Carine Roitfeld - Stylist

[JuiceMajor]

Is that the original couture dress? It's great to see her wearing it!

 

[Melly5525]

I am sooo excited she wore this gown, she looks amazing, its really a piece of art but its still flattering on her

 

[lemeray]

>> Carine Roitfeld has popped over to New York — last night, she wore Givenchy couture to the amfAR Gala "because I’m working with amfAR and it’s very important for me to be here," and tonight, she was at her son Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld's RETNA art opening, wearing "all Rick Owens," she told us, but she's "not seeing any fashion shows" and goes back to Paris on Saturday. She's definitely not out of fashion for good — last night she told The Cut, "I have a new project" which is "in fashion, of course." Although she's "too superstitious" to discuss details, she did promise more information "in one month." [The Cut]

fashionologie

 

[AlbertNoir]

Carine with David Lauren at the Amfar's Gala in NY

vogue.it

 

[tarsha]

Suspense: within a month, Carine Roitfeld unveils new project

"I have a new project - fashion, of course." The phrase, which now reaches the status of bombast, is Carine Roitfeld, the former editor in chief of French Vogue.

The stylist promises to reveal the coveted secret within a month - "I'm superstitious," he said. The revelations were made at the annual gala of amfAR, the institution of incentive to AIDS research. Her presence caused some surprise, since her departure, announced as voluntary, involves rumors of a secret resignation. Another recent rumor, which makes everything even more mysterious is that she and Emmanuelle Alt, who stood in his place, they would not be talking.

How experienced woman, Carine not appeared unprepared. Dressed in a stunning long white of the newly paraded the Givenchy haute couture, she gave up and took note to remember is that a book - her biography - already late to finish. Predicting the launch was the winter of 2011.

vogue.globo.com translated by Google

 

[KKnardi]

maybe she's starting a new magazine?

 

[BetteT]

So, as she's planning her "new Project" ... there was some speculation that she might have been fired from Vogue Paris:

Source: nytimes.com via lunapreity20

New Star in the Front Row
By CATHY HORYN
Published: February 9, 2011

For two reasons, the choice of Emmanuelle Alt as editor in chief of French Vogue, in January, was anticlimactic. First, there was all the weirdness of her predecessor’s departure. Was Carine Roitfeld, who held the post for 10 years, fired or did she resign, as Condé Nast maintained? Second, the swift promotion of Ms. Alt from the No. 2 position of fashion director suggested that her bosses weren’t looking for much change. As she herself said, “They know my work by heart, and probably they felt like it was safe for them.”

Vogue editors do not come along every day, except in China and India, where Western fashion magazines are new. Anna Wintour (American Vogue) and Franca Sozzani (Italian Vogue) have each held their jobs for 22 years; Alexandra Shulman, the chief of British Vogue, a little less. If anything, the cult of the editor has exploded in the last decade, with books, documentaries and fan sites like I Want to be a Roitfeld, which is dedicated not just to Ms. Roitfeld but also to offspring. Recently the site branched out to include Ms. Alt.

At the same time, in a series of posts on Vogue.it, Ms. Sozzani has been critical of this cult, suggesting, among other things, that people have their priorities confused. Without referring to anyone specifically, she said this week in an interview: “They think it’s sitting in the front row and looking around with a tough eye as if you’re the one to decide about the life of people. This attitude is completely wrong. It’s what you do for the magazine that matters.”

Then she added, “Honestly, I don’t think a stylist has a vision for a magazine.”

Ms. Roitfeld was a freelance stylist before she became editor of French Vogue, where she continued to style shoots. She was also the model for Tom Ford’s louche glamour at Gucci, down to her black bra and stilettos. Insiders doubted that she could run a magazine, but within a few years, with the help of the art director Fabien Baron and Ms. Alt (not to mention a bunch of great photographers and models, who seemed to have interned at the same disco), French Vogue felt coolly revitalized.

“It’s one of the best female fashion magazines in the world,” the photographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino said. “It’s as simple as that, and people couldn’t cope with it.” The magazine was also profitable under Ms. Roitfeld, said Jonathan Newhouse, chief executive of Condé Nast International, with a 40 percent jump in circulation over her tenure.

Ms. Roitfeld’s undoing as editor in chief was triggered, people in Paris speculated, by her December issue, which was devoted to all things Ford, not least sex. For one spread, he photographed a pair of elders groping each other in a smear of lipstick and neck wrinkles. Mr. Ford declared he was tired of youth culture.

Maybe so, but the issue as a whole suggested a lack of adult supervision at the top. In a post that appeared in January, Ms. Sozzani questioned the point of fashion shoots that make people look vulgar, specifically condemning a shoot (in the December issue of French Vogue, as it happens) that showed little girls in seductive clothes and makeup.

Certainly the Vogues face a world in which assumptions seem to be changing daily. But for that reason, Ms. Sozzani said, editors have to be absolutely in control of their magazines. “Everybody can create a magazine, just as everything can be on the runway,” she said. “But there has to be a concept. And it’s true that we’re in an image. But you cannot have the image without the vision.”

