Julia Jean-Baptiste: Je met Lisa a few weeks ago at a party organized by the girls of the Patine brand and we really hit it off! I fell in love with her daughter Suzanne's cheeks :) She wrote to me a few days later and asked me to shoot the new Paris to Memphis collection. It was such a great experience, an ultra-cool team in an incredible place I only knew by name. My mother is an architect, so I grew up with a particular sensitivity to monuments, and it was really crazy to shoot in a place with such a soul. I was completely fascinated by every single room! What's your favorite feel-good song? You're Not Special Babe by Orla Gartland! I love it.

Julia Jean-Baptiste: Karaoke at the campsite when I was little, which is where I did my first concerts, actually haha! Every year, I'd look forward to karaoke night and sing Balavoine with my mom.

It came naturally, I joined my old band Pendentif in 2014, and I immediately loved going on tour, being on stage, meeting new faces. We released two albums, went on tour in China, the Balkans, and all over France, and pretty soon I realized that I was the happiest person in the world when I was living those moments. Then I started writing songs under my own name, and I experienced some great moments of ecstasy. It's not an easy job, there are periods of doubt, but the joys are so intense that they sweep away everything in their path!

Absolutely. My grandmother, my mamie Doudou, is a huge source of inspiration. There's a light that emanates from her, even at 90 she's still full of life and regales us with her laughter at every family lunch. She has always sung, painted landscapes of Martinique (where she came from) and drawn in secret. She had beautiful dresses from the '70s in her closet, and I used to try them on with her. When I was little, I used to imagine her as a star, on a stage under the spotlights, dressed in bright clothes. Her life story has been completely different, but she will always be my idol and my greatest treasure.

At the release party for my EP a few months ago, the audience sang along to the "payaya" from my song Solo. It was so moving. I'm the kind of person who's not very good at hiding my emotion on stage, so it was quite a challenge to keep singing when I had tears in my eyes!

I had the immense good fortune to sing in the group Nouvelle Vague and 3 years ago we sang on a boat off the coast of Syracuse for other boats, on the open sea, just as the sun was setting. It was a completely timeless moment!

Excitement. When I feel my stage fright rising, I tell myself that I'm extremely lucky to be doing this job, and the little stress in the pit of my stomach turns into an inner fire! I just want to eat up the stage!

Etienne Daho, a dream!

The guitar, in big guitar hero mode :) I work, I work...

Life. Without really wanting to, I realized at the end of writing this record that I was writing about the simple things in life, the things we don't always see, that we don't take the time to really observe: people, disillusionment, love, everyday life. This album is really a 3D picture of what goes through all of us, I think.

"Close To You" by Dayglow. I've been listening to it non-stop!

Cuddling on the sofa.

I love people-watching on a café terrace. It's one of my great passions in life, I love watching the everyday scenes that unfold before our eyes without us paying enough attention. Sometimes it inspires me to write songs, sometimes it just puts a smile on my face, and that's all very well.

Panties and a loose T-shirt in the sun. Living half-naked is life.

Sunny, colorful, comfortable. I love patterns and fun clothes. I also wear a lot of clothes inherited from my grandparents; I love to feel them with me in everyday life.

Yoga, at Riise. I got completely hooked a few months ago. When I go into the studio, I leave all my little worries at the door and come out lighter. I wasn't at all athletic until recently, but it's really become something that does my head good.

Gros Bao, on the Canal Saint Martin. They make a spicy tofu to die for. Besides, I'm hungry!

"A morning like any other, a new Paris, looking for a little magic, in this morose inertia" Le premier jour du reste de ta vie, Etienne Daho. Finding magic in what surrounds us is perhaps life's greatest gift, isn't it? What's more, my parents fell in love with this song.

I've just released Music-hall, the first track from my debut album, which will be out in early 2023. It's a real thrill to share this song with you. I wrote it with my granny in mind, but I think it's about all women. After all, we're all tigresses.

Marie Victoire: A mutual friend introduced us just after the first lockdown. It was the first time we'd seen people outside our homes again, and it was absurdly funny.

Lisa: Yes, it was Edith who introduced us and what a great idea! I love confronting my ideas with those of Marie Victoire. She has a different creative vision of things and has no limits, whereas I can be more "shy" in my choices. She doesn't shy away from anything.

Lisa: It was a wonderful birth gift for our little person. It's a three-part card that unfolds into flaps, in the shape of multicolored flowers and birds... doesn't that make you want to? Once again, the sky was the limit!

MV: I'd say we share an endless passion for color, head-to-toe total looks, and our slightly silly cats.

Lisa:  Definitely a love of color, understated prints and classic shoes... (laughs)

Democratic cheerfulness and a feminine point of view on women that feels good... My favorite pieces? Vivi, a polka-dot skirt gathered over the hips that makes your butt look great, the 4-pocket checkered jacket from the Soul Trip collection (of course!) and a must-have pair of rainbow mules!

MV: Assembling kitchen furniture at Lisa's before Suzanne arrived! Crazy ideas born of friendship always work!

Lisa: I can't remember exactly, but it must have been around that time, when I had no limits either, 9 months pregnant and with my head in the boxes. I must have had the nerve to ask her if she'd like us to do something crazy together...

