Camille Charrière is Over the Rainbow
A writer and consultant with a million followers, Camille Charriere's path in fashion is the archetype of a success story that travels between London and Paris. Here, she tells L'OFFICIEL about her relationship with fashion, shopping ethically, and her upcoming wedding.
Photography Fiona Torre
Styled by Jenniver Eymère and Kenzia Bengel Devaulx
L'O: With a master's degree in law, you first got into finance before becoming the influential woman you are today. Tell us about this career change.
CAMILLE CHARRIÈRE: I used to say that I came to live in London to join an Englishman—a relationship that did not last long, but which nevertheless earned me a happy ending (I am warning you, I'm full of Anglicisms, that's the price to pay for having spent 10 years across the Channel) since I fell head-over-heels in love with this eccentric and dynamic city. You feel yourself growing wings in London. It's not a myth, the capital really has an energy that catches your guts, and the English have this intangible thing that pushes you not to conform to the masses. Unhappy working in finance, which did not suit me at all, I felt for the first time that I could get out of the open path to which my law studies intended me. So I went to see what was happening on the fashion side, without a push, without a strategy, and without knowing how I was going to pay my rent. To the dismay of my relatives elsewhere, who have long resented me for turning my back on this so-called “serious” career. The rest, you know.
L'O: Do you feel more like an influencer, journalist, or businesswoman?
CC: Given my atypical background, I find it difficult to define my profession. It's a bit of a cliché, but I'm a millennial, we're the slasher generation. So I am a columnist/influencer/stylist/consultant. To put it simply, I say that I work in the media.
L'O: Your influence on social media started with your blog Camille Over the Rainbow. Tell us this story.
CC: I used the blog that I did during my lunch breaks to make myself known in a world that I did not know at all. The coat of arms, Over the Rainbow, meant that fashion was really a parallel universe to my real life, something I did for fun. I didn't want anyone to be able to find me by my last name. A girl in finance who talks rags on the web is not credible. At least, that's what I was telling myself at the time. It was my anonymous creative space. Thanks to the blog, I rounded off my ends of the month. I had no idea at all the direction my online life would take, although I immediately understood the value of building a community.
L'O: How do you manage to combine your passion for fashion, an industry which attempts to be less polluting but which still is, and your commitments for the environment?
CC: I do like all those who adore clothes and who have a conscience: I try to intelligently rethink my relationship to consumption. I tell myself that with each purchase I vote with my wallet, so I try to better choose the designers and brands that I support. Finally, this pandemic will have had the merit of reconciling me with fashion in the sense that it reinforced my conviction that dressing is an act of expression and survival. Those days when I felt like I was in free fall were when I really took care to choose what to wear.
L'O: How is your style ethical?
CC: My goal this year is to increase the lifespan of my clothes and buy less. The principle that I keep repeating to myself is that of the founder of Parley for Oceans, Cyrill Gutsch: “When you throw away a garment, it does not disappear by a miracle. It inevitably lands in nature. ”
L'O: Your Instagram is managed as a media platform. Can you explain this?
CC: I see my job as that of a curator. I try to use my voice to amplify the voices of the people who inspire me, from designers to activists, restaurant owners, hoteliers, writers, and podcasters.
L'O: You are used to front rows at fashion month. Which designers do you feel close to?
CC: Marcia, Grace Wales Bonner, Nensi Dojaka, Supriya Lele, Ludovic de Saint Sernin, Nicola Lecourt Mansion, and Coperni. Without forgetting the Prada house, of course.
L'O: What is Camille Charrière's style, the one that all the houses are snapping up?
CC: I would use the words of one of my favorite designers, Cate Holstein, founder of the brand Khaite, “feminine, timeless, twist of trash.” Above all, I don't consider myself to be the guru of good taste. I'm not trying to be faultless. On the contrary!
L'O: Who are your style icons?
CC: Lady Diana, the Olsen sisters, Obama, Jane Birkin, Zoë Kravitz, Sharon Tate…
L'O: You will soon be getting married to producer François Larpin. Can you tell us about your proposal?
CC: He doesn't really like me to [share it], so I'll just tell you that it was in the same place where he told me I love you for the first time, a timeless spot, in Sicily, where it still feels like the '60s, my favorite period. He made his request the night of my birthday, and if I had known I would surely have dressed differently. I wore an ultrashort dress with a pair of Converse.
L'O: What is the most difficult thing in organizing a wedding?
CC: Right now, just having the right to bring together more than six people in one place.
L'O: Is there a wedding, real or fictitious, that inspires you?
CC: Mamma Mia, on the back of a donkey, superkitsch and picturesque. I'm a fan of musicals, so I wouldn't mind a flashmob. In an agreed flash gathering way then dispersal.
L'O: Can you give us some details about your dress, your engagement ring...
CC: I could answer you with this English proverb that we usually say to a future bride: “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a silver penny in his shoe.” More seriously, the ring is a retro piece set with diamonds from [Cartier], my favorite jeweler, which he chose alone. For the rest, I'll save the surprise for you.
L'O: How do you see the evening of your wedding?
CC: Those who know me know that I'm always the first and last on the dance floor. Going dancing has been the thing that I missed the most during this complicated year. Music makes the difference between a good time and an unforgettable evening. I grew up between Paris and London, I have friends all over the world, most of them don't know each other, so the mix is going to be explosive.
HAIR and MAKEUP Emilie Green
PHOTO ASSISTANT Pierre Nowak.
THANKS TO Villa Green Galaxie
