collections. Does it involve colors first, or do the fabrics start to tell the story and you build from there? Do you look at a particular era or place?
C.J.R. So it kind of happens all at the same time. There’s more than one starting place, but I work on it in my head and on multiple seasons at once. So I’ll see one color and say “this is great for fall” or if I’m really really feeling it, I’m like “we’ve already established a color palette for this current collection, but I need to add this one color in.” So there’s never really a theme. It is kind of like an amalgamation of things that I’m feeling. Its color, fabric, and visual references may have nothing to do with each other, but all feel relevant to me at the time. It’s really kind of about what emotionally triggers me.

J.M. Are you the collaborative designer, or are you off in the corner doing your sketches? Is it like everybody comes in the morning and you have the line up sketched out and your team executes it?
C.J.R. It’s both. It’s everything and nothing. I definitely always have a certain direction that I want to go to or go towards with every season, and it’s very intentional. We all kind of pull together references and ultimately, I decide what feels right for me. Then again I’m always asking my team like, “Would you want to wear this? Does our customer want to wear this? Does this feel right for us? Are you personally excited by this?” It’s not so much because I don’t trust my own instinct, but because I know that what I’m trying to build is work that speaks to a variety of different types of aesthetics and voices funneled through my creative direction and vision. So it’s nice to have people that you trust to bounce ideas off of and bring it all together.

J.M. I’ve seen you take your finale bows at your shows. They are full of joy and happiness, as they should be when you’ve just finished a collection. That being said, I get the impression that you are a “glass half full” kinda guy. Where does that positivity come from?
C.J.R. I definitely think it’s my family and friends growing up. My parents were always super supportive of the work that I did. They always made sure to let me and my sisters know that with hard work, and obviously the sacrifices along the way, you’re able to do whatever you want. You can make your dreams a reality. I also learned through experience that if the thing that you planned didn’t work out exactly how you wanted it to, it always ends up happening for the best. So I just try to lead with that intention. If it doesn’t go exactly as planned then, you know, at least you tried and you can be sure in the knowledge you have that it will lead you to the place that you need to go. So there’s always an opportunity to look at something from a positive side.

J.M. I was talking to President Wallace at Savannah College of Art and Design and she was saying that you have just been an amazing alumnus for SCAD, that you keep coming back and giving back. I am curious to know why you decided to attend SCAD instead of one of the fashion schools that is based in a fashion capital?
C.J.R. When I visited the campus initially, it kind of struck me as a nice middle ground between the sort of chaos and creativity of New York City, but it still held that southern charm. It had a sense of community that I personally really needed coming from Louisiana. I also loved how small and intimate the classes were. You could really learn from the professors and the people that you were working with. Instead of feeling super competitive in any way, it felt like we were all a big family working together towards this one goal.

J.M. Speaking of self-discovery, as a queer black man, how are you trying to empower members of your community through what you’re doing? I did notice in your most recent collection there were trans models included in the mix. How are you trying to represent your community within your work?
C.J.R. I think that I’ve always just come from a really authentic place. Instead of trying to make any statements, I just lead with sort of what feels right and honest to me, working with friends that have always supported us from the beginning when we couldn’t afford agency models. We sort of looked around and asked ourselves, “Who is just as beautiful and just as amazing as someone who’s repped by whatever agency?” And so, including those people in the shows that we do now just really feels like the direction that we want to go in. I think it is really important because it sort of expands the cannon for what you can expect from a queer designer or the visual language that you can expect from someone who happens to be black and working in fashion.

J.M. I know that before you went out on your own you worked at Diane von Furstenberg, and I was wondering what that moment in your career taught you. What did you take away from that experience?
C.J.R. That time definitely showed me where I wanted to go as a business and also simultaneously where I didn’t want to go. I think that it sort of taught me to build a really strong visual language and make sure that I’m making clothes that are both exciting and accessible while also memorable and pragmatic. It is a way to build a business that will last, and, you know, making sure that everyone on my team feels heard, excited, and comfortable coming into the studio. I really just kind of want to foster a place where people can grow in the long term.

J.M. How are you balancing that flamboyant side of your designs with the more real-world demands that most women have? A designer can’t grow on event dressing alone.
C.J.R. Yeah, so we’re definitely trying to think about not necessarily what everyone wants from us, but what our customer wants from us. At this point in sort of the brand’s trajectory, we’re focused on creating clothes that are really meaningful and intentional. Since we make everything in New York, manufacturing prices here are extremely high.
We have to make sure that the product ends up looking like the price that it will be so that it lends itself to things that are evening, to things that are incredibly special. As time goes on, as we get more accounts, we’ll be able to sort of increase units and make clothes that are more casual, or even more pragmatic. Then we can also make sure that there are prices that serve that end-use. It’s really about slowly expanding the vernacular of what you can expect from this brand.

J.M. For a designer, you sound like a businessman. Most designers can’t or won’t take on both the business and creative side of their label, but I get the feeling that is not the case for you.
C.J.R. I like all of it. I mean, I’m a Libra. So I’m always kind of balancing everything, which is a problem because it usually ends up being quite indecisive. Not because I don’t know what I want, but because what I want to do and what I should do are not always aligned. That’s why I take so long, I’m equally as focused on cutting something really beautiful and interesting as I am truly making sure that piece doesn’t just sit in a museum for 20 years. I want it to be worn by someone for 20 years because it still serves them, still excites them, and that they will be able to actually use the piece.

J.M. I know this is the classic generic fashion question but I am curious to hear how you would describe the person who is going to connect with your clothing. What kind of spirit do they have?
C.J.R. Well, they have an incredible sense of humor. They know who they are. They dress just for themselves as opposed to sort of reacting to trends. They’re incredibly intelligent and know that what they wear serves a greater purpose. But they also aren’t afraid to take something that’s super expensive and mix it with, you know, vintage jeans that they’ve had for 20 years.

J.M. Okay and then as far as the brand is concerned, what do you feel are your biggest challenges at this point?
C.J.R. I think our biggest challenge right now is balancing growth, and staying honest to who we are as a brand. Grow the business in a way that doesn’t require us to make things only purely for sales, sort of balancing that and, like, creating things with intention and purpose because that’s why I love fashion.