What happened to Ms. Roitfeld was this: she offered to resign, according to several individuals close to the matter. She was frequently absent from the office, on shoots, and when the issue of her management came to a head, she offered to resign. She may have been bluffing, hoping she would be asked to stay, but her resignation was accepted.

When asked if being away from the office was a contributing factor, Ms. Roitfeld said last month over a drink at the Ritz hotel in Paris: “Maybe, maybe. Everybody has an opinion. Before, it wasn’t a problem, and anyway the magazine was doing very well. It’s difficult to work with a big team. Maybe it’s good I go back to my roots.” She said that her bosses received complaints from advertisers over the Ford issue. “I was killed for that,” she said. “You know, it’s difficult to try to do something new each month.”

Asked if she regretted resigning, Ms. Roitfeld said no. “I’m very sad, but in a way I’m very happy, too. I don’t want to get old in this golden cage. I’m very punk in a way.”

Her friendship with Ms. Alt did not survive, however. Both women said they were no longer speaking. Neither would reveal the reasons.

A few days later at the Café de Flore, Ms. Alt, as candid as she is unfazed, said: “I don’t look back and see clouds anywhere. Carine is someone who needs to be free. She’s the rebel of the class. She hates authority. She dealt with it for years but. ...”

.....

Read more: Emmanuelle Alt - Editor in Chief, Vogue Paris - Page 52 - the Fashion Spot http://forums.thefashionspot.com/f7...hief-vogue-paris-100401-52.html#ixzz1DggjQvHC

 

[BetteT]

maybe she's starting a new magazine?

I don't think it will be a magazine.

More likely some sort of styling gig ... because she was a stylist, before she became EIC of Vogue Paris. She said in this inteview that she was "returning to her roots".

Also, as noted before ... it just might be a collaboration with Nicolas Ghesquiere of Balenciaga (because, couple of weeks ago she was seen having drinks with them). Looks like they have made up ... or maybe he was only at odds with Vogue, and not Carine? See this post: #781

 

[lunapreity20]

The Future of Fashion
The Future of Fashion, Part Seven: Carine Roitfeld

February 12, 2011 12:44 am

In this ongoing series, Style.com’s editor in chief, Dirk Standen, talks to a number of leading industry figures about the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for the fashion business.


“This is my new office,” Carine Roitfeld jokes when I meet her in the lobby of the Carlyle on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. It is less than a week since she officially vacated her throne as editor in chief of Paris Vogue, and in this darkly lit grand hotel, it’s tempting to see Roitfeld, with her gray fur jacket and Russian roots, as a glamorous aristocrat in sudden exile. It’s an exile that will be short-lived, no doubt. She has already exerted an unmistakable influence on fashion, not once but twice: first with the p*rno-chic aesthetic she co-authored in the nineties as a stylist for Mario Testino and Tom Ford, then of Gucci; later, with her provocative, photo-driven, decade-long tenure at Vogue. Now everyone is speculating about her next act.


The moment we slide into a booth and Roitfeld removes a pair of Tom Ford sunglasses the size of saucers, a different woman emerges: talkative, immensely charming, unafraid to appear vulnerable, yet also fiercely determined. I barely have a chance to turn on my tape recorder before she is off and running on a variety of subjects: her mysterious departure from Vogue, the need to promote young talent, and dinners à trois with Riccardo Tisci and Karl Lagerfeld.


You were saying?
It’s strange for me to come back here to New York during the fashion show season and not to be the editor in chief of French Vogue. Of course, I’ve done it before when I was just a freelancer, but ten years is a long time. It’s like 20 times I came here for the shows, and suddenly I’m not the editor in chief. That’s a custom, so it’s hard to now be a freelance editor. But it’s exciting, too.


You’re skipping the circus this time?
I’m not going to the shows. Maybe I will see some friends at previews, but mostly I’ve come for the amfAR gala on Wednesday. I’m a big supporter of amfAR. And my son is giving an exhibition on Thursday. And I have to finish my book for Rizzoli. I’m very late, so it’s my last days to finish it. It’s supposed to come out September or maybe October of this year. So I have a lot of appointments. I’m quite busy.


The book is a look back at your career?
It’s a bit like that. I never like to go back, so to go back to a picture you did 20 years ago, it’s almost like going to a shrink. It’s a lot of emotion…Most of the pictures are the ones I did with Mario Testino…It’s mostly dedicated to Mario, that book.


Does one shoot stand out in your memory?
There are different ones, of course. I had a very good period where I was working at French Glamour and I was working for The Face. The “butcher” shoot with Eva Herzigova and those sort of stories. They’re memorable stories, and you say why? Maybe because it’s not just about fashion. It’s because it’s a moment of the time.


You’ve been working on the book with [editor] Olivier Zahm and [art director] Alex Wiederin?
Always I like to have trouble. It’s not easy to have two big personalities like Olivier Zahm and Alex Wiederin working together, with me in the middle. But I know “star wars.” I spent a lot of time between Tom Ford and Mario Testino, so I learned how to deal with it.


