I found, you know, this old shoe box was full of vintage earrings
and it started there, you know, sort of like late 70s, early
80s, you know, these kind of big chunky earrings.
They could not believe that somebody would just like get rid
of these earrings and I could snap them up for nothing because
my pocket money was so proud. On your vintage trawls you must
come across quite a lot of real fur.
Where are you at on that? You know, London is a place
where people still dress up and they like to make an effort.
And I think this is the beauty of fashion, that you can
transform yourself. You can, you know, be whoever
you feel like that day you want to be.
Well, I do believe that clothing does hold energy, you know, from
the previous owner. And I think that's why in some
cultures it's not custom to wear vintage precisely out of this
reason. Today I'm going on a style
journey with the vintage curator, brand consultant and
the founder of Atelier Meyer, the wonderful Carmen Haid.
Hello and welcome, Carmen. Hi, Amanda.
It's so lovely to see you. We work together on my brand's
25th anniversary. Absolutely. 10 years on and the
world of fashion is in a totally different place.
And I just wondered, you know, you're so on the pulse of the
fashion world, and I just wondered what your thoughts are
on where it is at right now. It's so funny you say this
because I don't consider myself on the pulse at all because I
don't follow trends. Actually, this has always been
my thing, but for some reason I've kind of spot them sometimes
or I just naturally go, my instinct goes, you know, hence I
think that's why I like vintage and I've always been an avid
collector of vintage fashion and that's kind of my, my thing.
But when you ask me to state of the fashion today, to be honest,
I follow it of course still because I, I, I'm very
interested still. However, I don't think you can
compare it to anything that you and I know or, or we have lived
through because the world has changed essentially completely.
The way the seasonality, the designers, the Dave, the star
designers sort of is gone. I mean, there's still a few
around, you know, I wish I would see more women in creative
director roles, to be very honest.
We we need that because sometimes, even though I respect
the work of all these wonderful creative directors very much, I
think we need women to dress women like you have done so
successfully. I still, you know, I still have
quite a lot of your beautiful knitwear.
You're tailoring your Oh, that that.
Really, really pleases me. But I, you know, I think of you
as being a wonderful brand consultant.
I know that vintage is your thing, but I think you have a
way of really understanding brands and I just, I just sort
of wondered what drives that? Where does that come from?
I think it's, it's curiosity, you know, for instance, when I
dove into your world and everything about your DNA and
your style and your vision. And that's I think it's also why
I've kind of always worked in house for the big fashion houses
exclusively because I feel like I had that's luxury.
I specialized in luxury. And luxury for me is taking
time, taking time to delve into that brand, understand the
vision of the creative director of the founder, understand the
story, the heritage, go into the archives.
I I find more depths there. Because you started out with
which brand? So it's sort of well fell into
my lap in a way. I mean, we create our own, we
create our own destinies. But I, I did start at Isa
Laurent, but it was kind of by coincidence because I just moved
to London. It was, you know, in the late
90s and I was studying and I felt I needed to have a job
during the day. And then I sort of was walk
walking up and down newborn St. and distributing my CV and and
then they needed APR assistant at Yves Salon.
And I had no idea what even PR meant exactly.
It just sounded very glamorous. And he said, OK, well, Salon, I
think I can work for that. And then he ended up to be, you
know, a job for the next 15 years that I, you know, public
relations and communications I love very much.
Yeah. You were way ahead of the curve
when you created a Telemire. That was back in 2007.
Seven, I mean sort of vintage was being bought by designers
for. Archive exactly.
I had several designer friends who can't often raided my
wardrobe and say Arcana borders. And you know, I take an elephant
from this. And I mean, we've been doing
this for many, many decades and years to get inspired by vintage
and inspired by object and architecture.
But I felt after working for the corporate world and seeing, you
know, going through the 90s turn of the century to see how much
budget one fashion show consumes, how much money spent
on one collection. I just felt like, you know,
that's repeated in so many cycles.
And I felt this unsustainable and kind of growing up in
Austria, which was one of the first countries to be fining
people if you don't recycle properly.
I kind of grew up with this mindset and I came here to
England and I was like, wow, people don't even recycle
properly. And then it, you know, had my
experience in the fashion industry and I was just like,
wow, this is there's so much waste going on.
Why don't we look what we already have, produce less and
use the existing and give it a new twist.
And I couldn't find, quite frankly, anything remotely
interesting online in Europe. It was all kind of, we had real,
real in America, but there was nothing in Europe of the like.
And then Natalie Massinet started Neta Porte and she was a
big mentor and icon for me. And I thought, wow, we should do
this with vintage. And so I I started
ataliemaya.com with that in mind.
Where were you sourcing back then?
I mean, literally, I, I would go to fairs, I would go to dealers
and then, you know, would travel around as well.
And people would sort of, you know, word by mouth.
And people started then and say, oh, you know, my aunt has
inherited. I have this whole attic full of
vintage Celine and I don't wear it anymore.
My daughter doesn't want it. You know, can you do something
with it? And sometimes I felt it came
across the most incredible collections and places that you
would not not necessarily associate with.