J.M. Okay, I have a couple of fun questions for you… first up, what are you currently obsessed with?
C.J.R. I’m currently obsessed with Michaela Coel’s new HBO show “I May Destroy You.” I’m only on episode three, but I’m already, like, ob- sessed. Oh, and I am also obsessed with mezcal.

J.M. What is your guilty pleasure?
C.J.R. Double Stuffed Oreos.

J.M. And then what is on your bucket list of things that you want to do, see, or accomplish?
C.J.R. Actually, I would love to travel to Asia, I’ve never been. I’ve just heard really great stories that you come back, you know, a different person. And so I think to be able to go there would be really interesting.

Portrait by JACK BELLI

Jessica Michault 12/10/20 Jessica Michault 12/10/20

💭 Sergio Zambon & Veronica Leoni for ODDA Magazine

The date marks the birth year of the brand and the brief for Sergio Zambon and Veronica Leoni, who work on men’s wear and women’s wear respectively, has been to find original ways to pay homage to that heritage. The designers have been in charge of the 1952 line since the inception of the Moncler Genius project and ODDA spoke with both of them about how they were able to create a mind-meld with Moncler that was both a respectful nod to the house and also celebrated their own unique design skills.

This article first appeared in the ODDA Magazine 19th Issue “You, Me, and Everyone We Know”.

SERGIO ZAMBON & VERONICA LEONI

The designers have been in charge of the 1952 line since the inception of the Moncler Genius project and ODDA spoke with both of them about how they were able to create a mind-meld with Moncler that was both a respectful nod to the house and also celebrated their own unique design skills.

JESSICA MICHAULT. What was the best part of working with Moncler on this collection?
SERGIO ZAMBON. The best part was sharing with Remo Ruffini the idea of collaborating with a city for the collection and his prompt feedback in terms of excitement. It is such a great thing to have a good idea, sharing the ownership, then receiving positive feedback. Also, collaborating with different LA-based creatives, which was very challenging, but it was very exciting.

J.M. The tagline for Moncler is “born in the mountains, lives in the city.” Basically your interpretation of the idea was Los Angeles. How did you rethink that concept?
S.Z. I think L.A. represents the city near nature. You can go hiking in canyons around the city and you have the beach as well. L.A. has this side of mixing city and nature very easily, both geographically and culturally. On the other hand, you have Moncler, which really likes to live in big cities, so L.A. was the perfect place as it encapsulates both city, and nature.

J.M. You could have done anything with this collaboration. What made you want to tap into a city rather than a particular muse or epoch?
S.Z. The first thing that I thought of was, instead of collaborating with another brand or designer, why not a city? And I chose L.A. because I have never seen such a cultural transformation in a city; a lot of things are shifting there. I thought, “why don’t we collaborate with the city to make something creative that reflects its spirit?” To me, L.A. feels very alive and I felt very inspired by that. I met with a lot of creative people over the years when I traveled to L.A., and so it was really easy to have everything come together organically.

J.M. You went in a lot of different directions with this collection and the L.A. based people and brands you collaborated with. How difficult was it to blend all of those into a singular concept?
S.Z. When I am working in creative collaboration, the goal is to meet in the middle; to have a mutual goal and make it possible to create a common product within the seasonal collection of Moncler 1952. We are meeting in the middle of our individual creativity, while still respecting the iconic style of Moncler. It is a nice challenge.

J.M. What was your biggest surprise throughout the whole collaboration process?
S.Z. I was very surprised when I met Aaron Thompson, the designer of AD.iii. While I was at Maxfield in L.A., I spotted one of his necklaces there and I really liked it. I was talking with the salesperson about it and they said “well if you want, the designer is here if you would like to meet him.” So five minutes after I say I like this necklace, there I am talking with Aaron in the store! We had a conversation and we hit it off immediately; it was all very organic. I would say that was the biggest surprise.

J.M. You worked at Fendi for 12 years. What fundamentals did you take from that experience that you applied to this collection or your work in general?
S.Z. My technical foundation all came from my time working at Fendi. What I am doing at Moncler is a holistic approach to building a collection without any limits. It was this idea of collective mixing that I learned in Fendi, so there is no limit. I always respect the heritage of the company, but at Fendi, I inherited this eclectic and fun side of creativity for doing a collection. You start with the “sky’s the limit” and then you start pairing back from there until you have your final result.

J.M. What is your design process like?
S.Z. I attain a final vision by collecting images. For example, when I want to do Moncler with L.A., I want to represent the iconic period of L.A. with the youth movement. I start with the final vision I want to achieve and I envision the entire collection. Then, I go back into the details and go through the technical process. I start with the idea of a style, and what I mean by this is looking at the silhouette, maybe a period, and the colors. Colors are very important to me, they are something that I am working on right from the start, especially for Moncler.

J.M. Do you have a favorite piece from the collection?
S.Z. I like the Ikat green and white printed jacket and the white and cream-colored
corduroy down jacket.

J.M. How do you find that blend between the 70s aesthetic and the modern 2020 aesthetic that you wanted to achieve with this collection?
S.Z. Like I mentioned before, I like to start from a final vision and work my way back. I really like the hippie L.A. aesthetic from the 70s and to that, I added a touch of the 90s and a little bit of punk. I mixed the different tastes together which are related to the city; I mixed it with colors and different silhouettes. You can see the styles of the period but it is never overpowering because I translate it for Moncler in a contemporary way. It is important that you can see inspiration in the styles but it is never literal. But what makes it “now” is the way it is all mixed.

J.M. How has your background influenced the way you designed this collection?
S.Z. It is kind of a coincidence because my personal background is very mixed. My mom is Croatian, but she was born in Egypt and speaks French. My father is Italian but he was born in France. So already I had a quite eclectic start in life. I also traveled a lot and lived in lots of different countries. Also, in terms of my professional life, I worked at very different fashion companies. I learned all about luxury clothing at Fendi and MaxMara, then I learned about the contemporary market when I worked at Acne. The crossover between all of these things in my life, you can see, are layered into the designs that I am doing. It is never one thing. It is actually difficult to manage when I am starting a project. But I know from experience that eventually all of the pieces will come together.

JESSICA MICHAULT. How has your background influenced the way you designed this collection?
VERONICA LEONI. Since the very beginning of my collaboration with Moncler, I‘ve always walked the fine line of contamination between my creativity and the brand’s DNA. I used to do it in a very “raw” and spontaneous way without hiding the formula too well. Authenticity lays there; in the transparency of the process and the way the result can be surprising but recognizable in both directions.

