When was the last time you marvelled over something in fashion?
A few months ago, when Recho Omondi announced her long-term podcast partnership deal with Patreon. It’s proof that having a smart and different way of communicating around fashion can translate into a sustainable business for an individual. Much deserved.
Tell us something surprising about how you got to where you are today?
That I landed in Paris in 1997 knowing absolutely nothing about fashion (rather shamefully, I thought Mario Sorrenti was a Formula One racing driver), but possessing an innate journalistic curiosity that led me to want to find out about the fascinating-looking people who populated the city’s fashion industry. That remains a central journalistic motor for me today at System: for better or worse, fashion encompasses so many different facets of the contemporary world and the human condition, whether that’s commerce, creative instinct, marketing, humanity, exploitation, consumerism, environmental footprints, identity, desire, ambition, bitchiness, gossip, self-doubt…
What are you most curious to know about how designers work, how a collection comes together?
How an initial, often micro-grain of an idea can so quickly and successfully disseminate into an entire ‘world’ for a season that will touch hundreds of millions of people in myriad ways – often more challenging than creating the collection itself. It’s a question we ask ourselves at Systemon an almost daily basis.
Is there any fashion show — no matter how far back — that you would have loved to attend?
Lee McQueen’s final show, Plato’s Atlantis (S/S2010). I’d attended – and been deeply moved by – his previous decade of shows in Paris, but got stuck in traffic on the way to the venue and arrived as guests were leaving, thinking to myself, ‘Oh well, they’ll be next season…’
Who are your fashion heroes?
Anyone who’s been able to launch and sustain an independent fashion media title – one that can operate both as a platform for a distinctive point of view and as a business. Too many to mention but notable shout-outs to Katie Grand, Sara Moonves, Jefferson Hack, Ashley Heath, The Fantastic Men (Gert & Jop) and their Gentlewoman (Penny Martin), Joerg Koch… and now Recho Omondi.
What is one positive objective or goal that you would like to see the industry work towards?
More widely championed creative expressions from regions of the world that remain relatively untapped or completely unknown. Imagine seeing collections by a really talented designer from Easter Island or more fashion photography by women in Saudi Arabia (in the meantime, check out the work of Hayat Osamah…).
If you could make any fashion wish come true, what would it be?
That I could magically squeeze into all the Tom Ford for YSL and Helmut Lang sample-size suits I purchased circa 2003.
This interview has been lightly edited.
