The Blessed : The Anti-Gap Loves the Anti-Anna

(Photo: Hedi Slimane)

Although the spring fashion issue of New York mag has been tarnished by the image of a Marylinesque Lindsay Lohan and an even more self-flagulating image of Andre 3000 (apparently the Outkast best known for dressing like an idiot thinks he can design clothes. see more after the jump), there are some glimors of hope in what is seasonally my favorite read. Namely the Anti-Anna article on French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld. With photos by Hedi Slimane, the article goes deep into the life of the editrix who’s been responsible for providing the European world with a good shot of take no prisoners, make no apologies style. Probably the best part is hearing of their distribution rate, 130,000 copies, which technically means that Fashion Indie gets more readers than French Vogue!!! Good to know, good to know.

Here are some snips from the interview from the woman that put Andre J on the map and mocks Wintour, a bit.

Roitfeld On Getting Older:
“I follow an advice of Tom Ford: When you get older, you have to get blonder. It is my surfer look.”

Roitfeld On Fellow Editors:

“Some editors, they have that, they know all the designer from the beginning of the nineteenth century. They know this is triple cashmere, this is simple cashmere. Maybe they went to fashion school. Me, I don’t. I just get a feeling about what is exciting. It is all just from feeling. So I don’t know”—she pulls her lips into a pout and gives one of those poufy little French exhales—“I think maybe I have a talent.”

Roitfeld On Personal Style:

“The American editors are very, how you say, slick,” Roitfeld says. “Very perfect. Hair is perfect, they have a manicure. They are very clean, they follow fashion. I don’t think they take many risks. They do the total look of Prada. Me, I wear a lot of Japanese piece mixed with a bit of classic Hermès and Prada. Even though jeans suit me, I never wear jeans.”

Roitfeld on Anna Wintour:

“Like Anna, she becomes so iconic that she becomes like a puppet. I don’t want to be like that, I don’t want to wear this uniform, I don’t want to be just an envelope.”

Roitfeld on Her Future:

“I never wanted to be what I am today, and I will not die in the position.”

Roitfeld On Fashion:

“Right now I think that fashion in the world becomes a bit boring. There is so much money, and I feel a bit when you go to shows they want to sell so many handbags, and for me, well, I do not like handbags. I do not wear handbags. It is not a nice look, to carry a handbag.”

Roitfeld On “The Scale”:

“So people always say that I weigh my staff, and it is totally wrong. All my girls are very skinny and very chic and very beautiful. And if they are not beautiful, well, then they are very charming. So people always say that I weigh them, but no. I don’t weigh my girls.”

Read the full article HERE.

For more reasons why Andre Benjamin shouldn’t be in fashion, make the jump…