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All in Interviews
Tamu McPherson is lovely inside and out. In the world of fashion, she is known as much for her joyful, friendly and outgoing nature as she is for her exquisite taste in clothing and her talent as a photographer.
Mary Kantratzou is a fashion designer who has built a highly successful independent business by transforming everyday items in the world around us into vibrant prints that have been at the foundation of her collage-style clothing. Trompe l’oeil garments that have reimagined images of everything from perfume bottles, banknotes and paint by numbers kits to postage stamps, insects and topiary. Her outfits are sartorial feats of daring, designed to stand out from the crowd. When a woman slips on one of her outfits she is instantly metamorphized into someone to be reckoned with, because who else would take on a Kantratzou creation?
If there is one person more dedicated to fashion coverage than me, it might just be photographer Phil Oh (AKA Mr. Street Peeper) who is a fixture outside pretty much every fashion show under the sun. He is there (alongside Tommy Ton and Scott Schuman) rain or shine, morning or night, fall, winter, spring or summer.
Sigourney Weaver is an icon and a role model for women across the globe. Not just for the breadth and width of her work as an actress in films as varied as the Alien and Avatar series as well as Gorillas in the Mist, The Ice Storm, Galaxy Quest and Dave; but also in the way she has lived her life and career fully on her own terms. Weaver has worked consistently over the past 40 years while raising a daughter alongside her husband of over 30 years, stage director Jim Simpson. If she has one defining characteristic, it is her endless curiosity about the world around her. And it is this inquisitiveness that makes her such a delight to watch on screen and to speak with in person.
You know that classic line…about looking up a word in the dictionary and you would find a photo of a particular person there, as an embodiment of said word? Well, in the case of Ines de la Fressange if you looked up the words Parisian chic in the dictionary you might actually find a photo of her there.
Eugenia de la Torriente is the incredibly articulate and fashion savvy editor in chief of Vogue Spain and is considered to be one of the most respected fashion voices in Spain. Before she got her current gig at Vogue last year, she was editor-in-chief of the Spanish edition of Harper’s Bazaar, as well as fashion editor of El Pais, and editor of El Pais Semanal.
IKEA is a brand that is no stranger to collaborations. It’s a company that loves to elevate everyday item to artwork, while still making those designer home designs something accessible even for the first time home owner, young adult or student setting out on their own.
Marcelo Burlon a fashion designer somehow seems so limiting. This is a man who doesn’t shy away from a challenge and, more importantly, whatever project he is working on he comes at it with such a sense of positivity, playfulness and joy that it’s no surprise that he has been so successful.
As far as first impressions go Paul Andrew knows how to make an impact. On the top floor of the Salvatore Ferragamo headquarters in Milan he greets me inside a giant glass veranda. There, the city’s rooftops frame an impressive display of his first shoe collection for the house.
Stephanie Phair, the chief strategy officer at luxury online marketplace Farfetch, has been in the news lately because she was just appointed as the new Chair of the British Fashion Council, succeeding Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massenet, who stepped down in December 2017 after five years in the role.
I was lucky enough to be a moderator of a panel that Adam Pritzker, the Chairman and CEO, Assembled Brands, was on at the famed Fashion Tech Forum conference that took place in Los Angeles. The event was hosted by the renowned Karen Harvey, who founded the Karen Harvey Consulting Group and is known for her ability to make high level connections between fashion and tech companies around the globe.
The clothing that Phoebe Philo creates for Celine has often been described as wearable artwork. She elevates the everyday wardrobe of modern women to a place where it feels both relevant and yet revolutionary. And from the beginning of her time at the house she has found creative ways to incorporate inspirations from other artists into her sartorial universe.
The first thing you notice about Paula is her smile. It is always there...from ear to ear…honestly she is one of the most positive, up beat people you are likely to meet working in fashion. And her colorful headquarters in Milan, where we did this podcast interview, beautifully reflects her personality. As do her vibrant shoes and her eye catching bags, with their very distinctive clasp.
Fausto Puglisi is a designer who embraces life with both hands. Born in Sicily he is one of fashion’s big personalities. Everything he does he does with 100% passion and creative fire. From his visceral and vibrate fashion shows to his friendships- Fausto is a man who claims the center stage with an open heart and a desire to inspire the women he dresses and the fashion world at large.
Late last year I was honored to be asked by Karen Harvey, CEO of Karen Harvey Consulting Group and founder of Fashion Tech Forum to participate in the latest Fashion Tech Forum conference in Los Angeles. And besides speaking on the center stage of the forum I had the all access privilege to interview some of the key speakers at the event.
If you are a woman working in fashion today might I suggest Ruth Chapman, the co-founder of Matchesfashion.com, as a role model. Not only did she build up her fashion empire with her husband Tom from scratch, with a single brick and mortar store in Wimbledon, in southwest London, 30 years ago, she turned it into one of the leading independent luxury e-commerce players in the industry.
Saif Mahdhi is the fashion industry’s equivalent of the Wizard of Oz. He is the President Europe of Next Management and if you like a fresh face on the cover of a magazine, then you probably have this “man behind the curtain” to thank for it. Mahdhi, who has helped nurture the careers of Kate Moss, Carla Bruni, Anna Cleveland, Caroline de Maigret, Anja Rubik, Grace Hartzel, Lana Del Rey, Caroline Issa and Alexa Chung (just to name a few), is a someone who not only can spot talent in others, he knows how to cultivate it. But more than that, in an industry with a reputation for being fake and two faced he is renowned for his loyalty and commitment to his every growing band of beautiful and talented friends. And just like the Wizard of Oz, he is able to instill in each of them the ability to discover their full potential.
Capasa, who has a love of black perfecto biker jackets, has been a fixture on the Italian fashion scene for years, having spent the bulk of his career as the chief executive and co-creator of Costume National, a brand he founded with his brother — and the company’s designer — Ennio Capasa in 1986, until the brothers announced their resignation in March 2016.
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have carved out a unique niche for themselves in the fashion industry. The twins are exacting and crystal clear about what they want and what they think a very select group of wealthy women desire — understated and refined designs of exceptional quality. Garments that exist in the rarified air above trends, fast fashion or everyday attire. Instead, pieces from The Row reside outside of sartorial time. They do not age. They do not become obsolete our out of touch. They do no relinquish their evergreen grace for anything. And that is why they have become some of the most “major” designs of the modern age.
There are some people who work in fashion that you could just listen to for hours. Their knowledge about the industry, both institutional and anecdotal make them treasured sources of information and education. And if there is one person working in fashion today who does this, pretty much better than anyone else its Stephen Jones.
