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

💭 Carmen Busquets 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”.

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.

Jessica Michault 7/26/20 Jessica Michault 7/26/20

🎙️ Marine Serre

When you meet Marine Serre for the first time, it is hard not to notice; or maybe a better word would be feel, the pent up energy in her diminutive frame. It is easy to understand why she spent years as a child playing tennis at almost a professional level before turning her drive towards design. You can practically see the wheels turning in her head as if she is doing a million things at once. And yet...and I don’t know exactly how... Marine also has a reserved shyness about her. It is a potent and powerful combination that honestly just makes you want to get to know her better.

With all that has happened in the world in the past six months, Marine’s fashion seems almost Cassandra-like. Her signature house is built on the concept of using up-cycled materials to make her garments - and then she presents them in post-apocalyptic themed runway shows., often with her models wearing face masks and gloves, carrying reusable water bottles and armbands made into mini backpacks. Fashion, including her now iconic demi-lune motif full bodysuits, that seem purposely designed with protection from the elements in mind.

The 27-year-old designer was born in the little village of Corrèze in France but by the age of 14 she had left home to pursue her love of art and fashion. She went on to attend the famed La Cambre fashion and design academy in Belgium, graduating with honors in 2016. Then came a string of internships at top houses like Alexander McQueen, Maison Margiela, and Dior before Marine landed a junior designer job at Balenciaga. And it was while she was still working at Balenciaga that, to her surprise and no one else’s, she won the top LVMH Prize in 2017. The youngest designer ever to hold that honor.

Since then, Marine has been on fire. Using all of that crackling energy of hers to expand the number of lines she produces each season to celebrate different aspects of her up-cycling creative esthetic. She also has added into the mix a menswear line, has done collaborations with the likes of Nike and has seen her work worn by global powerhouse females like Beyonce, the group Black Pink and Dua Lipa.

Just on a technical side note, I did want to let all you listeners know that Marine and I did our interview before the global pandemic put the world into confinement, and kept me from accessing this audio recording. So I hope you enjoy taking an auditory trip back in time. When the world was much more innocent and before Marine’s sartorial philosophy became the new normal.

Jessica Michault 5/4/20 Jessica Michault 5/4/20

🎙️ Burak Cakmak

Burak Cakmak, the Dean of Fashion at Parsons School of Design in New York is a man with a mission. His entire career has been in the pursuit of making the fashion world more streamlined, socially responsible, and sustainable.

Born in Turkey during a time when the country was a closed market and under a single-party rule, Burak saw first hand what it was like to live and survive with minimal options in front of him. As the country opened up, so did Burak’s eyes to what the outside world had to offer, and through education, he grabbed it with both hands. Studying political science and getting an MBA. His thirst for knowledge pulled him towards California and the tech world. But the impact of his formative years led him down a different path, one headed towards the field of sustainability.

During his career, he has helped to shape the social responsibility strategy for Gap, Kering, and the Swarovski Group. Each job bringing forth new challenges and opportunities to educate and enlighten some of the fashion industry’s biggest movers and shakers.

Then in 2016 Burak decided that instead of trying to change the current state of sustainability at established brands, he wanted to go to the true source of the fashion supply chain and became the Dean of Fashion at Parsons. This is his first role in the world of academia and over the last 4 years, he has reworked the school’s fashion focus, giving it a broader and more inclusive vision. And he challenged traditional customs with innovative thinking to help ignite a fire of social responsibility in his students. Students who will, of course, be the fashion leaders of the future.

I particularly wanted to talk with Burak now, as the world is facing a pandemic paradigm shift. To hear from him how he sees the future of fashion taking shape. And it was a relief to me to hear someone who is such a realist being so optimistic about where we go from here.

Just on a technical side note, I did want to let all you listeners know that - as is the new normal these days - Burak and I did our interview over Zoom Video. So don’t be surprised by a couple of very minor audio issues. And if you happen to be more of a visual learner, feel free to head over to my signature YouTube channel to watch the video version of this podcast in action.

Ok, now let’s listen to Burak let us in on what the future holds for us.

Jessica Michault 3/20/20 Jessica Michault 3/20/20

🎙️ Dana Thomas

Dana Thomas is a dyed in the wool, true blue journalist. She lives it, breaths it and consumes it every day. She is the Woodward and Bernstein or the Ronan Farrow, if you will, of the fashion industry. Her deep dive, investigative books into the inner workings of the fashion world have earned her the respect of her peers and I am sure, when she comes knocking, a few shivers of fear down the spine of at least a couple of CEOs during her career.

In 2007 she published the New York Times bestseller, "Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster" which explored the dark side of the multi-billion-dollar business and exposed the hidden secrets that luxury brands didn’t want to have see the light of day. Then in 2015 she published “Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano”. In that book, Thomas explored how two of the most creative and influential designers of the past 30 years cracked under the pressure of the 24/7 incessant demands of a business built on always coming up with the next big thing, must-have accessory and the designer as superstar approach to creating a global fashion powerhouse.

And now Thomas is back with another timely and on-point book called “Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes”. This time she examines the damage wrought by the global clothing industry and the role that sustainably, accountability, fair trade and transparency must take if the world of fashion wants to stay viable in the coming decades as the needs of the consumers and the climate both change.

After a year in Paris working as a model, Thomas moved back to the United States to start her award-winning career by cutting her teeth in journalism writing for the Style section of The Washington Post. She then returned to Paris and was, for fifteen years, a cultural and fashion correspondent for Newsweek in the city of light. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, and Architectural Digest, just to name a few. And in 2016, the French Minister of Culture named her a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters.

I met up with Thomas in her home in the 7th arrondissement in Paris. There, surrounded by her collection of rare and out of print fashion books, with her dog Daisy at her feet and her daughter Lucie studying in the next room, we talked about her new book, her life long love of fashion and her ability to spot a seminal story before anyone else.

Image of Dana Thomas credit goes to Nick Gregan.