For instance, I went to Beirut. It was one of my missions to
sort of educate people in places where maybe vintage was not
necessarily available. So I started to doing this trunk
show concept, which you know, very well too.
And I took the, the, the brand actually to the Middle East,
which but you know, we're talking about 10-15 years ago.
I mean, nobody would go, oh, it's vintage fashion to Dubai or
Bahrain or Qatar. And anyway, I went and I went to
Beirut and I found the most extraordinary, you know, or
couture closets in, in Beirut, you know, from the heyday from,
you know, people and they were absolutely sophisticated
collectors. And I found treasures.
What? If, if I would say to you, what
is the best treasure you've ever found, what would it be?
Gosh, it's hard to see because I've come across quite a few.
But you know, sometimes you'd go to, you know, I mean, I had to
go to some grim places, but there was one lady in
particular. I remember she was a French lady
in England. So in the countryside, the house
almost falling apart and it was going there.
It was literally out of movies. She had taxidermy everywhere
and, and she was living there by herself.
She's in the mid 80s and she had this closet full, full of
jackets and, and, and I kind of sifted through and I found an
original Paul Poiret. Coat.
I I, I, I pulled it out and just like, Oh yeah, you know, do do
you remember this guy called Paul Prore?
I just bought it because of the button.
I was like, Oh my God, this is a museum feature.
No, she said, Are you sure you don't want to keep yourself?
Oh, no, you can have it. So I was, you know, it ended up
in a museum and I had it, of course, valued and, you know,
gone, you know, properly checked by experts.
So where do you take something like that to get it
authenticated or checked? Well, I mean, the, there is a
fantastic specialist here that I love to go to is Carrie Taylor.
Yes, very well. The auction, exactly.
She runs the auctions for many years and she, I think she's one
of the best experts here in England, for instance.
But you have people like this in France, you have, you know, in
Italy as well. Now you've sort of you've
expanded Atelia Meyer, haven't you, into lifestyle and
entertainment and scene setting. Were interestingly enough, you
know, funnily enough. So when I launched Atelier
Maiso, which was inspired by my late grandmother and she was in
the Otkutu seamstress during the Viennese Secession movement,
which is the movement just before Bauhaus.
And it was sort of a collective of artists, glass makers,
textile designers, architects, you name it really.
And, and amongst them were, for instance, Gustav Klimt, who who
is very famous for his paintings.
But you know, he did a kitchen before he was painting.
Actually, my kitchen in my house in London is inspired by Gustav
Klimt. Yes.
And I didn't know that for instance.
But you know, there was this extraordinary band of artists
and they created this movement and they sort of, they called it
Davina Workstadt, like a workshop, Viennese workshop.
And they had some extraordinary projects like the Secession, you
know, secessionist peered architecture that you find in
Switzerland, in Austria, etcetera, throughout Germany as
well. And it had a very famous for
these bold graphic lines. And I thought it was so
avant-garde for that time. They did this incredible bespoke
projects that you can see all around the world now.
And in fact they tried to do a Veena Berkshot in New York.
It did not succeed. But so lot kind of Long story
short, my grand, my late grandmother was sort of part of
this movement. And so I'm, I grew up spending
time in her utterly and she was this odd couture seamstress and
she was specialised in evening wear.
So I grew up dressing my Barbie dolls with leftover fabrics.
And, you know, she would take me to a fashion show and that sort
of was my inspiration to go into fashion.
And, but when you look back at the Viennese Secession, it was
sort of a lifestyle brand because it was a 360° view of
how you lead your life. You know, everything designed
from the furniture, from the ergonomic ways of its position.
And, and, and I just felt when it was time for me to follow my
family around the world and I had to sort of create new homes
every other year and I was looking into vintage furniture
and I was got really excited about that, actually quite more,
you know, more and more than fashion.
And and then I thought, OK, well, that's, that's could be a
business. And and that's when I changed
the direction from Italy, Maya fashion, vintage fashion to
vintage objects and furniture. Beautiful, beautiful.
Now this beautiful candle that you've bought me here, tell me
about the origins of this. Well, I love this candle.
So this is a collaboration with a fellow friend and artist.
Her name is Lawrence Leonard and she has a brand called LRNCE.
She's a ceramicist, but she actually did start with fashion.
Funny enough, a lot of people maybe think that she always was
in furniture and and ceramics, but she she has an amazing
workshop in Marrakech and I'm a big fan of her work.
And so I, as part of the, the new direction of Atili Maya, I
developed my own home fragrance and room scent.
And so this is a new edition, which is a candle that we're,
we're launching now. And you're one of the first
people to have it. Thank you.
And it's, you know, it's, it's lovely.
It's, but I love about it. I mean, so Lars incorporated the
idea of the Atili Maya secessionist.
So this is her design, but we had a mood board and she gave a
complete free rein. So she came up with this and
it's all hand painted, hand glazed and and bad in her
facilities and factory in Marrakech.
And it's limited edition. And so I thought it was just a
nice thing to have in the collection.