Speaking of Tom Ford, people are curious if you’re going to work together again.
No, no, I’m not going to work with Tom. That was ten years ago. If I look back at my CV, when I was freelance, I worked mostly ten years with Tom Ford at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. And after [that] I stopped and it was ten years at French Vogue. Now it’s a new decade and I don’t want to be doing what I was doing ten years ago. Of course, Tom is my friend and if he asks me what I think, I will answer. But I will not go and stay one week before the show and work with him.


What are some of your plans?
You know, I have many projects, but as a Russian, I am very superstitious, and nothing is totally clarified. I think it will be [clearer] in one month. It’s just one week since I left the magazine, but I have a lot of ideas. It will of course be in fashion, but I don’t know exactly which way—magazines or maybe the muse of someone, I don’t know exactly. But what I’m sure of, because I discovered this at the end of my decade [at Vogue], it’s very important to help young designers. My last issue is the March issue, and it’s dedicated to young designers, no advertisers, just young designers, because I think they really need the support…When you meet these kids, you learn a lot from them, and I think it gives them a lot of positive energy…I definitely want to work on a project with young designers, not just French but international…I grew up and I think I have better ideas than I had ten years ago. [For the last ten years] I didn’t have a lot of time to think about the big picture or how fashion is going to be in some years. Now it’s a good moment for me to think about fashion for today, because a lot of things have changed, and when you’re working you don’t see all these things changing. But when you stop, you can see it. You have to understand the new way of working with fashion.


What are some of those changes?
Everything is going so quick now with the Internet, with the blogs. It’s very important. There are two possibilities; either you go very quick to the Internet or you go to magazines and you make it like a collector’s item. [I still think] it’s very normal to have all these fashion weeks and to go to all these shows. Can you show them through movies? I don’t think this is possible. It’s very exciting to be at the runway, to hear the music, to feel the atmosphere, to feel what people like or don’t like. Even if there are too many shows—I would love if there were less shows—I think we have to live with the shows. But after, maybe there is another way to make fashion stories.


You were one of the first editors to become a star of the street-style blogs. Were you conscious that was happening?
I’m never conscious about those sorts of things. I was never conscious that I was becoming an icon or I’m not an icon, because my family, my kids, my husband keep me down-to-earth. But it’s true that, when you go to a show now, the photographers are more interested sometimes in the dress or the jacket you’re wearing than to photograph the show, and I think this is totally wrong. It’s an honor and you smile to the people. But is it normal? I think there is something a bit weird, that more people want to see these looks than want to see what John Galliano or Dolce & Gabbana did for the show.


Now a lot of editors—Anna Dello Russo, Giovanna Battaglia—have become street-style stars, but you started it.
Because I have a specific look. Black eyes, hair in my face, high heels. Maybe it was a strong look in the streets that made me the first one. Anna is funny, she has an incredible look. And Giovanna, she is very chic in an Italian way. And there are other ones coming. I’m sure there is a lot who want to push me out of the way, because this is fashion. It’s never very faithful, you know, and people want change all the time. This is the purpose of fashion, so I don’t know what is going to happen with me. But my look is not going to change very much.


Does that kind of attention make an editor’s job more difficult?
When you see ten shows in one day, it’s very difficult to have a [considered] reflection. People come up to you with a microphone after the show, and sometimes you’re [not ready] to say what [you] think of this show. Sometimes it takes a week to digest everything. I’m not very good just after a show. Sometimes you love it, but you don’t know why you love it. You have to digest, and after you have better answers.


I’d like to talk about Paris Vogue. Was there a moment where you felt you’d really defined the voice of the magazine?
It took a little time, because when I came to Vogue ten years ago, it was not the Vogue it is today. Joan Juliet Buck, who I was working for as a freelancer, was more a journalist editor than a fashion editor, so it was focused more on the text and writers and not so much on fashion. And me, I come with all my fashion ideas, but it was very difficult at the beginning, because a lot of photographers, it’s easy to forget, didn’t want to work for the magazine…Each time we try to be better and better, and it takes almost ten years to be a team, and now I think the best team is there. It’s very sad to leave your family after ten years…But I think the times are changing, too. I said to Jonathan [Newhouse, chairman of Condé Nast International], when I can make it ten, it will be great for me. And I think in the last [period] that maybe I got less freedom than I got before, so I think it was just the right time for me to leave, because I want to enjoy and do everything that I want to do. And Jonathan was an amazing boss, because he let me do such crazy things. To put a black transsexual with a beard and high heels on the cover? I don’t think a lot of presidents will let you do that. I think it was fun to look at French Vogue. Each month was a new happening. But I think now they want to change a bit. Even the French president [Xavier Romatet, of Condé Nast France] now wants something a bit [pauses]…sweeter I would say, and if I cannot have a lot of fun, then I prefer to do something else.


You felt you had less freedom at the end?
I think yes. I think the French president—maybe not Jonathan—but the French president thinks he wants something more [pauses]…I won’t say I’m too provocative; it’s my way of expressing myself, you know. They won’t change everything, because when something has been so [successful], it would be stupid to change it. Maybe they want [things] a bit more easy for everyone. It’s true, I’m always pushing. I like that. I’ve always been provocative, but what I’m going to do next is a new way of provocation. I did for many years p*rno chic. I was the queen of p*rno chic. And I will do something totally different now.


