Журнал Andy Warhol's Interview Россия Interview № 3 | Page 197

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al fashion, connoisseur of world cinematography
and modern art, 30 years in one, very successful,
two billion dollar business with her husband Patriz-
io Bertelli. She has a sensational collection this
spring: ironic Tarantino (whom she adores) and
“all these nice and sweet things” (which she always
hated). We saw one another again this winter. After
our latest conversation it became clear that any
meeting with Miuccia Prada—whether by appoint-
ment or by chance—always begins with something
completely unexpected and new. And so at the re-
ception in honor of the launch of her project with
Francesco Vezzoli, the 24h museum in Le Palais
d’I é na, I discover her for myself all over again. She
was the first to combine a high society, although in-
timate, dinner with a museum exposition resem-
bling a light art performance. She appeared, unlike
her invited friends, in a black double-breasted over-
coat and dark beret, remaining so until the end of
the meal. Afterward, she refused to discuss what we
had devoted an hour to about two years ago.
ALIONA: I remember in the last interview it
suddenly came up that your personal chef prepares
Russian salad for you. Do you still order it for your
dinners?
MIUCCIA: I won’t say.
ALIONA: OK. Then let’s talk about your child-
hood. Were you the center of attention or did you
grow up in your own world?
MIUCCIA: I don’t even remember.
ALIONA: Who were your idols when you were
a teenager?
MIUCCIA: It’s a secret.
ALIONA: Do you have a cat or dog? Do you like
animals?
MIUCCIA: No comment.
ALIONA: OK. Then we’ll talk about work. You
work with your husband. How is that? What are the
pros and cons?
MIUCCIA: I’m so accustomed to it; I would
not know how it is without him. The company has
become what it is because of the two of us. We get
to the same conclusions through different paths,
but we never have to discuss major issues. He is
and always will be the driving force in the compa-
ny. Patrizio inspires me every time with confi-
dence that we need to fight stereotypes and push
boundaries.
ALIONA: Do you ever have doubts?
MIUCCIA: My work on collections is always
about doubts, especially at the beginning. I have
many ideas in my head, too many. I begin to edit
and narrow down, eliminating those that are uncon-
vincing. Sometimes I return to thoughts that I aban-
doned some time ago, and again put them into my
work. I begin every collection with the idea that
fashion needs something completely new. After that,
I choose fabrics—I am an absolute fanatic about this.
Then I concentrate on the final result, imagining
exactly what I want to achieve: what shape and sil-
houette it should have. I try to make it understand-
able for the audience. Usually I have one message
in the collection, and I want to make it loud and
clear. If a person leaving the show cannot state
this theme in two sentences, it means that it wasn’t
successful.
ALIONA: That’s exactly right. Sometimes it’s
impossible to understand what the designer wanted
to say, and it seems they spent time in vain. What in
your opinion are the main problems of the fashion
industry today?
MIUCCIA: I’m not sure that we can talk about
problems. We live in a time of gigantic opportuni-
ties. Just imagine. In the past fashion was talking
to small circle of friends, rich, Western white and
possibly catholic. Now we are talking to the entire
world, all cultures, religions and races. Appealing
to all of these people, this is the real challenge.
ALIONA: The times are, frankly speaking, in-
sane and speeding up. Do you follow what is going
on in the social networks?
MIUCCIA: Of course, and I invite bloggers to
my shows.
ALIONA: What do you think about those who
suddenly become famous in fashion?
MIUCCIA: People have always been attracted
to the rich and famous. Fashion is now a platform
where one can stand out, an industry that accepts
eccentrics and almost anyone who wants to express
himself.
LÉA
SEYDOUX
p. 158
by OWEN WILSON
A rising movie star and a famous comic actor
recall how they spent Midnight in Paris with
Woody Allen and find out why American wom-
en are sexier than French women.
The French have a new sex symbol: L é a Sey-
doux. The 26-year-old blonde works in Hollywood,
appears in advertisements for the perfume Candy by
Prada, poses for magazines with the best photo-
graphers like Steven Meisel and Mario Sorrenti.