Have a candle. It's gorgeous.
It's all organic, it's all sourced in Morocco, it's all
sourced by women. So I'm a big advocate for
women's businesses also for using local local versus having
it produced in China or somewhere.
Around the world, Yeah. Yeah.
What? What next?
You've got this lovely collaboration.
You're expanding your footprint really of a 10.
Fashion to objects and furniture was sort of an easy progression,
natural. And and now funnily enough, it's
kind of pulling me into two directions.
One is continuing with the vintage sourcing, which is an
ongoing thing, but it's more sort of more bespoke projects.
You know, let's say you come round and say, oh, I have this
office, I need to furnish it in vintage, you know, give me a
call. I'm happy to, to organise that
for you. So I have a lot of projects like
this bespoke, but I have and then so I have this showroom in
Marrakech which people come and see and they say, oh, you know,
and my home there too. And people come in and say, oh,
I love you so far. Where can I buy this and that?
So I kind of do more Pittsburgh interior projects as well, and
also a little bit more hospitality for nearly enough.
You know, people come and they say, oh, can you help me, you
know, organise this event? And I say, oh gosh, I've done
this a long time ago, but you know that it comes back and I do
enjoy it. I have you're.
Really good at it curating those events.
I love it. I love I'm a people's person and
I love to create good vibrations.
And you know that of course you need to have a good selection of
people or friends, but it's so much more than that, right?
It's it's the how do you? I mean you are the perfect
example. Oration.
Right, exactly decoration, it's how you enter the room.
How does it smell? How is the light?
Are there flowers? Is there food?
You know, it's kind of this awareness.
And so I quite, I quite like to, to be this, this great of
vibrations, good vibrations. I love that it took you to
Marrakech. Well, originally I went to
Marrakech for the very first time.
I think it was like 93 or something like that for a job.
I was very young. I was working as a model then as
well, and it was quite funny because I came there with a
photographer, Semi Hart, who is a wonderful photographer in
Germany right now. He does a lot of interesting
work, so he's still around as well.
And so I went with him for the very first time and I thought,
wow, what is an incredible universe I've discovered here.
I was mesmerised. It was sort of like always those
fairy tale books that I've read when I was a child.
And then I thought, OK, if I have the opportunity, I'd like
to come back. And then over the years, I was
invited many times back to events like birthdays or
parties. And then also when I started to
work for Yves Laurent. Then of course, the big heritage
of Mrs. Celeron was in Marrakech and in Morocco, and you can see
it's through his collection. But also, you know, that was
definitely a big inspiration too.
And then when it was time for me to buy, I did buy in Morocco and
I not regret it. I can only highly recommend it.
Now today we're going on a style journey and it's your style
journey, so talk me through what you're wearing.
OK, so I'm the vintage queen in terms of, you know, funnily
enough, this is Vintage Cellar. Also the jacket.
What? Vintage.
Roughly what? The 1970s.
It's like a Belarus collection. The jacket.
This Also I love the Paisley's. You know Paisley I think you
know I and I'm worried all the time and never goes out of
fashion. Yeah, Paisley's.
And then these cuffs, I remember we did a collaboration with this
fantastic designer called Catherine Alexander and she made
this plexiglass cuffs and we I collected broaches, vintage
broaches. I think this is a Christian Dior
broach. This is another maybe Shriner
and it's costume jewellery, but it's done in the 50s and 40s and
not many people wear Brotas anymore, do they?
And I just thought because I'm a big, I like big jewellery,
chunky and the cuffs. And so you, you put it on and
it's immediately dressy and it's a one off.
And those are so, yes. Do you still do pieces like
that? I mean, I can always expand
again into fashion and accessories, but at the moment
you know, you have to follow you are exactly I mean.
So and then you. Are so then I have this and then
so I have this ring I wear this is a little bit my uniform
sometimes this ring is actually Swarovski, but really long time
ago and I love it. And then this ring, it's a very
special ring. This one has been given to me by
Mrs. Salon, and it was, there's a tradition in France called
Saint Catherine's Day. And so if you are 25 years old
or under 25 and not unmarried and you work for an old couture
house on Saint Catherine's Day, there's a ceremony.
You've got to wear a hat in all of this and you'll be given a
present from the designer. So this was the ring.
It's a glass ring that never went into production.
Now fab. It's the most glorious colour
though, isn't it? I love it and I feel like it's
pretty. It gives me it brings me luck.
Yes, and joy too. I mean luck and joy.
And yeah, so just yeah. Good vibes.
Exactly.
And he has survived all these years.
And what a lovely. Story.
Yeah. Yeah, goodness.
So you're sorry to interrupt, but you see, This is why I like
Vintage as well, because there's always a little story attached.
Totally agree, Right. Totally agree.
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and swimwear. I mean, I do have a swimwear if
it's unworn, but sometimes you can find amazing swimwear, you
know, 60s shapes. Just, you know, for design,
again, for for archive. Shoes are a bit particular as
well. Again, if they're unworn, you
know. Yes, but shoes?