Are advertisers too powerful now, to the point where it stifles creativity?
Of course they’re very powerful. And more and more powerful…But I never talked, myself, to the advertisers; I talked to my readers. Always I has this way of thinking, and maybe that’s the reason I had more and more readers…We never felt forced to photograph something.


Did you feel the pressure of political correctness?
I think it’s sad because when I did this Tom Ford issue, for example, we put a lot of little girls with makeup, a lot of jewelry. It was for Christmas and it’s nothing compared to what Guy Bourdin did 20 years ago or what I saw in all the magazines ten years ago.


But the shoot with the kids did cause waves?
Yes, but when you put kids, you always know it’s going to be a problem. There was no nudity, it was always a T-shirt under the evening dress, but you know, people see what they want…These are the risques du métier.


There are rumors that you were fired because of the Tom Ford issue.
No, that’s wrong…I think it was a controversial issue, but they were all controversial issues. I told you, at the end of this decade, I could see that the new president in France wanted to change the direction of the magazine. I’m sure the Tom Ford issue is not the way they’re heading in the next few years, but it was not because of the Tom Ford issue. I was not fired, because if I was fired, it would not be a very nice ending. It was a discussion between Jonathan and myself, and he never fired me…I know I did a good job. I know the March issue is a record in terms of advertising. So I’m not leaving a sad magazine, an empty magazine. I’m leaving a magazine that has an epic stop. I’m very happy about that.


Do you feel you’re leaving the magazine in good hands with Emmanuelle Alt?
I think the team is perfect. And I think it’s like a boulevard—an easy road in front of them. For six months, it’s the same program as today, because everything for this season was almost organized. So we’ll see what happens next season. I think it would be stupid to change too much, because I think it’s doing quite well. But everyone has their own personality, and Emmanuelle is very different than me, so we’re going to see what she’s going to do. But I think it’s going to be a bit easier for her than it was for me ten years ago, because everyone wants to work at French Vogue now.


People say you and Emmanuelle Alt are not on speaking terms.
It’s true that we are in not in the best relations, [but] I don’t want to talk about it, to be honest.


What are you proudest of achieving at the magazine?
To enjoy going to the office for ten years. Because I’ve worked for all those other magazines, and I know it is not like this everywhere. I think the reason the magazine was good was that we enjoyed doing the magazine, and I think the readers felt this…I also just realized at the end that you get big, big power when you get that job, and you can make someone a celebrity. Look what happened to Lara Stone. She wanted to stop being a model. She had no success at all. And my friend Riccardo Tisci said to me, “Oh, you have to look at that girl, she’s amazing.” And I believed him and I booked her, and after that I booked her for each issue. She was the cover of my special anniversary issue, the cover of the February issue. I gave her eight or nine covers, and now she’s one of the biggest stars. It’s very exciting to make someone a star, and it was something you could do with French Vogue…It’s like my friend Peter Philips. I started with him when no one knew him. He was an assistant, and now he’s the head of Chanel [makeup]. It makes me happy to see all my friends [succeed] too, because I like to share the cake with other people.


Your father was a movie producer. Perhaps you inherited some of that from him?
I hope I will have the same serenity and sagesse, wisdom, as my dad. Maybe he wasn’t the biggest producer in France. He had a great catalog, but there were people who were bigger than him. But he was one of the most respected ones. He was like a godfather in this business, and when he died and I saw all these people, very well-known people, come to pay their last respects, I thought, oh my God, I hope I will have the same wisdom as him. Everything I did was following in his footsteps, and it’s true he always protected me, so I hope he would be proud of my new decision. People say, “Why did you leave French Vogue? It’s crazy.” But I say, I always liked challenge. When Tom Ford asked me to consult for Gucci, I had never consulted in my life. I didn’t know what consulting was, and look, we made something amazing. I have a lot of ideas coming, and it’s more exciting than getting older in your golden cage.

#there is more at style.com
Source:Style.com

 

[Style Savvy]

The Future Of Fashion, Part Seven: Carine Roitfeld
February 12, 2011 12:44 am

In this ongoing series, Style.com’s editor in chief, Dirk Standen, talks to a number of leading industry figures about the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for the fashion business.

“This is my new office,” Carine Roitfeld jokes when I meet her in the lobby of the Carlyle on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. It is less than a week since she officially vacated her throne as editor in chief of Paris Vogue, and in this darkly lit grand hotel, it’s tempting to see Roitfeld, with her gray fur jacket and Russian roots, as a glamorous aristocrat in sudden exile. It’s an exile that will be short-lived, no doubt. She has already exerted an unmistakable influence on fashion, not once but twice: first with the p*rno-chic aesthetic she co-authored in the nineties as a stylist for Mario Testino and Tom Ford, then of Gucci; later, with her provocative, photo-driven, decade-long tenure at Vogue. Now everyone is speculating about her next act.