J.M. What aspects of London did you fall in love with and how did that translate into this collection?
V.L. London to me is a special place in the world. It is a melting pot of so many different souls and cultures. It represents a “reliable” source of inspiration and a possibility to be whoever you want to be. London is able to provide the right answer season by season. Now that I’m not living there anymore, I try to go and spend a sort of Holy Week at the beginning of each season to kick-off and renew my inspiration and creativity! Its eclecticism and spirited attitude are definitely what I tried to keep alive while working on this collection.

J.M. You’ve successfully managed to bring together two very different aesthetics to create something entirely new. What sparked the idea to create this fusion?
V.L. Acting with fusion was actually the most spontaneous thing I did when I started working with Moncler. I thought the best way to inject newness and distinctiveness in the Moncler 1952 line was to keep it personal. And I just did what came out instinctively.

J.M. In this collection, you took on the iconic Moncler puffer. How hard was it to give a new slant to such a staple item, and one that is fundamentally linked to the house?
V.L. In a way, the Moncler puffer is a sort of iconic raw material that we designers are then given to rework and reimagine. After you build confidence with it, the rest is freedom and open to endless possibilities. This is what the Genius project is about after all!

J.M. I understand that your creativity is sparked when you push sartorial boundaries. Where did you ride the razor’s edge with this collection?
V.L. Ah, ah very true! I love to push sartorial boundaries! First of all, a sartorial wardrobe is a fundamental starting point in terms of archetypes and references for my inspiration. No matter what kind of fabric I’m going to use, I need it to define a certain attitude and a specific type of femininity. Look 3, 7, and 20 are definitely the outfits I pushed the farthest in this sense. They are a belted extra tailored black coat with stretchy down lining inside, a felted pied de poule wool car coat with a lacquer puffy gilet as the extra internal layer, and a puffy trench coat in shiny polyester satin.

J.M. Do you get to keep any of the pieces yourself? If so, is there a favorite you have from the collection?
V.L. I’m an obsessive collector of prototypes! And yes I’ve got some of the pieces from the latest collection, knitwear included. I’m still waiting to get the full outfit of look 11! The fake fur patchwork quilted coat is definitely my winter statement! Textures and layering are key elements of the way I designed 1952, and knitwear played a fundamental role; the extra lightweight yarns made it possible to create extremely chunky knits. I feel like it gives a very different energy to classical nylon looks, bringing it immediately into another universe. Also, I do love to wear a lot of knit, and I think it is a must-have in a modern feminine wardrobe.

J.M. How has the pandemic impacted your career as a designer, or is it too early to say?
V.L. The pandemic brought up a lot of thoughts on the personal side. Our industry will definitely be affected on many levels but I hope that it will be the designs of high quality and quality projects that will see the light at the end of the tunnel. On my side, I’m trying to stay as creative as I can; thinking outside of the box, and also being flexible and extremely open-minded. It’s an opportunity to improve, to make changes, and restart with awareness and responsibility.

J.M. Tell me a bit about how you collaborated with the initiative GIRL UP for this collection.
V.L. I have known about the GIRL UP initiative and the amazing work they have been doing for almost a decade now. I wanted the Genius project and Moncler to be part of it and Mr. Ruffini welcomed my proposal with open arms. He was very excited about it!

I loved the idea of making the Genius project not just a creative hub for different voices, but an active platform that is challenging the status quo and promoting differences and gender equality. I really hope, as a woman, what we are feeling now is the winds of change. That all of us, supporting and encouraging the next generations, will be able to achieve results which should be obvious at this point, but so far have yet to be part of our everyday life.

Guaranteeing access to education is not just key to empower future generations of girls,
it’s actually the first instrument to fight prejudice, violence, and hate; to build up a
better society where there won’t be any room for that sort of behavior. This cannot be
utopia anymore. We’ve all got the opportunity to be a part of the change!

J.M. What was the best part of working with Moncler on this collection?
V.L. I loved it all! Each step of the way!

Photographer and Stylist GEORGIA TAL
Hair CHRISTOS BAIRABAS
Make-up SOPHIA KOSSADA
Models LORENZO SARJAN, MARKO, ANNE ZARSKE and LULA
Special Thanks to D MODELS AGENCY

Jessica Michault 12/10/20 Jessica Michault 12/10/20

💭 Maria Grazia Chiuri in conversation with Alicia Keys for ODDA Magazine

Anyone who has a great new fashion idea knows that nothing beats having Carmen Busquets as your backer. The Venezuela born philanthropist and investor was one of the first to spot the potential of the fashion-tech arena. She was the founding investor in Net-a-Porter and, since then, had been an early supporter and investor of a number of now household name fashion tech brands like Moda Operandi, Farfetch, TagWalk, Business of Fashion and Lyst, just to name a few. Behind all of those investments was Busquets’ deep commitment to creating a more sustainable fashion industry; one that would leverage the data and the direct communication the online space could create with consumers, to help companies make smarter choices that would lead to less waste and more streamlined supply chains. Here, Busquetsmakes some predictions about the future of fashion, shares how being 60 percent deaf taught her how to read the body language of the people she met, and why she likes investing in female entrepreneurs.

This article first appeared in the ODDA Magazine 19th Issue “You, Me, and Everyone We Know”.

MARIA GRAZIA CHIURI IN CONVERSATION WITH ALICIA KEYS

Maria Grazia Chiuri, Christian Dior’s creative director, and singer Alicia Keys never
met before they connected for this conversation. But from the moment the two women began to chat, it was clear that they were kindred spirits in more ways than one. Not surprisingly, they are both big believers in finding ways to empower women, but they also bonded over their Italian heritage (Key’s mother is of Italian descent), the importance of keeping a journal, and how their work isn’t work, it’s a life’s calling.

JESSICA MICHAULT. As you both have never met before, I thought I would start things off by asking each of you how you first discovered the other’s work. So Alicia, how did you first become aware of Maria Grazia’s designs?
ALICIA KEYS. The coolest part is that a lot of times you admire people’s work and you don’t even know it’s them. I think that is what is so incredible when you see artists in all different realms and mediums and then you get to discover them. My favorite thing is to discover such a powerful woman behind such a powerful brand and essence. I prefer to call brands essences because it is an essence that you create, it is your essence that you bring to it. I love the part of discovering and finding very powerful, strong, creative, magnificent women behind greatness that you love. That
to me is the most fun thing.

