SHOWstudio Interviews

Carla Sozzani turned creative projects with Azzedine Alaïa, Rei Kawakubo and Paolo Roversi into family-driven partnerships. Her editing eye and visionary mind attracted Byronesque to propose a passion project on fashion retail and images. Byronesque conceived Sozzani letting go of select Alaïa, Ghesquière and Demna Balenciaga, Junya Watanabe and Comme des Garçons pieces for a retail initiative whose proceeds benefit her non-profit Fondazione Sozzani organization. In discussion fashion critic M-C Hill, she reveals her fashion designer ‘triptych,’ what Rei Kawakubo really likes and how Azzedine Alaïa once got her fired from Elle Magazine. This conversation took place 19 March 2024.

Olivier Rousteing shows that nothing looks better than confidence. His openness on social media helped his Balmain era find its army. Balmain was Olivier and Olivier was Balmain. He helped shift Balmain away from a fashion audience to pop culture ones. Kim Kardashian never scared him. Neither did ambition. Nor did balancing kindness with craftsmanship. In an incredibly forthright conversation with Lou Stoppard, Olivier Rousteing explains it all. This interview took place 10 April 2015.

Above all else, what's most important to designer Molly Goddard is that people experience the same level of fun as she does when wearing one of her signature tulle creations. 'It's about wearing a feeling rather than a garment' she tells Lou Stoppard in this episode of In Fashion. Tracing her days as a student under Louise Wilson to making her mark in an industry she's made entirely her own, Goddard touches on her early love for Galliano, the importance of failure and how her own childhood costumes have gone on to inform the maximalist aesthetic that enriches her brand. This interview took place on 18 October, 2017.

Nicola Formichetti has always used the tools of the day to construct subcultures’ worlds at their most stylish. Perhaps this explains why he became a properly, mproper stylist. Between beverage sips, Formichetti discusses his earliest fashion memories, manga dreams and clubland. The various colours, shapes and phases that came from being a nomad brought him to fashion and to working with Lada Gaga. All of this happened without a plan, by the way. Formichetti just goes. This interview took place 17 September 2013.

Highly regarded German-born photographer Peter Lindbergh always looked for beauty that was not always beautiful. Lindbergh always worked on his own definitions that defined certain women in certain eras. His honesty celebrated the women he believed in. Lou Stoppard asks sharp questions to figure out if Peter Lindbergh, a fashion photographer, does indeed like fashion. His answers, much like his pictures, reveal honest truths. This episode of In Fashion with Peter Lindbergh explains fashion in photography as an ingredient, just not the main dish. This interview took place on 19 May, 2017.

Publisher and Dazed founder Jefferson Hack sits down with Lou Stoppard to stress how balancing partnerships are important to level up from ‘Dazed & Confused’ being a punchline. Hack connects the lines between independent and anarchist, fashion and style, escapism and arriving that reveal how attraction breeds ideas. He also shares how finding your creative family fuels an industry to aim for a higher creative aptitude. Hack’s intuition led to independence that freed Dazed group to speak directly to their audience, just don’t ask him what his true talent is. This interview took place on 14 March 2014.Dazed founder Jefferson Hack thinks validation and education, for himself, is overrated. Here Hack talks about growing up looking at bigger psychological stories in style magazines using heart, soul and belief. This particular episode of In Fashion also reveals Jefferson Hack’s preoccupation with Billy Idol.

Hearing creative director Matthew Williams define what Been Trill is certainly encapsulates a certain pre-streetwear, pre-hashtag zeitgeist in fashion. These temporary spells of ideas created on a critical, but ratchet, playground were the early arenas for Matthew Williams’ authentic passion projects. Williams and Lou Stoppard talk about a formula in childhood that factored how football, Nike logos, denim production and job termination lead to good things, like trusting his own voice. This is how visions converge in an interview that took place 31 January 2014.

Daring to be different drives David Sims’ ambitions the most. Forming the style and character that has redefined three successful eras in imagemaking has shown that he who dares, wins. In an autobiographical conversation with Lou Stoppard, David Sims complains about childhood influences that he can’t seem to shake. This ironic, authentic interview took place 26 March 2015.