October 9, 2011 |
FROM THE VAULT (SUMMER 2011)
Laetitia Crahay – The Milliner
Speak to Crahay on the phone for five minutes and she’ll tell it like it is. Well, you don’t get into Karl Lagerfeld’s good graces by pussy footing around do you?
WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT HATS THEN?
“Nothing really, except that it is what I do. If you have the skills, you can take on any kind of design.”
SO HATS ARE MORE SOMETHING THAT JUST HAPPENED? OR DID YOU SECRETLY ALWAYS WANT TO DESIGN THEM? HOW DID YOU GET STARTED?
“No, but when Chanel acquired Maison Michel, they later on asked me to become creative director. I saw it as a great opportunity and challenge and now it has flourished into a really successful project.”
DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST THING YOU DESIGNED? WHAT WAS IT?
“Yes, it was a ‘hand shoe’, which I created for the entry exam at La Cambre. I made tiny little shoes that attached to each finger and linked up on the upper arm, needless to say I won and got accepted at the school.”
WHERE DOES YOUR LOVE OF EARS STEM FROM? DID YOU HAVE A FONDNESS FOR MINNIE MOUSE AS A CHILD?
“My love is for rabbit ears, and it comes from Alice in Wonderland. I was completely obsessed as a child, with the White Rabbit and started collecting of sorts of rabbit things; mounted, paintings, art work, etc…”
IS IT TRUE THAT YOU ONCE WANTED TO STUDY MATHEMATICS? HOW DID YOU END UP IN FASHION?
“I did study mathematics when I was younger, then architecture and fashion design. It all came very naturally, fashion was an extension all of my knowledge and studies. It is still useful to me now, as I can see my work from different perspectives, from a more technical point of view.”
DO YOU GET DRESSED FROM THE HEAD DOWN?
“The opposite! I start with the shoes.”
by Natalie Dembinska
Photograph by Ali Mahdavi – www.ali-mahdavi.com