J.M. What about you Maria? How did you discover Alicia’s music?
MARIA GRAZIA CHIURI. Alicia is so famous and I know her music very well. I am very impressed by her and she inspires me. I am always so interested in women artists who work in all sorts of different kinds of art. I think that it is really important that women express themselves through what they are passionate about. But it is not easy to do this. I hope that for the new generation of women, they will have more role models like Alicia, to look up to and be inspired by.

J.M. I feel like when you came to Dior you had a very clear vision of what you wanted to accomplish with your designs. But more than that, you wanted to make Dior a platform for bigger conversations about the role of women in the world. Can you talk to me a bit about that?
M.G.C. When I started at Dior, that was a very specific moment in my life because I was 52 years old and I had a certain maturity and understanding of who I am that I wanted to express myself in a particular way. At the time, people told me that Dior was a feminine brand. And I was fine with that, but I wanted to speak about femininity in a different way. That was the real starting point for me. I have a daughter that is at an age where I felt it was important to start the conversation
about how women, no matter what background they have, can still express themselves however they want and that they don’t have to fit into someone else’s perception of what femininity or even being a woman is.

J.M. Talking about female empowerment, I am curious when you, Alicia, felt like you really came into your own as a woman and accepted your power?
A.K. I think that because I started so young in the business, the first time that my first song and album came out, I was 18 years old; I was first signed when I was 14 years old. I had been spending a lot of time pretending that I was clear about what I wanted to do and trying to convince myself that I was strong enough to figure it out and get through it, in this very foreign world. I spent so much time pretending that I was strong and I could do it all, that finally, I convinced myself that I was strong and could do it all. And I was so young. I depended on a lot of people, a lot of older people that have a lot of experience. A lot of times I figured that they knew what was best.
Honestly, I would say that it has only been in the last four years that I actually, truly feel that I am in power and I actually understand what that means. I am clear about how to access it and I am confident enough to not be afraid of it. I am realizing that it is my daily prayer, how to be fearless, how to continue to know what my purpose is.

J.M. Maria Grazia, how do you continue to stay creative when you have so many collections you have to produce every year for Dior, and at such a fast pace? And then on the other side, Alicia, it has been about four years between your last albums and this new one. These creative processes are very different, and I am curious about how you two deal with them in terms of how time can create limits or be endless.
M.G.C. It’s true that fashion is a completely different way of working compared to making music. But honestly the speed isn’t the difficult part. I see every collection as a new project and each one of them is very exciting to me. I also have a team that I really like to work with. Sometimes the timing is very short, but I have to say Dior is a big company that is very well organized, which has helped me. I think it would be more difficult for a young designer that does not work for a company to keep up the same pace. The important thing for me is that what I create is exactly what I want. If you have a good company and brand, this is possible. I am very lucky to be in Dior.
A.K. I truly am fascinated by the extreme fast pace that designers have to keep up with and to make each collection happen. To be an individual at that pace requires a real perspective that is unheard of honestly. I think about that a lot. That is the thing, how do you find your truth and honor your uniqueness when you don’t have time to think about it? You don’t have time. You have to get it done.

I think it is particularly different for me maybe because I create everything. I create the music, I create the arrangements, I create the lyrics and so it does take some time. But I know that is what makes me unique and that is what makes me special. I would say it takes at least eight months to create a body of work. Then you have to create the visuals that go along with it, or decide how you are going to market it and basically how you are going to bring it to the world. Although you have partners to work on it with, you still have to make sure it’s telling the story you want to tell. It is
definitely a long process for sure but I think that is how it needs to be to create that magic.

J.M. Let’s talk a bit about passion. Both of you have known that you wanted to pursue your respective careers since you were very young. Maria Grazia, you watched your mother work as a dressmaker and Alicia, you have said that by the age of 4 you knew you were going to be a singer. What is it about what you do that is so fulfilling?
M.G.C. For me, it has just always been a part of my life. When people ask me “at what moment did I first realize I wanted to be a designer,” that is always very difficult because I believe that fashion grew inside of me my whole life. I don’t feel that I ever have to work. It is just part of my life. This is how my life is. I was born and raised in fashion.

A.K. Anything you love, I wouldn’t call it easy because there is a level of work and dedication. Nothing is just easy. But you are definitely driven, and you love it. You are excited about the challenge or what you can bring to it. I definitely agree about the passion for it. What draws me to it is that I never know how it is going to come together. I never know how it is going to happen.
Every time, I am in shock and awe of it. So that element of the unknown, and being shocked by it too. There are songs that I have done that are just okay, but I respect it because it is part of my journey. When you actually land something that you realize is really good, you just never know when that is going to come. So I think that is the beauty of it; it isn’t just a given. That makes me want to keep coming back to it.

J.M. Both of you collaborate on multiple levels. How do you balance the all-important collaborative side of things with staying true to your vision?
M.G.C. For me, collaboration is first a conversation. I like to speak with other artists.
That is what interests me, to see other points of view. I think that this is a way to improve my work but also a way to reflect on what I do. I especially like having conversations with other women because my point of view on fashion is that it is something more than just clothes, it is also about your relationship with your body.
Clothes are the first home for our bodies so we have to think deeply about that
important connection.

A.K. First of all, I am so honored to be speaking with you Maria, and connect like this. Collaboration is such an interesting process because at first, I never collaborated; I had one person that I trusted very much and that was it. I never wanted to write a song with another person. I felt so shy and vulnerable because any creative space is precious and too many people’s opinions in that space can really change your direction even if you don’t realize it.
That way of doing things lasted for about six years over three albums. Then I started to become more open to a lot of things, and one of them became collaborations. I wanted to explore what it felt like to be in an uncomfortable space or to work with people that I did admire and see what could come from it. From that, I really started to enjoy it.
Recently, I have started to come back to this place of creating a personal space for myself, because it is really rewarding to listen to yourself and to have your own space and creation. Now I have a little balance to want to have space to create and be with just myself. It is really important to hone your own voice and skills. It is something you have to work on. You have to do that by yourself sometimes, and that has been a really good reminder for me.