The moment we slide into a booth and Roitfeld removes a pair of Tom Ford sunglasses the size of saucers, a different woman emerges: talkative, immensely charming, unafraid to appear vulnerable, yet also fiercely determined. I barely have a chance to turn on my tape recorder before she is off and running on a variety of subjects: her mysterious departure from Vogue, the need to promote young talent, and dinners à trois with Riccardo Tisci and Karl Lagerfeld.


You were saying?
It’s strange for me to come back here to New York during the fashion show season and not to be the editor in chief of French Vogue. Of course, I’ve done it before when I was just a freelancer, but ten years is a long time. It’s like 20 times I came here for the shows, and suddenly I’m not the editor in chief. That’s a custom, so it’s hard to now be a freelance editor. But it’s exciting, too.


You’re skipping the circus this time?
I’m not going to the shows. Maybe I will see some friends at previews, but mostly I’ve come for the amfAR gala on Wednesday. I’m a big supporter of amfAR. And my son is giving an exhibition on Thursday. And I have to finish my book for Rizzoli. I’m very late, so it’s my last days to finish it. It’s supposed to come out September or maybe October of this year. So I have a lot of appointments. I’m quite busy.


The book is a look back at your career?
It’s a bit like that. I never like to go back, so to go back to a picture you did 20 years ago, it’s almost like going to a shrink. It’s a lot of emotion…Most of the pictures are the ones I did with Mario Testino…It’s mostly dedicated to Mario, that book.


Does one shoot stand out in your memory?
There are different ones, of course. I had a very good period where I was working at French Glamour and I was working for The Face. The “butcher” shoot with Eva Herzigova and those sort of stories. They’re memorable stories, and you say why? Maybe because it’s not just about fashion. It’s because it’s a moment of the time.


You’ve been working on the book with [editor] Olivier Zahm and [art director] Alex Wiederin?
Always I like to have trouble. It’s not easy to have two big personalities like Olivier Zahm and Alex Wiederin working together, with me in the middle. But I know “star wars.” I spent a lot of time between Tom Ford and Mario Testino, so I learned how to deal with it.


Speaking of Tom Ford, people are curious if you’re going to work together again.
No, no, I’m not going to work with Tom. That was ten years ago. If I look back at my CV, when I was freelance, I worked mostly ten years with Tom Ford at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. And after [that] I stopped and it was ten years at French Vogue. Now it’s a new decade and I don’t want to be doing what I was doing ten years ago. Of course, Tom is my friend and if he asks me what I think, I will answer. But I will not go and stay one week before the show and work with him.


What did you think of the super-exclusive show he did in New York?
I think it was very smart of him, just 100 journalists in his shop, and he was talking about each model and he had a sense of humor, so you see a lot of people laughing, which is fun…He did totally the contrary of everyone else and he made a big buzz, a big excitement. I think it was good not to see the [clothes] afterwards immediately on the blogs. For the editors, you feel more VIP, and it makes the buzz bigger and everyone knows about the Tom Ford collection. And really nothing came out. It was very controlled. Tom is a very controlled person, so he controlled everything…And his genius is to make the girls even more beautiful than they already are. It’s his talent. One of the girls was my daughter, and when she came out, I was anxious for her, but I thought, my gosh, she had never been so beautiful…I don’t know what he’s going to do for the next one.


It’s in London.
Is it? See, I don’t know.


We won’t see you modeling?
He didn’t ask me.


What are some of your plans?
You know, I have many projects, but as a Russian, I am very superstitious, and nothing is totally clarified. I think it will be [clearer] in one month. It’s just one week since I left the magazine, but I have a lot of ideas. It will of course be in fashion, but I don’t know exactly which way—magazines or maybe the muse of someone, I don’t know exactly. But what I’m sure of, because I discovered this at the end of my decade [at Vogue], it’s very important to help young designers. My last issue is the March issue, and it’s dedicated to young designers, no advertisers, just young designers, because I think they really need the support…When you meet these kids, you learn a lot from them, and I think it gives them a lot of positive energy…I definitely want to work on a project with young designers, not just French but international…I grew up and I think I have better ideas than I had ten years ago. [For the last ten years] I didn’t have a lot of time to think about the big picture or how fashion is going to be in some years. Now it’s a good moment for me to think about fashion for today, because a lot of things have changed, and when you’re working you don’t see all these things changing. But when you stop, you can see it. You have to understand the new way of working with fashion.


What are some of those changes?
Everything is going so quick now with the Internet, with the blogs. It’s very important. There are two possibilities; either you go very quick to the Internet or you go to magazines and you make it like a collector’s item. [I still think] it’s very normal to have all these fashion weeks and to go to all these shows. Can you show them through movies? I don’t think this is possible. It’s very exciting to be at the runway, to hear the music, to feel the atmosphere, to feel what people like or don’t like. Even if there are too many shows—I would love if there were less shows—I think we have to live with the shows. But after, maybe there is another way to make fashion stories.


