Nicole Farhi
Headline:
Beautiful, nonchalant and ageless
Synopsis:
Nicole Farhi talks to Celia Walden about her subtle styles which have been delighting the British intelligentsia for 25 years.
If Virginia Woolf were alive today, one fashion critic observed, she would wear Nicole Farhi. The French designer – who moved to the UK in 1970 and launched her eponymous label 12 years later – creates clothing that women who don't want to think about fashion don't have to think about. Farhi raises an eyebrow. "Virginia Woolf? That's a compliment. She was very beautiful and intelligent. Why would I mind being thought of as a designer who makes clothes for intelligent people?"
When you consider that Nicole Farhi CBE is one of Britain's most successful designers, with a multimillion-pound global empire and a clutch of awards to her name, you can see why the 62-year-old might not see this as a failing.
It was no accident that Farhi cornered this very British market. In France fashion is a source of intellectual pleasure like books, theatre or art, but the old-fashioned English intelligentsia, still shackled by Bloomsbury-style neuroses, have always felt uncomfortable about the frivolous pursuit of an attractive appearance. Flashy designers who commit the grave sin of making it obvious that you've tried to look good are anathema to Farhi's muted colour pallettes and subtle styles. She is the Armani to our Versaces.
Softly spoken and strongly accented, she sits opposite me in her bright, white studio above Carnaby Street, one hand threaded through her untameable hair, aquamarine eyes resting coolly on mine. Dressed in a pair of dark grey harem pants (her own), a white silk shirt beneath a black wool cardigan and brown ankle boots, Farhi is a perfect spokesman for her brand: beautiful, nonchalant, ageless.
"In France, we're brought up thinking fashion is very important," she shrugs. "When you look back at our history, it's what is left." Because the French "can be a bit too chic", she has always found greater stimulus on the streets of London.
"French women love to be perfect," she explains with a wry smile, "but there is a wackiness here that is much more inspiring." ...
- Publish date:
- 3 December 2008
- Author:
- Celia Walden
- Source:
- Daily Telegraph
- Media:
