“When I start thinking about fashion week I panic, hahaha! I mean, it’s fun and exciting and I look forward to it but in the same time I’m thinking ‘Oh my god, here we go again’”. Ondine Azoulay‘s reaction to the sound of “fashion week” comes spontaneous and with a big smile. “Fashion week for me is first and foremost work. It’s super exciting and I absolutely love it but it’s so easy to ‘glamify’ it and forget that it’s also exhausting. It’s not only shows – it’s meetings, presentations, more shows, events, dinners, parties – well, ok, wait, the parties and dinners are fun! – but it’s all crammed into one small week per city. It’s a lot to take in!”
Ondine Azoulay was born and raised in Los Angeles but moved to Paris over ten years ago to study fashion design. Since then, Ondine has worked as fashion and beauty editor and freelance styling contributor to some of the largest publications and brands of today, as well as working as a stylist alongside major photographers. She’s what you could call an industry insider. Today fashion week starts for real, but last night The Blogazine got the chance to sit down with Ondine to have a chat about fashion week from her point of view.
“Normally I travel all month. I do New York and the fashion weeks in Europe and normally I also style shows in NYC and London. But this year I’m only doing Paris. It’s my favourite week, always.” We speak about the shows, the front row, who’s in and who’s out and how the buzz around fashion week keeps on increasing, looking back only a few years. “I mean, they crowd so much people into the venues – it’s insane! It’s so hot you think you’re going to faint at times! I can’t believe that everyone who’s in there really needs to be there. Maybe I’ll stay in, sit down and watch a couple of the shows from the comfort of my sofa – I mean, everything is online!” Ondine thinks for a second. “I also think some designers should do presentations instead. Not everything needs to be put into a show!”
The conversation about how fashion week has become absolutely frenetic continues, and soon switches over to a discussion about what to wear. “I usually don’t plan my outfits – whatever I feel like in the morning is what I’m going to put on. I feel like I keep on repeating it, but fashion week is madness! Everybody is doing the latest trends and only wear clothes from the season, and borrow things from press offices. I feel it’s just too hard to “compete” with all that so I’m trying not to think about it and just do my own thing. I wear a lot of vintage and maybe I add a pair of shoes of the season but besides that, you know – I stick to my wardrobe.”
And what about the runway? Which show is the highpoint? “This is probably going to be the answer of every fashion editor or stylist but I’m absolutely obsessed with Céline, of course. I just think that Phoebe Philo can’t do wrong! That’s the show I look forward to the most. Then we have Chloé, Valentino, Miu Miu, Louis Vuitton and so on, and in London it’s always cool to see all the new designers. I haven’t really thought about my expectations for S/S 14. To be honest, I’m just back from my annual holiday month, totally off-fashion. And then I’ve been working every day since I came back, I’m still so into this season’s collections! Let’s just say that hopefully we’re going to see something surprising!”
Long days, meetings and appointments – yes, fashion week is a moment of work but it’s also the time when you get to meet up with friends that you don’t see all the times. It’s an occasion to get out, go places, do things. “I love that during fashion week all the meetings are in fancy hotels. Sometimes I look at myself from the outside thinking ‘who is this person?’ Fashion week is so different from my regular life but I love that I get to spend my days at the Ritz!”
It’s time to say goodbye and let Ondine wind down, preparing for the hectic period that approaches. “I love this time but it’s a whole mix of emotions: fun, interesting, annoying, exciting. I have so much to do that my feelings about it are different every day! Every year during the fashion weeks I take a full day off. I need my little break in the middle to keep my sanity!”
