left New York for Paris 10 years ago. She was a design director at when called with the kind of offer you don’t say no to: the artistic director of women’s ready-to-wear. A decade later, though, the city still has its hooks in the French designer—once a New Yorker, always a New Yorker, as they say.
This week is back in town to present a new collection—not resort, to be clear, but a sort of part-two of the fall collection she showed in February. “I have a special connection with New York,” said at a makeshift studio on the west side, and “when I did this second chapter I felt it was relevant to show it here because it’s the perfect blend between a French and an American girl.” The fall show—part one—was dedicated to horses and motorbikes, and it was the sexiest show of her tenure: lots of fitted leather and flashes of race car red.
Tonight’s show isn’t an anniversary collection; still, her New York visit was cause for reflection. “I remember when I met [ the executive chairman of ], I said I really want to make the coat as relevant as the , and I think today we have customers who really discover the brand through the ready-to-wear, and that’s something which is quite exciting.” She took a break from fitting that ready-to-wear to talk mentors, the women role models who’ve led in the past, and how she maintains the house’s “attractive aura.
” I wanted to go to a house with really strong roots, which had strong stability. It was important fo.
