Issue 2 - WHO THE F* AM I?

Self-portrait: Pippa Garner  

I find it difficult to talk about fashion, because who am I to say what is and what isn’t? I am a watcher, not a participant. I am willingly on the sidelines of all that has to do with fashion, but fashion always surrounds me too. I grew up with two parents running a fashion brand, more than that; they run a fashion business. And now, with my partner Audrey starting Soif de Liberté, I can’t deny the role it has in my life. Yesterday Audrey and I were talking about the sides of fashion and the choices you need to make when running a brand, what needs to be given up, where creativity is put to the side for money to be made. I told him about my parents; how important it is to know yourself to the core and never doubt yourself and your abilities. But also, how I never saw any fear or insecurities in my parents, these emotions weren’t part of their decision-making. They trusted each other and their abilities, that whatever they created would fit into the lives of others. And now I understand why, because it wasn’t that they didn’t feel fear of failing, but that they built a life on it.

Photograph: Tala Niang

Fashion isn’t just ‘a’ thing. 

Whatever my parents did, there was a reason behind it. They were always on the go to improve and grow themselves and this way, their business. They evolved, even with a successful business, because they knew standing still wasn’t an option, not only because of falling behind, but because they were part of people’s lives. They didn’t ‘run’ a fashion brand; they lived it. Just like Ralph Lauren. He didn’t build this empire to only dress people, but to be part of their lives, their thinking, their dreams. And I think, to be part of yesterday, today and tomorrow, you don’t run a business, you live, you breathe, hate and love it. So, what does this mean for you? It means knowing to the core who the f* you are. It means knowing all your fears, doubts and insecurities. It means knowing all of them, inside out and embracing them instead of suppressing them.

Maybe you think, ‘what has this to do with fashion?’. Let me say, ‘nothing and all of it.’ You decide.

Levine Louise