Designer Inès de la Fressange on why she’s content to fail
The 59-year-old, who recently graced the cover of French Elle, reveals why she always tells the truth
LEARNING CURVES I grew up in the French countryside with my grandmother. She was the one who was really into fashion and couture. I used to hate the way she would dress up in all these silks and taffeta but, finally, I learned about the culture without knowing it. Since then I’ve had a lot of interest in clothes rather than fashion.
I was reading a lot of magazines and, in my late teens, I started working as a model with all these famous designers like Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld. I learned a lot about fashion and design that way, inside the industry.
First, it was to recognise the importance of fabrics ... fashion is like food, you can’t do it with bad ingredients. Second, it’s like Coco Chanel said, that it’s useless to do useless things, like designing fake pockets. After that, fashion sensibility is like playing the piano; when you’ve been playing a lot, it just comes naturally.
PERFECTLY IMPERFECT I try not to be self conscious. I want to always be open-minded and interested in what’s new, without being a fashion victim. That’s especially important when you are an old lady like me! There are not many women like me, in fashion at almost 60 years old.
Instead of saying that in the morning I wake up early, work out and drink a litre of water, before being super organised working on Uniqlo, Roger Vivier stuff and my own brand and all that, I tell the truth.
I actually don’t manage so well for some things. I don’t want to give this image of this wonder woman who succeeds at everything. There are things where I don’t succeed. That’s life. It’s the most important thing to see your friends, chat, lose time, and realise that it doesn’t matter if everything is not perfect.