J.M. Alicia, this has been a very busy year for you. At the start of it, you debuted an autobiography-esque book and now you have an album coming out. I am curious what it was like for you to write the book and how did that process affect your album?
A.K. They really belonged together; the book and the album. The book is about the process that I am describing of finding the way to yourself and not losing that, but first finding it. So many of us don’t find it. We spend so much time trying to please everybody. But when do you know what you actually think? How are you going to stand in it and hold true to it even when people don’t like it? The book took so long to write, but you can’t rush that stuff.
The album that is coming out, “Alicia,” took about two years for it to all come together, and the book took about two years as well. The processes were kind of parallel in that way. I talked about the music in the book because a lot of it I was creating simultaneously and a lot of it was coming from experiences of finding more of myself. Even when I journal every morning, I find it clarifies so much. When you write things down, it matters.

M.G.C. I write a lot when I do collections. For each collection, I write in a book the
things I don’t want to forget. It helped me to maintain the point of the collection. I
bet that must help you with your music because through the writing you reflect on
what you did in your life and what you want to do in the future. You have a vision
about yourself when you write.

J.M. Maria Grazia, one of the things I appreciate about what you are doing at Dior is that there is a throughline between all of your collections. There are shapes and ideas that are revisited each season instead of something totally new every time so that you don’t get sartorial whiplash.
M.G.C. I have a very specific idea about my vision about the new generation for Dior.
I want to move this brand in the future. Also, even if I have to do different collections, the vision is one vision. My conversation is about the new generation of women. I think we should support women with our work so they can express themselves. I hope when women arrive in Dior, they can relate to the style. I think that many people in fashion made the mistake of trying to impose a certain way of dressing or looking. What I want to do is to not have a “model” woman. I want to
create different ways to use fashion to help women feel good about themselves and
express who they are, not who Dior is.

A.K. Maria, I think that is huge, because we are what we see. There is so much out there that is trying to dictate what is beautiful or current or what society leans towards. It is really beautiful to break that norm and be encouraging of women expressing who they truly are. That is why it is so important that more and more women are taking up leadership roles. Women think differently, they see the world differently. You as the designer of Dior remind me why women should be in creative places and in the places that really help shape the structure and philosophies of the
world.

J.M. In the midst of this pandemic and global social injustice issues that are finally being brought to the foreground of our collective consciousness, how do both of you feel about the future?
M.G.C. It is very difficult to answer this. When I started in Dior, after the first show everyone asked me if I was a political designer. My answer was, “everything is political.” For example, sustainability is a very complex issue because we have to think about the environment, but we also have to take into consideration the jobs of the people who we work with. We just have to make the best choices we can in an honest way. We have to find a good balance between the different aspects. There is
no singular solution because it is very complex.
I think education is very important. It’s only when you have an education that you can truly be free in life. What you learn, no one can ever take that away from you. It’s yours forever and that is a very powerful thing. And speaking about power, power means responsibility. Some people think having power means you can do whatever you want. But power really means responsibility for the other. I think women, we have a different relationship with power. Women can help people understand what true power means, to take care of the other.

A.K. We are in a very transformative time. It is like a boiling pot that has reached the highest point and it is overflowing. There is no stopping it and you can’t turn off the fire because the fire has been oppressed for so long, that there are no more options left anymore. It is a time that is challenging us to be awake. We have been really sleepy and cozy in bed. It is time to get up, get out of bed and ask ourselves some hard questions. How are we holding ourselves accountable? How are we actually
starting these dialogues and conversations that create the awareness and understanding that have been missing for so long, deeply rooted issues at the core of America and the world?
To me, it is time to even the scales and it has been long enough with this deep imbalance of racist ideals that have run rampant. There are so many good people and so much desire to shift that and we do that step by step from a personal standpoint. We have to be conscious enough of what we are doing. It is an awakening and there is a ton of stuff that has to be addressed. We are not allowed to be asleep anymore. It is time to wake up.

All by DIOR, FALL/WINTER 2020-21COLLECTION
This interview and images are part of ODDA 19 “You, Me, And Everyone We Know” published by September 2020.

Photographer MALICK BODIAN
Fashion Editor MARIAELENA MORELLI
Model JOURDAN DUNN
Make-up Artist ALEX BABSKY @premier using DIOR BEAUTY
Hair Stylist ISSAC POLEON @futurerep
Nail Artist KATE WILLIAMSON
Production APRIL PRODUCTION
Digital Operator MATT REAY
Conversation curated by JESSICA MICHAULT
Photographer Assistant JOSH PAYNE
Fashion Assistant SOFI CHETRAR
Hair Stylist Assistant MURIEL COLÉ
Retouching CHARLY CALDERÓN and DIGI ART

Jessica Michault 12/10/20 Jessica Michault 12/10/20

💭 Carmen Busquets for ODDA Magazine

This article first appeared in the ODDA Magazine 19th Issue “You, Me, and Everyone We Know”.

CARMEN BUSQUETS

JESSICA MICHAULT. I remember when we were both on the stage with Suzy Menkes in Brazil at the IHT luxury conference back in 2011 talking about the future of fashion. Now almost a decade later, how are you feeling about the amazing changes you have helped to make happen in the world?
CARMEN BUSQUETS. I feel excited. This is only the beginning. It is a reaffirmation that digital is here to stay, just as I was saying back then. I love experimenting, incubating, and investing as well as advising on ideas that are in the early stages. I’m always looking ahead, envisaging the future, and the one thing I care about much more than making money is creating impactful and meaningful change—especially as a single woman who worked hard for her money and who chose not to have children. My goal is to sow seeds and I know that each time any of us do something powerful, the industry takes note and listens. Once an idea has become an accepted principle for our lifestyle and evolution—some- times it can take as long as 15 years for this to happen—I like to move on to the next thing, but only once the idea has become reality. The secret to new ideas succeeding is more about timing, luck and building the right team rather than about the found- ers themselves and the money. Good ideas never die. Anyone who has a great new fashion idea knows from 2015 onwards. As my activist, humanitarian, and philanthropic work grew, I decided to invest less in early stage companies and started joining the boards and supporting founders who had created their own Venture Capital funds such as Felix Capital, Susa Ventures, Imaginary Ventures, Kindred and Fernbrook.

