Tuesday, April 12, 2011

The business of being C. Roitfeld!


In a recent issue the weekly news magazine “der Spiegel” published an interview with former Vogue Paris editor in chief Carine Roitfeld. A very enjoyable and amusing Q&A article that talks about “how businessmen have squeezed the fun out of the fashion industry, the end of the glamour era and the power that comes with wearing high heels.” It covers the fashion industry’s, presented as “a world of vanity”, obscene sides and the possible corrupting influence it can have on people working in it. She talks about business taking the fun out of fashion, how current fashion just doesn’t make you dream like it used to and how it is absolutely necessary that artistic power needs to be given free reign with only limit restrictions. Whilst bringing up the subject of her exit at Vogue Paris they discuss how publishers have intensified the decline in possibilities for being provocative and trashy in magazines. Further more Roitfeld takes a deeper look at the compromising consequences of globalization on fashion design and converses on McQueen and other recent tragic events (Dior) when taking on today’s business expectations (far more than only 2 collections a year) in a fashion world that is rapidly changing. She goes on naming what she perceives as super-designers who seem to be able to put up with all that tension. They talk about her age (56), aging in the fashion industry and aging gracefully in general. The article concludes with a series of questions concerning fashion principles, fashion tips and Carine’s future projects (which do not include taking over from Anna Wintour, she clearly states) that range from having a book with Karl Lagerfeld, one about her own work, styling an ad campaign for Chanel and consulting work for Barney’s.


Carine Roitfeld in her Paris apartment with der Spiegel journalists Britta Sandberg and Claudia Voigt.

Anybody who is a fan of Q&A interviews should definitely read this Carine Roitfeld interview with “der Spiegel”:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,755339,00.html

If you want to read more on the Roitfeld family, take a look at:

Inspiration and pictures via http://www.spiegel.de/

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