Behind the usual story of a girl who very much did
not want to work in an office and took an interest in
cinema lies a secret of almost state proportions.
Among those closest to L é a are the most influential
producers in Europe: J é r é me and Nicolas Seydoux.
She has not yet had her leading role, but has al-
ready lit up celebrated projects from last year: Brad
Bird’s Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol, and
Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris. Actor Owen
Wilson, Seydoux’s partner in the latter, called at
9 a.m. from Los Angeles to her in Paris—he was
not sleeping as he was at home with his restless
one-year son.
OWEN: Congratulations! Midnight in Paris was
nominated for an Oscar.
L É A: Yes! It’s great, I really didn’t expect it.
Congratulations to you too.
OWEN: Thanks! So, what did I want to ask?
Ah, I remember. How did you come to Woody?
L É A: Almost by accident. My role as the girl
from the vintage store was written at the last min-
ute. I was in Los Angeles at the time, auditioning for
David Fincher (for the film The Girl with the Drag-
on Tattoo.—Interview), and honestly, this was one of
the biggest trials of my life. I didn’t get the part, but
my agent called there and said, “Woody is looking
for a young French woman, someone showed him
your photographs, and he wants to meet you on
Skype. He will only talk with you while you cannot
see him. Funny, right?” In the end we just spoke by
telephone, and Woody asked if I could fly to Paris to
film and how long my hair was. He needed a girl
with long, blond hair.
OWEN: So the one-sided Skype didn’t happen?
L É A: No-no. He couldn’t watch me. (Laughs.)
But I immediately got on a plane and in a few hours
I was already on the set. I think you were the first
person I met there.
OWEN: That’s right. I was really glad that we
were filming in Paris. I found a favorite place there.
L É A: There’s something typical we do in Paris
for entertainment. You buy bread and walk in your
favorite neighborhood. I adore the Palais Royal
area, everything there is so filled with pathos. When
my mood is lighter, I walk in the 10th district, the
Gare du Nord, many Africans live there.
OWEN: What impressions did you have of
Woody? He is so shy. Even though I was playing
a leading role, we hardly spoke. He is very polite
and sweet, but he didn’t communicate with me.
However, he clearly took an interest in you.
L É A: Woody is a very secretive, I would even
say, mysterious person. I think that he is really only
interested in philosophy. I’m not certain that he is
interested in people at all—he lives so much in his
own world. It wasn’t that he was somehow espe-
cially interested in me. My accent just reminded
him of his favorite French films.
OWEN: But that’s not all. His Paris was also
about the difference between American and French
women.
L É A: The difference is huge, I agree. American
women have shiny, coiffed hair, white teeth, tight
skin. French women are more natural, or something,
and more conservative.
OWEN: Sexier?
L É A: I don’t agree there. I think that American
women, precisely because they look after them-
selves, turn straight into sex personified.
ANNA DELLO
RUSSO
p. 174
by CARLO ANTONELLI
The creative consultant for Vogue Japan and the
most eccentric star of the fashion world makes
no secret of her pathological passion for clothes.
This honesty is worthy of admiration.
CARLO: Is it true that your father is a psychia-
trist?
ANNA: Yes. I was born in the 60s, at the height
of “Italietti”—the derogatory term for the post-war
period in Italy that embodied the vulgar bourgeoi-
sie. We had a typical bourgeois family. My mom,
a housewife, wore high-heels in the house. My older
sister Cristina constantly had fits of nerves, and she
cried all the time. They gave me shoes to play with
so that I wouldn’t cry—my mom said that I could
wear, study and touch these shoes for six hours.
I hated the baby-dolls that all little girls are given.
I wanted a Barbie. I didn’t want to play nanny
with it, I needed an icon! A miniature woman with
a wardrobe for everything.
CARLO: Was your family rich?
ANNA: No, just a well-off family, but not aristo-
cratic. I remember once my father took me to Mon-
tecassino in his yellow Volkswagen Cabriolet, and
on the way he asked me what I wanted. A Fendi
bag, of course! So we went to the Fendi store. Once
there, however, I also wanted a purse, a key clutch,
neck scarf and umbrella, and all matching. At this