J.M. Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn’t that about the time you were launching your e-commerce boutique, CoutureLab? I feel like that was a place where you could really test out your ideas and get clarity about where you wanted to focus your energy next. Is that right?
C.B. I actually came up with the idea for CoutureLab in 2001 and registered it as a business the same year. Natalie [Massenet] helped me do it as I did not know back then how to register the name online. It was an opportunity for me to continue helping emerging designers by including and creating awareness for those who were not part of the fashion industry, and by offering clients the possibility to pre-order or place bespoke orders from them. I had started doing this through my store Cabus (in Caracas, Venezuela), but with CoutureLab I could expand the scope and reach a global network of small entrepreneurs, artists, and artisans working across fashion, lifestyle, and different cultures. The concept was to promote timeless fashion and style that went beyond trends, to tell the stories behind the products and the artisans that made them, and to help empower the communities those artisans belonged to. No one really understood what I was doing at the start, but today I see a part of CoutureLab in every company and every philanthropic organization I am involved in. I closed CoutureLab in 2014 when I realized that if you want to make a real impact—the way I want to—you need to move fast. You cannot have a heavy, complicated structure that slows you down. I decided I could make a greater impact by active involvement in philanthropic initiatives such as Glasswing International, Nest, Pacunam, the Fashion Trust Arabia and the BFC Fashion Trust, and by building coalitions between public sector institutions, the private sector, corporate donors and private donors, as I have done with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

J.M. What is the combination of traits you are looking for in a company and founder for you to invest in them?
C.B. When I used to in- vest, I would look for strong founders who were willing to go all the way to succeed—but who understood that, in order to do so, they needed to recognize their own limitations and surround themselves with a good team of people who were successful in the areas they were not. A good founder needs to be willing to listen to the advice of people who have a proven track record. I don’t invest in founders who make their business too dependent upon themselves and if I have already invested in them, I stop investing if I find out they don’t have the courage to create something bigger than themselves because they are afraid of letting go of control. A great example of a founder who possesses the right combination of all these traits is Natalie Massenet. She and I grew up together as business women and she has everything I admire in a founder.

J.M. You have invested in many companies where women were the founders. Is that a strategic choice?
C.B. Most of my co-investors are men so I prefer to empower women founders. Some women think we have already reached full empowerment, but we still have a long way to go. We currently live in a world where it is estimated that 35 percent of women have experienced either physical or sexual violence at some point in their lives. Latin America is reported to have some of the highest rates of violence against women in the world, with six countries from the region representing 81 percent of cases globally and as a Latin woman, it is in my roots to want to help other women. And I know how tough it is to be a woman in the world of financial investors so I feel the need to protect them. It is the mother in me.

J.M. I understand that you are 60 percent deaf. Can you talk a bit about how this fact has shaped you and how you see the world?
C.B. Although I was born 60 percent deaf, I did not become fully aware of it until I was 23. I would often tell people I thought there was something wrong with my hearing but people didn’t believe me which undoubtedly led me to develop a level of resilience in order to get by. Growing up, it also taught me to observe people in great detail, so that I could pick up on mannerisms in order to understand them. I felt a great deal of relief when I received my diagnosis at age 23. Being aware of my limitations allowed me to accept what I couldn’t do and find peace with myself. However, overall, I think people struggle more to understand me than the other way round!

J.M. Your work has reportedly helped to create over 10,000 jobs. How does that accomplishment feel? Is it what you are most proud of or is there some other achievement that you hold dearer to your heart?
C.B. I was able to help create these jobs thanks to a collective effort which involves the found- ers of the companies I have invested in and all their teams. I didn’t create the jobs alone. It’s all about the coalitions we create and the impact we can make. A great example of a powerful coalition I helped to form was when I was working on a complex conservation project in Bhutan with the WWF and we needed to set up partnerships between the Royal Government of Bhutan, the Green Climate Fund, and several foundations and private donors. The project would not have come to fruition without this collective effort. I am not comfortable with the word “proud.” Pride is something I feel for others and what they are able to achieve. In my life I have been privileged to be able to help people and it makes me proud to see them succeed in their mission. There are two particular non-profit organizations which I am on the board of as part of my philanthropy work that have excelled. Glasswing International, which has managed to impact more than 1 million lives since they set up in 2007. They work with disadvantaged children and youth across 10 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as migrant youths in NYC, by offering them access to education and opportunities to allow them to escape the cycles of poverty and violence they come from. And then there is Nest, which aims to empower artisans across the world by increasing workforce inclusivity, improving women’s wellbeing, and correcting gender and income imbalance. So far they have been able to impact over 700 artisans in 100 countries with their work. A personal achievement I hold dear to my heart was when, in 2010, I chose between the love for my father and the love for my career at Net-a-Porter. When my father decided to leave Net-a-Porter’s board, I knew I would never find a partner who I could trust as much as I trusted him to replace him. It was an extremely difficult decision to make as it meant having to let go of my power in the company and to come to terms with the fact I was 40 and he was 80. Any accomplishment in my life has been thanks to my father and I am proud I was able to choose gratitude and loyalty over greed and ambition.

J.M. At what point did your focus in investments turn more towards sustainability and how fashion was impacting the environment?
C.B. My interest in sustainability comes from the way I was brought up and it is something that has always been part of who I am since I was a kid. One of our family homes is a tree farm in an area protected by UNESCO and part of their World Network of Biosphere Reserves since 1978. I have always been focused on sustainability and I created CoutureLab to address and create awareness in the fashion industry on this issue. I later decided to invest in internet-based companies to give a voice to individuality and because the old retail model was costly, inefficient, and just not sustainable. To become more effective, retail needs to adopt smart customer analysis—like Tagwalk and Lyst do—to have better sell through rates at full price. This is how I ran Cabus and later Net-a-Porter. I have never liked the way department stores in America grew and managed luxury fashion, discounting stock every three months. It was a problem back when I was 22, when I was at Net-a-Porter, and when I started with Farfetch and Moda Operandi. I am glad things are balancing out now.

