How will it be different?
After hospital, I was thinking, What’s my issue going to be about? Because it was very late. So I kept thinking. I like Serge Gainsbourg, the French singer, and he made a beautiful song about Anjelica Huston that I love, too, called “Jolie Laide.” I think American people know this song. It means “ugly beauty,” but I think jolie laide maybe is nicer. It’s true in life and mostly in this work of fashion that the idea of beauty has changed. The whole issue will be around this idea of jolie laide—not just about the beauty, but about fashion, about pictures, about something that is more interesting.
I think it is a very good sign for women because we are not all perfect. I made a long story about Michael Avedon; I asked him to do my ugly beauties, in a way. I could not have Kate Moss, because I could not travel, so I could not have Kate Moss in this story, but she could be a part of it. She was not a perfect beauty, but finally she is one of the biggest top models, you know? It’s like Lara Stone. She is top model now, but you know when Riccardo [Tisci] introduced me to her, no one wanted her.
She wasn’t graceful or…?
She wasn’t enough skinny, [she had] too much breasts, you know. She was the fitting makeup girl for the show, nothing more. Can you imagine? And now she is one of the biggest top models. It’s like Gigi [Hadid]. She is a girl who I really pushed. She has a very special face. Some people think she isn’t beautiful, some people think she’s great, but she is not the profile of ideal beauty. Everything [in the issue] is around that, you know? And to make some more surprise, you know of course I am still very faithful to the Kardashians because I started with Kim. It was a good thing for her and it was a good thing for me—Iook at where she is now. So I still wanted someone from the Kardashian family in my magazine. It is not her, it is the younger sister, what’s her name? Kylie. I think she has a very interesting face. And Kanye will be a part of this issue, too.
I think your era of Paris Vogue, it felt very different.
Yes, I got a lot of letters. But you know, sometimes you never know what you are going to be attacked for. They attacked me for being racist because I painted Lara Stone in all the colors and in one photo she was painted in black. And I was the first one to put a girl like Liya Kebede from the cover to the entire issue, so people have a very short memory, you know. And one time I put a very oversized girl, because I have always liked oversized girls in a magazine, and I received a lot of letters, like, “Oh, why did you put this ugly girl in your magazine?”
So, looking forward to February and the shows, is there anything you have your eye on?
No, honestly. It’s like everything, you are never looking for your boyfriend and suddenly you found your boyfriend. It’s the same for designers. You know Riccardo, his show, I went for the first time in Milan because my son, he was friends with Mariacarla [Boscono], and Mariacarla gave to my son the invitation of Riccardo, and for me he was no one. And I was like, “OK, I have a car and I have a bit of time,” and I was like, “OK, let’s go.” So I went to see that show and it was totally new, totally fresh, and it was very interesting. That’s the way I met Riccardo. Of course I am going to wait for J.W Anderson because it is exciting, of course I am going to wait for Christopher Kane because I have been following him from the beginning, but you never know what is going to be.
I like to support new talent, I just regret not to support more before. It’s the next generation, we need them. It’s like Riccardo, he’s not so young anymore. I am so happy to see Hedi Slimane. I went to see his first show when he was working at YSL for men, and there was not more than 10 people in the room, and then they become like this, such a big success, so it makes you happy, you know, it makes you happy that you’ve known them for so many years. So yesterday I was backstage with Riccardo at Saint Laurent. I was between Riccardo and Hedi and it was a nice moment to be between two friends. Very talented friends. I say I am very gifted to have very talented friends. And they are friends together, too, they are old friends, as you may know.
And what about Gucci, your old stomping grounds?
I don’t know the guy [new creative director Alessandro Michele]. It was a bit like we took the assistant of the assistant. I didn’t see the men’s show, I do not know if you were in Milan.
I only saw the pictures…
What did you think? It was a bit different already…
Yes, it was different. Maybe he is even looking at J.W. Anderson a little bit, that androgyny idea.
Jonathan is a bit like the new one that everyone is looking at, he has the talent, he has a certain charisma. As for Gucci, I am more excited for the women’s show, I will say, than for the men’s show.