Shoes are trickier I think too because of your foot molds into
a shoe and. Well, I do believe that clothing
does hold energy, you know, from the previous owner.
And I think that's why in some cultures, it's not custom to
wear vintage precisely out of this reason.
But when I had Atilia Meyer, I did work with the Feng shui
specialist to sort of Feng shui all the garments and to bring
the equilibrium back into those items.
And, and we did have the Feng shui certificate and it did work
well. But you know, you, I'm sure you
have these, these these situations when you have a dress
and say, oh, I've always, you don't know what to wear and you
put it on and you have always had a good time in this dress.
Yeah. No, it it's true now you grew up
in Austria. Yes, in Innsbruck from the Alps.
I'm from the Alps. So you're a good skier?
I hope so, yeah. Maybe better enough for a ski
these days. Were you, were you very aware of
your parents? Style.
I think my parents, they enjoy fashion, but they're not into it
the way I am. You know, I think sort of maybe
jumped a generations. My parents are really into
academic fields and they're very much into the books and, and,
and that's absolutely fine, but I think more after my
grandmother was sort of, you know, she lived and breathed
fashion. And did she make clothes for
you? She did.
She did make clothes. She actually made me a lot of
clothes. Clothes.
My first clothes that I, you know, in Austria when I went to
school, I had to wear dandle. Can you I have it on my list of
questions? Believe.
That I Did you wear dandles? Well, I did wear dandel in
primary school, definitely, and it on my first day to school, I
was very proud. You know, an April did it whole
thing feel. Good.
Yes, I mean, it's the national dress.
Yeah, and how do you feel wearing a dandel?
Now it's quite funny. I mean, it feels a bit more like
dress up nowadays. Does it?
Yes. Do you remember that first
outfit that your grandmother made you, that you put on and
you just felt transformed? Yes, it was a little red dress
with white polka dots and he had sort of lace on the bottom and
it was a dress and she took me to a fashion show and I felt
like $1,000,000 and it felt so special.
How old were you? I don't know, maybe 40?
My God, five, yes. Do you think that was a light
bulb moment for you in terms of the transformative power of
clothes? Absolutely, because I could see
also clients would come to the atelier would always hide, you
know, they they have usually evening dresses they would hide
behind, you know, dig there underneath the Stockman dummy,
the display in inside the skirt and then just peek out to see.
And I could see, you know, complete transformation from the
plane woman that arrived to when she put on the evening gown, for
instance. And then she would completely
look like a Princess. I love these Princess moments.
Hang on a tick you were hiding? Yes, under a Stockman dummy with
a a skirt on it or a dress on it.
Sometimes when my my grandmother had fittings, yes.
And you? Would just peep out.
Yes. Oh my God, what a glorious
thought. God, how lovely.
So do you remember though the first piece of second hand
clothing that you bought? I think it was, I mean,
clothing, I think it started with me more with accessories
because we used to go to Italy for, for the summer and there
were lots of little markets and you'd find that, you know,
sometimes lots of tap, but I just loved it.
And, and, and I found, you know, this old shoe box was full of
vintage earrings and it started there, you know, sort of like
late 70s, early 80s, you know, these kind of big chunky
earrings. They could not believe that
somebody would just like get rid of these earrings and I could
snap them up for nothing because my pocket money was so proud.
So that was 1 moment. And then clothing, I think
because it's not so custom in Austria to wear second hand
clothes. That's why I said, you know,
it's more the cultures, like if you, if you have to wear second
hand clothes, that means that you probably must be poor.
You can't afford something new. You know, that was sort of like
the idea how you grow up. Of course, it's changed now too.
So actually vintage clothing itself only discovered in
London. Really.
Yeah. Portobello bro.
I was going to say where. You know, all those little
markets, Littlesfield East and you know I would go to all this
markets every weekend and I just loved it.
I remember I bought one, it was a 44 fur leopard print coat that
I still have today and it's sort of quite rock'n'roll very 70s.
So kind of very chamber in, you know, that kind of look still
works today. So you bought this fabulous
leopard print faux fur on your vintage trawls you must come
across quite a lot of real fur. Where are you at on that?
Well, look, I'm an animal lovers, right?
I love I love animals. So I would never wear fur where
an animal has been deliberately killed for this.
Like a new fur. Now vintage fur again, you know,
if it's there already, you know? Yeah, I use it.
What? Would you say is the most
exciting piece you've ever found?
Maybe 1 of Gabrielle Chanel's dresses that she had in her own
collection. With her personal collection.
Yes, and she there was a actually, I think again, it's a
museum piece that ended up in a museum.
I think it in Canada. It was a skyline dress.
It's it's called the Skyline Dress.
And it was. Can you explain?
That it was a little black dress.
And so it was the New York skyline sort of projected onto
the dress. And, you know, it was fringe.
And, you know, it was very 1930s and very, very Chanel.
And obviously from her personal collection.
And it was a rare find. And when you come across a find
like that, do you approach a museum and say, are you
interested in acquiring this? What's the process?
Because I did usually back in the day, I used to do a weekly
mail out and I had museums on my, my mailing list.
