In conversation with .. 3!

I haven’t experienced this anywhere else. The worst job has been where
there were power struggles amongst team members, but it has taught me
a lot about democracy and choosing the people I work with wisely, even if
that means saying no to some projects that have big names and creative
geniuses. The most valuable lesson I have learned, is that unless there is
money involved, I won’t do something if I am not going to learn something
new, because you can’t put a price tag on that. I’m so hungry to learn
everything, I will do rigging and lighting because its new to me!
What do you consider to be your first “big break” in your career?
I suffered a bit from dyslexia and I was “creative” so my portfolio was
always full of imagery not text. My first big break for me was when I
was working in forecasting and they trusted me to write B2B forecasting
analysis because I didn’t think I could write before. However, career wise,
but the characters of other people too. I’m so motivated by love and understanding
love that its somewhat of an obsession. I read “Even Cowgirls
Get The Blues” by Tom Robbins in high school and that was the book that
made me want to travel and meet people, adventures in the lowest and
highest places, but it was “Dune” by Frank Herbert that really made me
want to learn and help me learn how to learn.
What are the most common mistakes for Fashion Editors and how
can we solve them?
I think every Editor is different, but a mistake that many of us have is just
meeting people who brag and name drop and its up to us to be confident
enough to say if we don’t like it or not. Of course its hard when advertising
is involved and you have to put your taste on the line. I think the best
way to solve them is having to say no.
IONS
What is your greatest strength in your role as an Editor?
Every editor is different, I think in my case, my strength is that I have
been in the same city for many years and have built a reputation and
network. Many people want fast results, but Paris doesn’t work that way!
What is your greatest challenge?
Paris also doesn’t have the money like New York and London, even if it
is the fashion capital. I consult a lot outside of fashion and my biggest
challenge is having people give a chance on me.
ION EDITOR
it was probably interning at Hermès RTW in the late 90s. I was still a kid
and I didn’t know at the time the influential people I was with (Martin and
Véronique) because there were only three of us interns and everyone was
so nice. It set my standards early on, not just in fashion, but in everything
in life. Veronique asked me what I wanted to do (and that could have been
a proposal for me to say I want to work with you), but I was honest and
said I wanted to travel, and she told me I would never regret it and after
I graduated I moved to Japan for three years. It may have been career
suicide, but I don’t regret it one bit!
What’s the first thing you do in the morning to get your workday
started?
Every morning I read about ten different newspapers from very different
perspectives. I can’t begin the day or digest anything in my own line of
work without knowing what the world is going through at the moment.
What do you get most distracted by at work?
Probably by all the things that aren’t related to fashion that I’m fascinated
with because I can see the correlation.
What two or three books would you say have had the biggest impact
on who you are today?
I first read Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being during
identify with a different one. It has helped me not only understand myself
What’s your go-to method for winding down after a long day?
I won’t lie, its probably watching The Daily Show.
What is the one skill you wished you’d learned before becoming
an Editor?
There is so much as an editor that you don’t learn at university or college.
I actually wish, like many designers, that I learned how to put together a
business plan and do accounting, because there are some shitty designers
and “creatives” that get far in the industry just because they are good
with numbers and writing shit down.
How would you describe your job in five words?
Creative, free, honest, aspirational, hard
How do you work during the Coronavirus times? How does the
lockdown impact your work?
I also lecture on fashion forecasting at several universities in Paris and
consult, so most of my lectures have been cancelled for this year along
with some creative projects I was producing for some French music festivals.
In regards to my online work, with Pairs Project we struggle as we
don’t have access to develop our 35mm film at the moment, with Fucking
Young!, it’s a struggle to cover fashion while not knowing the future. We
are all conscious of consumerism, the effect on the environment and now
on people’s wallets as we enter recession. It’s up to not just us, but the
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