We love to put a new twist on our best sellers here.
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I never start a collection from a blank page. Zadig & Voltaire offers fashion that’s ‘cool’ and really perfect for kids. So, the ‘mini-me’ collection is a logical continuation of the ‘Zadig woman’. I’ve always connected with kids, even when I was a young model and had to work with children I didn’t know. I’m 48 now and I would have liked to have more children. WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO THE WORLD OF CHILDREN’S FASHION? IS THERE A LINK BETWEEN THE ADULTS’ COLLECTIONS AND CHILDREN’S COLLECTIONS? It’s all in the mind, you just have tackle life head-on. That’s what gave me the courage to change career at the age of 33 and start off in a job for which I wasn’t trained. Thanks to them, I have the balance and confidence I need to take on anything. They never used words like ‘beautiful’, ‘ugly’, ‘clever’ or ‘stupid’. They were quite strict but they gave us (me, my twin sister and my younger brother) so much love that I never rebelled or went through a difficult teenage phase. A no was a no and the rules were the rules. My parents raised me lovingly yet firmly. HOW DID YOUR CHILDHOOD INFLUENCE YOUR CAREER?Įverything about my childhood had an influence. On my first day, I had a little vintage lace pyjama top with me in my bag, which would later inspire our iconic silk and lace camisoles, still a best seller even 15 years later. Three years later, I became Artistic Director.
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He hired someone who had just knocked on the door with little to no experience, now that was something else. And what do you know, they took ‘me on as an assistant! Luckily enough, I knew Thierry Gillier, the brand’s founder, had a very rock ‘n’ roll spirit. I was a Zadig & Voltaire loyal customer and I loved all their stuff so I called them and presented a mood board with my Spring/ Summer 2003 vision for the brand. I had been a model for 15 years and that was going well but all of a sudden, I wanted to try something else, to learn and follow my passion: fashion. I came to Zadig & Voltaire in 2003, looking to challenge myself personally.
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She talks to us about her childhood, her sources of inspiration, how she came to join Zadig & Voltaire and how she balances her busy professional life with that of her personal life.ĬECILIA, CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT HOW YOU JOINED ZADIG & VOLTAIRE? We’re here to meet Cecilia Bönström, the French brand’s Artistic Director. Here is where the magic happens, home to Zadig & Voltaire’s offices, design and creative ateliers and showroom. Works of contemporary art adorn the walls and there is a picture-perfect view of the Eiffel Tower. The building is grand with high ceilings, ornate moulding and a marble staircase. Strolling along the Seine river, we’re heading to Zadig & Voltaire’s Parisian headquarters, located in a beautiful old Haussmann building surrounded by gardens in the 16th arrondissement. Chunky neon-pink sweaters were frayed at the hems and collars military parkas were color-blocked several steps beyond what would have gotten the point across and hard-shell bags hung from straps affixed front-to-back, like guitar slings.The sun is shining in Paris.
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That mix recalled the mood of Marc by Marc Jacobs in its early-2000s heyday, as in a pair of skinny stretch leather trousers, worn by Jamie Bochert, knotted ’80s style at the waist, or a series of lacy slips in vivid contrasting colors. “It’s about dressing in the four strong codes of the house: military, leather, knitwear, and lingerie,” Bönström continued. And if no on-the-go New Yorker-or even, for that matter, any seasoned runway model-could get very far in the spindly studded heels (much of the front row was on edge, just waiting for a wipeout), the collection was otherwise teeming with exactly the sort of fun, statement-y rock ’n’ roll staples that New Yorkers will no doubt scoop up en masse come back-to-school season. It was almost too much to take in, between the piecework and the fringe and the zippers and the slogan sweaters and the Hadids and the Baldwins.
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Layers upon layers upon layers: That more or less sums up what was happening on the runway today. Bönström is a Swedish woman, albeit one who has been a Parisienne for 25 years, which lends yet another layer to the narrative. “I was imagining the Parisian woman picking up the energy of the cool New York woman,” said Zadig & Voltaire artistic director Cecilia Bönström backstage at the house’s Fall presentation in Chelsea, describing her approach this season.