And so sometimes I would get, you know, I would get calls from
that. But let's say if I found a piece
like this, yes, I would make sort of calls to certain people
that I knew that they were looking or they were building a
collection. You know, there was also a work
with the Hamburg Museum in Seoul, for instance, for a
number of pieces as well. So yes.
So sometimes it would give these people a qualifier before it
would go in the mailing list. Where are the best sources in
your opinion for vintage shopping?
I would say markets, still markets, private people,
collectors. There's some wonderful stores
now everywhere I can find, you know, in in the UK, lots of
amazing vintage stores now also in France.
I like to go in Belgium and America, of course, amazing as
well. You can find in New York, in LA,
amazing vintage in LA, Palm Beach, I love it.
You know, I mean sort of places also Dallas, TX, all of those
places you can find incredible pieces.
Anything in particular that's trending in the vintage world at
the moment? See, I don't really look at it.
I don't look at. It no, but I just wonder
because, you know, I, I would imagine that then pushes the
price up, you know, if it's, if it's really popular.
It affects the, you know, the current affairs kind of
influenced the vintage, the trend of vintage.
You know, I remember, you know, with Versace, for instance, you
know, there was a whole movement with Versace and everyone was
like, OK, we find it. Then Fendi, then Karl Lagerfeld.
You know, it depends, you know, if somebody passes away or
changes direction, then there is always a good hint that that
could become next. I've just come across, it's
funny, I went to this vintage fair the other week and I
bought, I don't know what I was thinking.
I don't know when I'm going to wear it, but it was this
beautiful Strass mask out of Strass rhinestones.
Yes, exactly. It's like, wow.
But it's not. You know, you everyday go to the
shopping to put on your Strass mask, but the occasion will
come. And then when I bought the mask,
the lady's like, oh, he was so on trend.
Because now this next movie is coming out, it's all about
masks. You'll see in January, February,
there will be no masks. OK, great confirmation of
backing a trend. Have you ever bought something
sort of with a Telia Meyer in in mind and just sort of totally
fallen in love with it and thought, no, I can't sell that?
Yes, it happens to me many times.
And then you have to think, do you want to have a business or
do you want to be a collector? Yeah.
Right, Yeah. I mean, is your own wardrobe
quite concise or is it huge? Well, look, I mean after being
in fashion for so long and working for this incredible
brands that I've accumulated quite a lot of clothing and
accessories. And also I've been given, I get
given a lot of pieces as well. And I have beautiful designer
friends that I want to support and I have supported all these
years. So yes, you do end up having
quite, I mean, I end up having quite a large wardrobe, but I
did sell as well. And in the end, you only wear a
certain contingent on regular pieces.
But I have to say, you know, London is a place where people
still dress up and they like to make an effort.
And I think this is the beauty of fashion that you can
transform yourself. You can, you know, be whoever
you feel like that day you want to be and, and get into that
mood with clothing and accessories.
And so it's nice to have that choice.
You know, for instance, yes, I could have sold this blouse long
time ago, but you know, I still wear it.
I do wear my things. I mean, talking of London, you
have homes in London, Paris, Marrakech.
Are you a different Carmen stylistically in London, Paris,
Paris and Marrakech? I love that in London you can
unshamingly be yourself. Nobody kind of judges you, even
if you make a handstand in the metro or I don't know, if you
make it literally like maybe the bats and eyelid here.
Now in France it's slightly different.
And also in France it's sort of like a bit of a, a uniform in
terms of like, you know, the base trench, the white shirts,
you know, they're kind of like classic, which I love.
But I also like I'm a bit more eccentric than that and like to
have a pop of colour and make it a bit more quirky.
So I did maybe dress down a little bit more in France and
dress up more here. And then in Morocco, for
instance, it's more like the Bohemian look going on.
And I suppose and so are you in vintage in Morocco or are you in
local designers? Both there's there, there's
incredible talent in Morocco when it comes to craftsmanship
and as far as also fashion, you know we do.
There was also Fashion Trust Arabia we'd we held last year in
Morocco, in Marrakech and it was a testament as well.
I mean, it was the year of cultural exchange.
Why this happened? But also because there's a lot
of talent coming out of this region.
And to answer your question, I like to support local designers.
I think they're fabulous and really need to be championed and
have a good shout out at the same time.
I love my vintage SO and it kind of works.
So I always mix and match. Do you have any fabulous vintage
Sagaron kaftans? I do.
You. Are a lucky girl.
I do. I have.
Also, do you remember Thea Porter?
Yes, Yes, I have one of hers as well.
We kind of like, read with, like, brocade.
I mean, they're lovely, really lovely pieces.
Yeah. But how lovely that you have the
place to wear them. Exactly.
And it's it's nicer to wear them sometimes than to have them in a
museum, don't you think? Yes, but I think I, I love I in
fact, I had this conversation with Leo earlier that he said
he, you know, had been bought some white sneakers, very
special ones by his wife and who didn't dare wear them.
And I said you cannot save your best till tomorrow because we
don't know if we're going to be here tomorrow.