You were one of the first editors to become a star of the street-style blogs. Were you conscious that was happening?
I’m never conscious about those sorts of things. I was never conscious that I was becoming an icon or I’m not an icon, because my family, my kids, my husband keep me down-to-earth. But it’s true that, when you go to a show now, the photographers are more interested sometimes in the dress or the jacket you’re wearing than to photograph the show, and I think this is totally wrong. It’s an honor and you smile to the people. But is it normal? I think there is something a bit weird, that more people want to see these looks than want to see what John Galliano or Dolce & Gabbana did for the show.


Now a lot of editors—Anna Dello Russo, Giovanna Battaglia—have become street-style stars, but you started it.
Because I have a specific look. Black eyes, hair in my face, high heels. Maybe it was a strong look in the streets that made me the first one. Anna is funny, she has an incredible look. And Giovanna, she is very chic in an Italian way. And there are other ones coming. I’m sure there is a lot who want to push me out of the way, because this is fashion. It’s never very faithful, you know, and people want change all the time. This is the purpose of fashion, so I don’t know what is going to happen with me. But my look is not going to change very much.


Does that kind of attention make an editor’s job more difficult?
When you see ten shows in one day, it’s very difficult to have a [considered] reflection. People come up to you with a microphone after the show, and sometimes you’re [not ready] to say what [you] think of this show. Sometimes it takes a week to digest everything. I’m not very good just after a show. Sometimes you love it, but you don’t know why you love it. You have to digest, and after you have better answers.


I’d like to talk about Paris Vogue. Was there a moment where you felt you’d really defined the voice of the magazine?
It took a little time, because when I came to Vogue ten years ago, it was not the Vogue it is today. Joan Juliet Buck, who I was working for as a freelancer, was more a journalist editor than a fashion editor, so it was focused more on the text and writers and not so much on fashion. And me, I come with all my fashion ideas, but it was very difficult at the beginning, because a lot of photographers, it’s easy to forget, didn’t want to work for the magazine…Each time we try to be better and better, and it takes almost ten years to be a team, and now I think the best team is there. It’s very sad to leave your family after ten years…But I think the times are changing, too. I said to Jonathan [Newhouse, chairman of Condé Nast International], when I can make it ten, it will be great for me. And I think in the last [period] that maybe I got less freedom than I got before, so I think it was just the right time for me to leave, because I want to enjoy and do everything that I want to do. And Jonathan was an amazing boss, because he let me do such crazy things. To put a black transsexual with a beard and high heels on the cover? I don’t think a lot of presidents will let you do that. I think it was fun to look at French Vogue. Each month was a new happening. But I think now they want to change a bit. Even the French president [Xavier Romatet, of Condé Nast France] now wants something a bit [pauses]…sweeter I would say, and if I cannot have a lot of fun, then I prefer to do something else.


You felt you had less freedom at the end?
I think yes. I think the French president—maybe not Jonathan—but the French president thinks he wants something more [pauses]…I won’t say I’m too provocative; it’s my way of expressing myself, you know. They won’t change everything, because when something has been so [successful], it would be stupid to change it. Maybe they want [things] a bit more easy for everyone. It’s true, I’m always pushing. I like that. I’ve always been provocative, but what I’m going to do next is a new way of provocation. I did for many years p*rno chic. I was the queen of p*rno chic. And I will do something totally different now.


Are advertisers too powerful now, to the point where it stifles creativity?
Of course they’re very powerful. And more and more powerful…But I never talked, myself, to the advertisers; I talked to my readers. Always I has this way of thinking, and maybe that’s the reason I had more and more readers…We never felt forced to photograph something.


Did you feel the pressure of political correctness?
I think it’s sad because when I did this Tom Ford issue, for example, we put a lot of little girls with makeup, a lot of jewelry. It was for Christmas and it’s nothing compared to what Guy Bourdin did 20 years ago or what I saw in all the magazines ten years ago.


But the shoot with the kids did cause waves?
Yes, but when you put kids, you always know it’s going to be a problem. There was no nudity, it was always a T-shirt under the evening dress, but you know, people see what they want…These are the risques du métier.


There are rumors that you were fired because of the Tom Ford issue.
No, that’s wrong…I think it was a controversial issue, but they were all controversial issues. I told you, at the end of this decade, I could see that the new president in France wanted to change the direction of the magazine. I’m sure the Tom Ford issue is not the way they’re heading in the next few years, but it was not because of the Tom Ford issue. I was not fired, because if I was fired, it would not be a very nice ending. It was a discussion between Jonathan and myself, and he never fired me…I know I did a good job. I know the March issue is a record in terms of advertising. So I’m not leaving a sad magazine, an empty magazine. I’m leaving a magazine that has an epic stop. I’m very happy about that.


...

 

[Style Savvy]

...

Do you feel you’re leaving the magazine in good hands with Emmanuelle Alt?
I think the team is perfect. And I think it’s like a boulevard—an easy road in front of them. For six months, it’s the same program as today, because everything for this season was almost organized. So we’ll see what happens next season. I think it would be stupid to change too much, because I think it’s doing quite well. But everyone has their own personality, and Emmanuelle is very different than me, so we’re going to see what she’s going to do. But I think it’s going to be a bit easier for her than it was for me ten years ago, because everyone wants to work at French Vogue now.