J.M. Tell me more about the Bhutan for Life initiative and why it spoke to you.
C.B. I have a deep inner spiritual and emotional connection with Bhutan. The Queen Mother is a friend and mentor to me and I have visited the country often over the years, making countless friends that feel like extended family. Bhutan for Life is an innovative conservation initiative made possible by partnerships between the Royal Government of Bhutan, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Green Climate Fund, and several foundations and private donors. It was of interest to me because of its intention to help the country balance national economic growth with cultural preservation, environmental sustainability, and social development. It is a strategic and long- term initiative designed to ensure that the country will remain economically and environmentally sustainable. The $43 million we raised for Bhutan will safeguard 2 million hectares of land which will not only benefit Bhutan, but its neighbors and the wider world too. We hope to replicate the approach in Bhutan to other countries, and last year completed a similar project in Peru. In Africa, we are working with partners to as- sess the possibility of implementing this model in Namibia to provide a long-term sustainable future for the communal conservancies.

J.M. There are so many different things that need to be done to help the world and the fashion industry, become sustainable. What areas do you think need the most attention? Where do you think you can help bring about real change—now?
C.B. Recycling waste materials for one thing and growing local manufacturing workforces. This will provide employment in the countries where the brands are based and save transport related carbon emissions. Also, giving back to the artisans that provide a source of inspiration. This can be achieved either by helping them sell their hand-made artifacts, or if you used their culture to be inspired, then you can at least help by funding education programs for their communities, or inviting them to come and teach their artisan’s techniques to your creative workers, seamstresses, or fashion students in the Western world. By expropriating artisans’ craft, we are stealing from them. We need to strike a relation- ship that will empower them by giving meaning and value to their lives and traditions, inviting them to explore ours and teach us which will empower them too.

J.M. The fashion industry is finally being forced to become more sustainable because of the grassroots movement of customers demanding it, asking brands to be accountable. What more should customers be doing to help bring about change faster?
C.B. Customers have changed and fashion needs to follow. Customers need to use this moment of introspection to expand their awareness of what is happening and how the fashion industry is operating. They now have the privilege of technology to access endless information as well as it being a vehicle for them to speak out. All of this can bring about powerful change.

J.M. We are now in 2020. A new decade and already so many paradigm-shifting events have taken place. Where do you want to focus your energy now?
C.B. I plan to continue growing my activist, humanitarian, and philanthropic roles, building coalitions to create impactful and meaningful change that will be good for the planet and a positive step forward for humanity.

Portrait of CARMEN BUSQUETS courtesy of OLEG COVIAN
Coat and Trousers HAIDER ACKERMANN.
Rings URBAN ZEN DONNA KARAN.
Table RICK OWENS, Totem ETTORE SOTTSASS, Artwork on the wall OLIVIER MILLAGOU, “Parasol” Painting, 2016.

Jessica Michault 12/10/20 Jessica Michault 12/10/20

💭 David De Rothschild for ODDA Magazine

Nature has always been David de Rothschild’s happy place. Ever since he was a child the outside world called to him, and in the end he made helping Mother Nature his life’s calling. For decades de Rothschild has traveled the globe as an adventurer and environmentalist. Today he consults with many luxury brands on how to make their business more sustainable. That is what led him to be an ambassador for Gucci’s “Off The Grid” sustainable capsule collection as well as the impetus behind something he likes to call “Cause Corp,” a new environment-centric approach to commerce.

This article first appeared in the ODDA Magazine 19th Issue “You, Me, and Everyone We Know”.

DAVID DE ROTHSCHILD

JESSICA MICHAULT. Going all the way back, what was your first connection to nature or your fascination with the outside world and the environment?
DAVID DE ROTHSCHILD. I think the first real memories were growing up on the farm outside of London. I just always felt way more comfortable outside than inside. It has always been my natural place of comfort. I would be running around as a kid, going around and exploring, coming in covered in grass stains and cuts, bringing in sticks that were imaginary things like wands or an intergalactic gun that could shoot invaders. I was very close with my brother so we would go off to make camps and throw stones at each other. We did all things that young boys do, given the opportunity in a privileged upbringing to have that space and freedom to go and do that. That stays in your spirit. It is not something I take for granted because the natural world is becoming increasingly more difficult or more divided. We talk about the divisions in society. We talk about access to resources, education, health, and jobs. It is interesting to me that one of the things that are really devoid of that conversation is the access to nature. It is such a divided reality.

J.M. Do you think sustainability will go on the back burner as luxury brands try and recoup the losses caused by the pandemic, or do you think it is going to be even more of a driving force moving forward?
D.R. I do not think it is necessarily one or the other. Nature sent us to our rooms to reflect. If this is not a telltale sign of how we have mistreated the natural environment or pushed ourselves to the brink of the resilience of nature, I don’t know what is. If you read the reports, they have said for years that there will categorically be a rise of pandemics and viruses due to an infringement on the natural world. From monocropping to removing biodiversity, it is happening verbatim. What is sad is that clearly the overwhelming narrative is the economy, jobs, and self-interest. In some way, what makes us different from other species is our power to predict the future. Our prefrontal cortex gives us the power of foresight because it is always going to be driven by profit and the shareholders. If you have a publicly listed company with influence inside the company that is trying to maximize profits at all costs, then there is an antagonistic and prediction, which is apparently different from all other animals. They are not thinking ahead as we do. We have this power of foresight and we’ve predicted a lot of the things that have happened but the irony is that we have not enacted upon any of them. We have been sent to our rooms and we see this reflection of ourselves. What has been really disheartening to me is how quickly this has all turned into a conspiracy theory. This is not just a virus in isolation. This is our relation- ship with diversity, humans, global security, education, and health; it is very complex. What we do is we default to something that is linear and simple. That is why in some ways, nature and its complexity intimidates us. It is very hard to get someone’s attention for that long and really dive into how to unravel this weathered life. What happens is we get overwhelmed and we retreat. Self-interest comes back in and nothing is more self-interesting than survival. As much as there is empathy towards the natural world, the environmental conversation does get pushed down. I think environmentalism is going to get pushed, which is where corporations step in. This is where corporations have to look at the longer-term game.