Wear it, love it, enjoy it. I think it's really, really
important. Why do you think you really
discovered your style DNA? I think throughout the 20s and
having always worked for a brand, so I was always
representing that brand. So I was always embodying that
woman and I could identify myself very well with the seller
or brand, for instance, or Celine or, or yours.
But it was also a bit more wardrobe building then, right?
You know, I, I had to build whatever, you know, the cashmere
sweater in the different colours or the blouse, the pussy bow
blouse in different colours. And you know, you need to have a
blazer, you need to have one leopard print.
And I don't know, just so now once you have all of this, it's
a bit more sort of like what works for my lifestyle.
And that has changed as well because over the years, I used
to go and dress up every day in the office and we'd have high
heels and it would commute in high as I would go.
I mean, that was normal. I wouldn't even have a second
pair of shoes. I mean, I wouldn't even think
about this twice now. But back then, this was how it
was done. And also we do you remember we
had dressed on Fridays? Yeah.
Dressed on Fridays. Where is dressed on Friday.
That's everyday now. Spoiler So exactly.
So I think now we go more from the morning to the evening.
So my style DNA is now more utility, practical, go from
morning to evening. But still, you know,
comfortable, elegant, effortless.
You try all of those things and try.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, do you have a style icon?
Yes, I have many. Give me a couple.
I love Lulu de le Feliz, yes, very much.
She was, for me, incredible in terms of her mix of colour and
the resources that she just, yeah, fantastic.
I love Diane from Furstenberg. I love Marisa Berenson.
I see all of those women in you, yes.
It's very kind. Yeah.
I think it all of that. You know, Audrey Hepburn I love,
but I think, you know, Audrey happened, for instance.
She's so classic and so wonderful.
But sometimes it's it's not right in this day and age
anymore because we have all sort of moved on.
Yeah. Yeah.
You've given me a whole load of words.
Let's let's refine it down to three.
But is it maybe heritage? Yes.
I because I like vintage or vintage or heritage.
I like when something has a provenance, when it's a story.
Craftsmanship, well made, good materials, interesting
techniques and maybe opulent. Yeah, yeah, kind of, you know.
Absolutely no. I love that.
I have, sort of. I love the minimalist, but it's
not quite me. Yeah, it, it never was.
It never was. But I I love that.
What would you say is the secret to staying stylish as the years
creep by? I think, you know, when people
say, oh, you haven't changed now I think it's a compliment, you
know, because it means I haven't changed in all these years.
But I think it's a secret, actually, Yeah.
Wear vintage that you can wear again and again because people
see you in the same clothes and they see, OK, well, she hasn't
changed. The same haircut haven't
changed. I have.
I I was not brave enough. I love these really short,
stylish haircuts sometimes. And, you know, sometimes I tell
my children I want to have this, like, super Japanese cut Bob is
the fringe. And it's like, don't.
And then again, I said, you know, I've stuck to my haircut.
And I think that's probably also one of the reasons.
And I think I just don't care so much anymore what other people
think. Isn't that liberating?
And it's so liberating. I love it.
Yeah. What is date night, Carmen?
Wearing a little dress from a little vintage dress, maybe Gila
Roche. I like, you know, they did in
the 70s, like some really cool cut pieces.
They can cut them something and modify them.
Sometimes I cut them. There's a little cool high heel
little slinky bag. And what heels do you choose to
wear? Because if you're, you're
generally in vintage, yes, but but so who, which designers are
you reaching for in terms of heels?
As I said, shoes. I try not to be vintage if I
don't have to. So one of my favourite shoe
designers is Isa Tapia. She's a friend of mine in New
York and she makes the most extraordinary comfortable shoes.
And there's I, I actually wear them now.
Look, I wear them now, but these are just flats.
But I have, you know, different sizes and yeah, so she's one of
my 2:00 to go shoe designer, one of them.
Yeah, yeah, and chill out. Stay at home, Carmen Wearing.
What? I'm under wakely cashmere.
What? Would you say you reach for when
you want to feel empowered? Well, first of all, it's the
state of inner power for me. That's where it starts.
Yeah. And it's feeling centered,
feeling aligned in yourself and then when you in terms of
fashion. So can I just stop you there?
So do you have any rituals to bring you to that place?
Yes, it's breath work. It's breathing.
It's meditation that usually centers me.
And of course, yoga, because I always think, you know, aligned
body is that, you know, flexible mind, a flexible body, flexible
mind. Yeah.
And that very, I mean, we all intertwine this all energy.
So that for sure. And then when it comes to
fashion, I think colour, A touch of colour always gives you
power. You know, especially in this
grey weather, it's nice to wear colour.
I love also jackets. It's kind of, you know, the the
standard power uniform for women, but it still works.
And I think also a really good heel.
Yeah. Love high heels.
Do you have? One particular jacket that is
your go to real power jacket. Not one in particular, but I
would say all the Ceylon jackets, yeah.
Yeah, they're so exquisitely cut.