People say you and Emmanuelle Alt are not on speaking terms.
It’s true that we are in not in the best relations, [but] I don’t want to talk about it, to be honest.


What are you proudest of achieving at the magazine?
To enjoy going to the office for ten years. Because I’ve worked for all those other magazines, and I know it is not like this everywhere. I think the reason the magazine was good was that we enjoyed doing the magazine, and I think the readers felt this…I also just realized at the end that you get big, big power when you get that job, and you can make someone a celebrity. Look what happened to Lara Stone. She wanted to stop being a model. She had no success at all. And my friend Riccardo Tisci said to me, “Oh, you have to look at that girl, she’s amazing.” And I believed him and I booked her, and after that I booked her for each issue. She was the cover of my special anniversary issue, the cover of the February issue. I gave her eight or nine covers, and now she’s one of the biggest stars. It’s very exciting to make someone a star, and it was something you could do with French Vogue…It’s like my friend Peter Philips. I started with him when no one knew him. He was an assistant, and now he’s the head of Chanel [makeup]. It makes me happy to see all my friends [succeed] too, because I like to share the cake with other people.


Your father was a movie producer. Perhaps you inherited some of that from him?
I hope I will have the same serenity and sagesse, wisdom, as my dad. Maybe he wasn’t the biggest producer in France. He had a great catalog, but there were people who were bigger than him. But he was one of the most respected ones. He was like a godfather in this business, and when he died and I saw all these people, very well-known people, come to pay their last respects, I thought, oh my God, I hope I will have the same wisdom as him. Everything I did was following in his footsteps, and it’s true he always protected me, so I hope he would be proud of my new decision. People say, “Why did you leave French Vogue? It’s crazy.” But I say, I always liked challenge. When Tom Ford asked me to consult for Gucci, I had never consulted in my life. I didn’t know what consulting was, and look, we made something amazing. I have a lot of ideas coming, and it’s more exciting than getting older in your golden cage.


In general terms, do you see a positive future for magazines?
I think it will be very difficult for a lot of magazines, because now you see so many things on the Internet right away and you cannot be as quick as the Internet. Maybe some magazines will stay, but they have to be very beautiful, like collector’s items…Today we have to think differently. [Take] globalization. Ten years ago we never thought we were going to have a Vogue in China, and it’s one of the most successful Vogues, so if you’re not moving, you’re dead. Maybe it’s about going to other countries, to find another way to be interesting in fashion, to talk to a wider audience.


Any interest in working on the Internet?
I’m not an Internet [girl]. I’m not writing on blogs. I’m not a Facebook girl. Even though there is a fake Facebook with my name, it’s not me. I’m not on Twitter, it’s not me. But I think if I’m not going on the Internet, I’m going to totally disappear, because the future is the Internet. It’s very difficult for me to work on the Internet, but maybe I will find a way. I think this is very, very important.


Do you feel you did enough on the Internet at Paris Vogue?
No. I never took care of the Internet for Paris Vogue, never, because honestly I had no time to work on the Internet, and I don’t think a lot of magazines have success going on the Internet. You have to be thinking totally differently if you want to do something on the Internet. Even French Elle or Grazia, they’re very popular magazines, but on the Internet they’re not so popular, so there is something that doesn’t work. You have to think about exactly what people need on the Internet. It’s not that you do a continuation of the magazine.


Would you be open to editing another magazine?
Why not? I’m open to many opportunities. There are not so many ways to show fashion…To show fashion you need a magazine most of the time. Each time we were doing a magazine, it was like giving a dinner…You know this thing called Le Festin de Babette? She spent all her money just to make one dinner. It’s a bit like when you want to make a special issue. You give everything you have, your charm, your money, your relationships, to make something fantastic. You have to be very generous.


The photographers you worked with at the magazine—David Sims, Mario Sorrenti, Terry Richardson—they are the establishment now. Do you see a new generation of photographers breaking through?
There are some coming through, but when you have a magazine and you have the best ones, it’s difficult to put someone new between them. They want to be all at the same level. But I think now, we need new stylists, we need new photographers, and I’m starting to check and see some very good ones. And if I’m doing something new, I would love to use a new generation, because I think it’s good when people are very hungry…Personally, I think I had more creativity and talent 20 years ago when we had no money to do a story, [and we had] to do it in two hours after a money job when we got to keep the studio…I think everything is too established now. I think it’s good to break the rules. It’s like the models. It’s easy to have the five tops. I love risk…Now I found a new girl called Saskia. She has short hair, no one knows her, and this is going to be my last cover.


Where do you find new talent?
You have to be surrounded with people with [good] eyes. For example, my friend Riccardo Tisci. He’s really someone of his time. I’ve [tried] to nourish him, but he’s also nourishing me a lot with his instincts about models, photographers, singers. It’s very important for me to have some of these friends…He’s very exciting, he’s very aware, and each time he gives me good advice. Lara, Saskia—Riccardo introduced me to them, and he showed me some new photographers and I’d love to use them.


