But this begs the question, can you put taste into words?
MAS: Taste is something else entirely. It is also learned, you change your taste. It is not set in stone. I think that I had a structure, it comes from how you were raised. Taste comes from very, very far back for me—since your birth or even in your mother’s womb—until you meet people who will make your taste evolve. But there is a backbone. I come from a very classic background. So, I started from a very academic and very classic taste; but which, of course, evolved. If I had stayed classic, it would be extremely boring. But I am very conceptual, because I come from a rather intellectual family.
What were your first impressions of Nicolas? How did you meet?
He was charismatic, Nicolas. I met him through Pierre Hardy. When I met him, he was not yet at Balenciaga. He was doing lots of different freelance jobs and he was very young, maybe 22. But he was such a man; such determination in his gaze, in what he wanted to do when he talked to you. When I was working at Vogue, he showed me a portfolio he had done for Celine at the time. And he was already very talented. I saw right away that this guy was going to go extremely far. It was an encounter like that: friendly. That is how I went and asked at Trussardi [editor’s note: where he was appointed head designer in the early ’90s]. That is how our collaboration started.
What is something we learn about you—or you and Nicolas—from the book?
MAS: There is a photo I love. I am crying from laughter, a fit of the giggles. We laughed all the time. It is adorable. It is very, very profound because it shows the deep connection with another person. It is a common language.
You have supported and assisted many designers through their careers. Beyond Nicolas, there’s been Julien Dossena at Rabanne and Natacha Ramsay-Levi at Chloé. What do you notice about the way these different waves of designers work?
There are a lot of good young designers. I see some of them at the LVHM Prize presenting very personal work. I think that since the world has changed and information now arrives via the internet, people create more based on what information they receive through the internet. Nicolas himself remains an extremely strong source of inspiration. Of course, when we were at Balenciaga, we looked at the archives. It is a source of information, but first of all, it had to come from within. You have to pull what you have out of your guts, and also from what inspires you. When I think of Natacha, of Julien, of course, they went to the same school, which was a very demanding school.
And that is what can lead to a wave of talent.
MAS: Yes, because they do not compromise. If you want to deliver a clear message, your message has to be concentrated, not diluted.