Up and I think also Tere Migler did some extraordinary Tere
Migler fantastic, you know that really model Alaia of course,
you know, I mean some you know, there's some really Balma as
well, you know, and there's some really extraordinary.
Yeah, power, proper armours, jackets, aren't they?
Yeah, because I think men have Savile Row and that's armour.
It's absolutely physique. Changing, absolutely, Yeah,
absolutely. And it's in a mindset as well.
Totally, yes. Is Asia consideration of how you
dress? No.
No, I have. I mean, I've never thought.
Oh, now I'm at this age, I have to, I have to stop wearing mini.
I have to, I have to dress like more Madame that day.
I think it's more the opposite. You know, maybe as I get older I
want to be less Madame. When you are in your 20s, you
are kind of fun to be grown up and you want to have all these
like high heels and, you know, I mean, and then when you are sort
of like getting a bit older and it's like, actually I'm quite
happy in a jumpsuit now and some trainers.
You sort of almost want to be cooler now than you did back
then, I find. Yes yes, and it's kind of
naturally as well also because you know I'm not life is not
just actually you're not running around in high heels all day
long Exactly exactly thanks God how do you.
Feel if the fashion industry is actually catering to the silver
pound. Well, I think frankly, it needs
to be more catered for because I think the the all the pound is
growing and we're still very style conscious.
And I think that kind of is an industry that needs to, you
know, the fashion industry needs to address it more.
I would say so. And rather than just, oh, you
know, have another suit or another jacket because we don't
want to wear a suit and jacket, yes.
Is your wardrobe phenomenally organised?
Now that I've moved a bunch of times, it is, it's kind of, I
tried to color coordinate my wardrobe and I've learned that
from my friend Sylvie Chutney, who has an incredible vintage
store in Paris called Thanks God and my VIP.
And her store is color coordinated down to the tee and
I love it. And it kind of it's a bit of
like the rainbow, which colour of the rainbow I am in today and
that kind of mood. Pulls you through just literally
colour coordinated? Or is it colour coordinated in
blouses, trousers, jackets? Well, I mean the shorter ones
are together and then the longer garments and one yes.
And then of course I have the the winter gear and ski and all
of that in separate. Do you ever suffer from too many
homes? Itis.
Yes, I wish I have. To my son, Laurent Blouse.
I do, and sometimes it's the most frustrating thing when you
really know what you want to wear and it's in a different
place. His first world problem to have.
Totally. Would you say you've had a worst
fashion moment? I don't really remember the
worst fashion moment in the sense that I was dressed
inappropriately. However, what I do remember when
we went to, you know, these sample sales all the time back
in the back in the 20s, they were every 5 minutes was a
sample sale from Manolo Blahnik or I don't know, you know,
Chanel. And so we would Jimmy, too.
So first up, Carmen. So I will go there and buy the
shoes and they were not even my size and they had just made them
fit and they were, you know, I don't know, 37 1/2 and I said
never fit me in my life, but they fit.
I made them fit just to look good.
Also, I remember even some kind of, you know, Roger Bevier
shoes, kind of the belly shoe style.
You like super too big. I put tissue paper in the front
so I could fit. I mean, my toes were all like
buckled up like, you know, but so uncomfortable.
I did suffer just to have the perfect two.
I mean, I would never do that again.
But you know, back then, that's kind of what I did sometimes.
I love that. Yeah.
Let's talk about travel. You're someone who travels a
lot. Do you pay particular attention
to your airport? Look, no, because I think it's
every time you step outside the house, it's kind of you look
outside the house or you look at inside the house.
I don't think about airport dressing in that sense.
Now if it's I always like to put together and I usually wear the
same make up and the same hair and you know, wherever I got.
Record I've never seen you not put together.
Thank you. It goes both ways, but that's
what I'm saying, You know, I'm not really dressing up for the
plane. I think that we used to do this
in the olden days and now I just want to be comfortable, probably
have like a cashmere, you know, I have my always my eye mask.
I can sleep anywhere, a bit more like this.
But I always want to look put together.
Yeah. Good Acker, Bad acker.
I think I've become pretty good in packing now.
And your luggage is by who? It's Remova.
It's, I should say Louis Vuitton
because I do have some old Louis Vuitton cases, but I don't
travel like that anymore. No, I mean I'm, I'm I.
Think I feel a bit embarrassed now.
Beautiful cases that I used to love travelling with and now a
you know they wouldn't arrive on the carousel and B they are
heavier than your luggage allowance.
Exactly. Exactly.
Why? They make a good piece of
furniture though. Exactly.
Yeah. Do you ever buy new?
Really. Yeah.
And I'm also, you know, do you remember Tiffany Dark?
Yes, who? I'm a bit advocate for her sub
stack that she's writing, you know.
She's 5 new items a year. Yes, something like that.
I have to say she's right. Yeah, she's right in many things
that she says. And I I tried to do this rule.
Actually, it's easy to do it sometimes.
As the woman with a huge wardrobe.
But that's why I'm saying it's easy for me to say because I
have now everything. I don't need to buy more, I need
to shed, shed more. That's it.