Why do you think it took people a long time to appreciate his talent as a designer?
I met Riccardo when he was unknown and doing his own show in Milan. A sort of very underground show. And to go from a very big-name show to an underground show was very exciting for me, so I met Riccardo this way, and after, I tried to make him come to Givenchy when they were looking for someone. I know they were not so happy at the beginning, but now they understand his vision. Sometimes it takes a bit of time. He was very young. It’s a lot of pressure on your shoulders, but I think since two or three seasons, it’s better and better. And his last Couture presentation was amazing. And even the men’s show, where people had to wait two hours because there was a problem with the electricity, no one stood up, everyone was staying, because they know something was going to happen at that show. Even if they don’t like everything, there is something new…He’s doing a book for Visionaire and he asked me to be in a picture. And it was fun to do it and he’s full of oxygen. And I just introduced him to Karl Lagerfeld and now they really like each other. It’s funny to have dinner with the two of them, because Riccardo is not intimidated by Karl; he is totally comfortable, and Karl has a lot of fun with him. You spend a very good evening listening to them. Maybe I’m a good go-between.


Which other designers do you admire?
Oh, there are a lot of designers I admire. There’s a long list. In the young generation, of course I love Nicolas Ghesquière. There were these problems with Balenciaga last season, but I know him since the beginning. I was one of the biggest supporters of Nicolas, and I just saw him for a cup of tea and now everything is fine again between Nicolas and me.


What was the real cause of your disagreement with Nicolas?
Sometimes people like to put oil on the fire, to make something bigger, and afterwards with blogs and the Internet, things [get out of] proportion. But now it’s gone back like before and I’m very happy because I think he’s full of talent.


There were rumors that you were consulting for other brands while you were editing Vogue. But you recently told Women’s Wear Daily that wasn’t true.
I didn’t have the time…You do so many shows, go to New York, London, Milan, Paris; you do many photo stories for your own magazine. Even if I’m a Superwoman, I don’t know when exactly I would find the time to spend one week [consulting] with someone at the shows. This is impossible.


Do you feel freer now?
I never felt not free. Even when I was doing so many things, I never had an office life. OK, I have no boss now. That’s a big difference. I’m my own boss and it’s a good thing and a bad thing to be your own boss. You can do whatever you want, but you need a protector. I need protectors, because it’s very difficult to do everything by yourself. I have a lot of people who want to do projects with me. It’s the reason I’m in New York. There are a lot of people to meet here. I think things will come more from New York than Paris. You’re never a king in your own country. You’re always better in another country, no? So I hope that Americans will still like me.


Why wouldn’t they?
People sometimes think I’m very cold, but I’m not. I’m a very shy person. When people know me, I’m not cold; I’m quite a nice person. It’s difficult as the editor of a magazine to be totally yourself because you’re a bit frightened. Now I think I go back where I was ten years ago, so I get younger, which is always good. Younger with dreams and younger with energy. Younger with risk, because now it will be my own risk; it won’t be Vogue’s risk. Always I will be a risky woman. I will keep this legend.
—Dirk Standen
Photo: Hedi Slimane for New York magazine
style.com

 

[missnyc]

It's quite sad she and Emmanuelle don't speak to each other anymore...

 

[CrisGalaxy]

So shes now going to live in NYC? I can't belive it is the end of an era... I hope she does more p*rno-chic and crazy things like she did at Vogue. Im very glad I lived in her era and actually knew of it, unlike the Tom @ Gucci and Hedi @ Dior Homme eras that I now regret to not have been aware of them when i was 6 years old . I will definitely buy her last issue and hopefully that book shes making too.

 

[greyeyes]

i really hope her project will involve a magazine, she's just so good at what she does, a new magazine sounds exciting, i know she talked to Tonchi, that also could be interesting, but W has Alex White who's a genius in terms of styling, and i don't think Carine is one to settle with just a stylist position, just saying.

so we have to wait for a month until the project will be revealed.

 

[Melly5525]

Very interesting candid interview, it kinda saddens me though that her and Emmanuale arent friends anymore, i loved seeing them together.

 

[RedAzalie]

little late here but - i just love her styling with givenchy dress ( well i love love love the collection so it's easier to love carine with it ) - so different than usual dark style, yet so her, edgy and well so carine

 

[Master Wood]

very interesting article. i think some of carines allure may have been lost though. she seems a little bit silly and irresponsible.

 

[BetteT]

I find it itneresting that her last issue (March 2011) is going to be without any advertisers ... how in the heck did she get the powers that be to allow that!?

I do like the idea that it's going to be about young designers ... it should make it very special, in my opinion. Let's see 5 or 10 years down the road, whether or not she picked some that make it really big ... or not.

 

[Master Wood]

^^ I think by that she means none of the advertisers in the editorials. Many brands relationships with magazine work on advertising spend in relation to products featured in the magazine. It is very unlikely that the magazine will have no advertising, particularly as her last issue is likely to sell very well.

 

[Almásy]

I am so exited about her new biography. It will be a interesting read.