J.M. You have talked about in the past something called “Cause Corp.” Can you unpack that for me?
D.R. I started The Lost Explorer [company] originally as an experiment to look at the relationship between commerce and conservation if they could co-exist. I knew the normal steps of a sustainable brand, but I started to re-evaluate the economics of what really is the intention of a company. Then it is going to be very hard to perceive how they could be a holistically sustainable enterprise relationship. The biggest step is realizing when enough is enough. When can a company be rewarded not just for how big it is or how much profit it can make, but by how much impact it can have and how much positivity it can put back into the world? The construct of a company used to come from the idea of a community. What role does the company play now? How can we use the model of economics and a corporation to change the methodologies of not just putting money back into the shareholders but putting money back into society? For example, if Patagonia is all about the planet, let’s say their bag division makes 30 million dollars a year. You could donate all of those funds to become a “Cause Corporation” where 100 percent of the proceeds go back into protecting parks. They get a huge tax write-off so they are happy about that. They are using the same tools as a corporation in regards to saving money. At the same time, they are still selling bags and doing everything they want to do, but every time you buy a bag, 100 percent of the proceeds after expenses goes back to nature. So now every year, you are creating $30 million dollars for the park services. We are trying to figure out a way to help people transition and how to set up the right methodology.

J.M. During this pandemic, it seems that the mindset is changing in terms of consumption; buy less, buy better, and support organizations or smaller brands. What do you think about this?
D.R. I hope this is true. Maybe brands start to say that if you cannot afford this jacket we will give you 50 percent off if you volunteer. So the way brands interact with consumers could change in the future. There doesn’t always need to be a monetary exchange to have things. Hopefully we will see a lot of really positive things come out of this. We will see a lot of innovation and people changing the way they view the world.

J.M. Talk to us about your collaboration with Gucci. What made you decide you were going to put your face on the brand’s “Off The Grid”sustainable capsule collection that is part of the company’s Circular Lines production project?
D.R. I went to a talk last year at Gucci’s headquarters, I threw out this idea that if you are going to use animals in advertising, why not donate money back to the animal or cause. I threw this out at the end of this talk and the CEO of Gucci, Marco Bazzari, comes up to us and says “thank you, that is a great idea! I want to talk to you about doing all these things.” I sat down with him and he took me through the whole company; what their vision is for sustainability and what they are doing. I sat there and was like “wow.” For a massive company, I am truly impressed. Can they do more? Yes. Can I do more? Yes. We can all do more. As a company, when you start to look at the levers they are pulling, and the influence and depth they have, I realized it was really exciting. They are not only helping to pull those levers, but they are also not afraid to have conversations that might be uncomfortable for them. They know when they are making mistakes. They put their hands up and ask for help. How do you remove certain materiality across your supply chain? How do you change diversity across your group? How do you look at the future of what a company like yours could do and how it acts? A lot of companies say that “it is too far ahead” but I was so impressed with their commitment to say that they do not know, but they are going to start on that journey and it will take them somewhere. It sounds very simple but it does not happen. I have seen it in so many companies. It is way better than doing nothing. They have started to figure out the voices and programs. It is across everything, not just the environment. There is a momentum here about doing things right. They are not afraid of doing things wrong, to do things right. They were willing to listen. Listening is such a big skill, and when a corporation listens, acts upon that advice and starts to do things differently, it is truly inspiring. I feel like I have to keep pinching myself because the line of communication and the team is really short. That is so rare. If I want to send a message to the CMO about some ideas, it is never “we’ll get to that.” They actually do look into that. Maybe I am drinking the Gucci Kool-Aid but I love it.

J.M. When I had my first daughter, my whole worldview shifted. You just had your first child. When that happened, did you have any realizations, epiphanies or perhaps became even more dedicated to sustainability and environmental actions than before?
D.R. It adds a sense of urgency. It is probably the most stupendous thing you can do when you know what lies ahead, [have a child] but it is one of the most important motivators for me now. There is hopefully a world where she can see a Rhino in the wild, or a world where she does not have to wear a face mask everyday, not just because of the virus, but because the air is actually breathable. Humanity has the amazing potential to rally and do incredible things. We have this unrivaled curiosity that is limitless which can produce some of the most beautiful things. We are so incredible and that is just the frustration. If we could for one second think about how much money is spent on defense, 1.7 trillion is spent on war. Then you take the amount of money that subsidizes the fossil fuel industry, the very industry that is killing us and our ability to live on this planet. By the way, eight of the largest plastic companies are also owned by oil and gas companies, 20 percent of oil is going into plastic, it is more than transport. That is why we are not getting rid of plastic. It is connected to a very powerful industry. The IMF predicts that $3.4 trillion dollars every year is going in subsidies in the oil and gas industry. If we pause for one second on shooting bombs at each other and put that money along with the oil and gas money into transition away from those products, you are talking about nearly $5 trillion dollars a year. You could start to actually do some really meaningful work towards just eliminating the carbon footprint from aviation and transport. You could move it to completely green mobility.

J.M. For me hope lies in the idea that new technology and nature will have a symbiotic relationship. Maybe tech is the only way we can turn this all around if we only have 10 years left like some believe. What are your thoughts on that?
D.R. I think it is going to be tech but at the same time none of that technology will matter if we cannot legislate, activate, and eradicate old systems. We have got to get rid of them and say it is okay, do not penalize if a company does not make a huge return to the stock market because it is transitioning to something positive. Allow them to do that. Allow them to make those choices that will be better for the longer term and make it more sustainable. Allow that technology to be put into the marketplace because it works. But we have to stop subsidizing the competition to that technology that people can still use. As we seal these massive statements such as “by 2030, we will be carbon neutral.” That is 10 years. Does it really take 10 years to be carbon neutral? I mean, Gucci did it in a year. It is very easy to make statements but it is much harder to act upon those statements today. It is a bit like we were kids. You have all summer to do homework, but you do it the very last week before you get back to school and it is a nightmare, you leave it to the last minute. If there was a meteorite that was going to smack onto the planet on a certain date, we would all work around the clock to figure out how to stop it. It is hard to get people motivated by something that is so far away. We only work under pressure. I think that is going to be the tug and pull between the old world and the transition to the new world. But there is a group of very aware kids who are coming through, who are developing new projects and ideas. Things are changing and they will change quickly. But our planet is changing and it is changing much quicker than anyone ever predicted. So we have to meet at both ends to sort of activate things. I am trying to be truly optimistic but I get really sad because it is all there; every solution to the problems we face already exist.

Image from GQ.

CHARLES JEFFREY

SARAH ANDELMAN

KAORU IMAJO

CHRISTOPHER JOHN ROGERS

SERGIO ZAMBON & VERONICA LEONI

MARIA GRAZIA CHIURI IN CONVERSATION WITH ALICIA KEYS

CARMEN BUSQUETS

DAVID DE ROTHSCHILD

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