Who on the High Street do you think is doing a good job?
Well, I do think Zara is doing a good job.
I'm not a big advocate of fast fashion.
Yeah, that's my thing. That's why I've never sort of
worked in High Street and looked at it properly.
I mean, I've, you know, I love the top shop of the, of the, of
the, you know, back in the day. I'm just not a big fan of High
Street personally. But Zara from all of them I
think is doing a great. Job Guilty Secret Most expensive
item of clothing that you have bought Don't necessarily have to
tell me the price tag. I think it was like my wedding
dress. I mean, maybe not expecting, you
know, but. Who was it by?
Was actually Alba Elba's Oh. Dreamy.
And was it ready to wear or was? It no, he made it for me.
It was custom and it was it was really, you know, the time when
it did this rhinestones on Tull and it was sort of it was silk,
raw silk Tull and then and had black and white striped
beautiful bow. It was a super long veil.
So that you know, he said to me, come and you have to have a
veil. That's the most romantic thing
and he needs to be long. And so here we go.
He made me this extraordinary veil and the shoes together with
Pete and the whole thing. And this was during his time at
Saint MO. No, he left salon all the time.
He was not at salon for very long, but he went to Lanva.
So he this was. He was at Lanva, but he did not
have a bridal collection. I think what I was probably his
first or second bride that he did.
And then I also said to him, I think you should do a bridal
section and he started bridal sectioning, which went very
well. Inspired by you.
I'm not quite sure what I was the reason, but you know.
Now I know you're a champion of sustainable fashion.
What do you do with your clothes when you've had enough of them?
I either passed them on to someone that I love and not know
that wants to cherish it, or I sell it.
I'll give it away. Which resale platforms do you
find particularly effective? I like this dear collective.
I also like rental platforms like her for instance.
What is the oldest piece in your wardrobe?
I think it's for my late, it's for my great grandmother or for,
you know, for my, you know, heirloom pieces.
I have coats and I have gloves and I have umbrellas.
I have even these amazing umbrellas that they used to do
in the, in, in last century where you'd, you know, when
women still had umbrellas and long skirts in Europe and you'd
open up the umbrella and inside you have little roses and.
Floral motifs and they've. And with you have that, you
know, a leather handle, very sheeple handmade.
And they haven't perished. No.
Wow. That's extraordinary.
I mean, I do not to tell. I do not tend to have used them
now. And probably not open them up
too much. Correct.
But you know, I mean, they're actually museum pieces.
But yes, I do have those and then gloves because it was a
time when ladies would wear gloves, right?
I mean, when when my my late grandmother passed, she had so
many gloves and the matching hats and.
People don't mind too, but I, I looked at them the other day
because I was doing a big turn out.
My, my grandmother's hands were minute, so narrow, so narrow.
I mean, I, I thought, OK, I'll just slide this on.
Oh no. And I don't have big hands, but
my God, they had such slender. Their whole body if you look at
the beds, if you go to museums and you look at the beds and the
and the the living rooms, I mean everything is so tiny.
It's like almost for a child. It's just body size has changed
over the years. So what we?
Eat. So true.
Modified food. Different genes.
Let's spin on some quick fire questions, fashion advice that
you'd give your 20 year old self.
Just be confident and authentic to yourself.
Fashion trend or era that you'd most like to see make a
comeback? 60s and 70s.
Fashion or beauty trend that you would consign to room one O 1
Crocs? Well, that was my next question.
I mean, I don't know how you even can walk in those things.
Your last impulse buy? Probably another pair of my
earrings because I do collect these earrings and these are,
these are called Sun Ray Earrings by Bellmax.
And she has a gallery just opposite Clarities and which has
the most extraordinary jewelry. She does also art and sculpture.
It comes from a sculpture background.
I've been collecting these for so many years and because they
remind me of marbles. Yes, yeah.
And some of them are semi precious stones, some of them
are vintage pearls. And yeah, it's dangerous to go
there. Your views on tattoos.
I don't judge people. I prefer to be neutral.
Beauty treatment You couldn't give up.
Massage high end or High Street? High end, darling Bling or bare
bling? Minimalism or maximalism?
Maximalism, Couture or charity shop Both.
Crocs. Cute or puke?
No absolutely puke Sneakers or stilettos, base bags or shoes.
I can't. I need pace.
Boyfriends or wide legs, Wide leg, Bodycon or boho, boho,
sports, Lux or rock chick? Rock chick, Red carpet or relax
Red carpet? Trend or style?
Style, colour or monochrome? Why?
That's a difficult one because I like base.
Experimental or uniform Experimental cashmere or cotton
cashmere, Trilby or Tracy. Tracy order or editor card base.
Charity shop or resale base. Shapewear or sexy lingerie?
Sexy. Lingerie, tights, stockings or
hold UPS. Combination bikini or one piece
bikini? And finally, traditional last
question at the end of the day, what do you or don't you wear in
bed? Wow, my own skin.
Love that Carmen, thank you so much.
So so much for having me. To go on this style journey with
you. I would ask you all these
questions now.