MV: Mischievous, inclusive with a touch of extravagance.

Lisa: Fuuuuuun, light and with color as the best antidepressant.

We hope they'll dare to trust us, embrace our mix of prints and feel beautiful and powerful in pieces that are good for the heart and soul!

A line of psychedelic upholstery fabrics and wallpapers with a French manufacturer is in the works, but we'll talk about it when it's ready!

I studied interior architecture, and I quickly realized that what I was proposing in these projects was more akin to scenography than architecture per se. My first experiences in theater enabled me to get inside the head of a director, inside the body of actors, and to translate their desires onto this magical space that is the stage, to explore all the possibilities and realize that in theater, everything is possible and every idea is exploitable. In the end, what awakened me was the fact that I drew my inspiration from people, whether actors or the sound manager. It's a great collaboration of minds that will always be essential to my creative process.I've been interested in these subjects ever since I was a student! My first dissertation, written ten years ago, was on the representation of women in TV series and their impact on viewers, and my second on the evolution of black characters in television and film. During my twenties, I consumed culture in every sense of the word: music, cinema, TV series... For me, it's the age when everyone builds up their tastes, when they become clearer and more precise, a moment in our lives when we understand the impact they have on us. My job and this cultural consumption led me naturally to this essay.

I wanted to make it a personal and journalistic essay that starts from a truly grounded experience, while backing it up with concrete facts. I drew a lot of inspiration from Anglo-Saxon essays. In France, even though this is happening more and more, I still see women authors who find it hard to talk about themselves. For me, you have to be able to tell your own story without making it autobiographical. The aim wasn't to tell the whole story of my personal life, but to see how pop culture is both a personal and a global experience.

As a set designer or AD, you constantly have to adapt to the customer's wishes, and the real challenge is to succeed in making our world felt, whatever the project. I'm still on the road to experimentation, to be honest, but I'm constantly trying to get closer to a slightly fantastic, dramatic universe, which may be seen at first glance as pleasant, but which aims to create doubt, unease, a dark dream, a colorful nightmare.

Yes, I have my flat in Brussels, which is the city I was born in and have always lived in. It's my home, my family, my friends, my studio and therefore my main source of inspiration. The streets, smells and colors of Brussels allow me to create an empty land in my head where everything is to be built and I feel safe enough to create whatever comes to mind. Paris calls me almost every week for professional projects, whether in set design or modeling. It inspires me in the sense that I have to surpass myself every time, and when I leave there having completed a project, I'm proud of it. It's such a special energy, sometimes very gentle, like something out of a fairy tale, and sometimes very violent.

Clothes have always been a means of expression for me. Ever since I was a little girl, I've been wearing rather particular patterns and cuts, which speak to me, but not to many people (laughs). What's special is that since I became a set designer, I've worn 2 pairs of jeans, 4 T-shirts max and always the same coat, because I have to prioritize comfort over style. I think I really like this approach, because I don't spend any more and on the rare occasions when I can really pull out some nice pieces I feel really good, I'm putting some value back on clothes I'd forgotten about, and that's really nice. Modeling is a recent thing for me, and girls who are size 38 or bigger have only recently been accepted in this world, and I'm proud to be able to be part of it.

I loved the red Willy jacketI think it's the piece I could wear all the time, whether to the workshop or out for a drink!

I'm working on my first furniture collection, stay tuned!

To know how to put my energy in the right place, to take care of my body and finally, to do better than last year!

Thanks to Kenia Raphaël for answering our questions!

To follow Kenia's work
visit her Instagram account @kenia.raphael !

I'm doing well, a bit broken up by the end of 2021 (and what a year it's been!), but definitely ready for 2022! My spirits are high and I'm delighted to be back in the office!

It's very rare, but I didn't create a moodboard for this collection. I was 8 and a half months pregnant at the time, and it was hot as hell in the middle of June. It was impossible to sleep. I got up around 5 a.m. and drew without stopping. It may sound like storytelling, but it's the truth. I remember vividly where I sat and the light of the rising sun on my iPad screen. While I was pregnant, especially towards the end, I really felt invincible and able to tackle titanic tasks with infectious enthusiasm.

My little person's name is Suzanne, and she's already called Suzy, Suzette... And as I chose strawberries, leopard, mint green and a tartan motif for this collection, designed on hormones (it wasn't easy to hang up the wagons!), I like to imagine that it was she who inspired me. So without hesitation, this collection is Suzy Fantasy!

Leopard and strawberries! For me, leopard is part of a timeless palette. It's as basic as a pair of raw denim jeans or a little black dress. And strawberries are a botanical plank recolored for the Make My Lemonade twist. There's no doubt that this print is already a collector's item!

There are so many! I'd say the leopard Natacha dress... or the Anaëlle skirt? Or the Aldo Mint! No, the strawberry sweater and definitely the strawberry Charlie shirt!

We found it via an incredible website called 20 000 lieux. It's full of crazy places to shoot all over France. You have to know how to get lost to find nuggets! We try to find the craziest possible locations in France to limit our travels and therefore our carbon footprint. When we found this ultra-70's Californian house in its original state, with wall-to-ceiling wallpaper, it was a no-brainer! For the retro lover in me, it was impossible to resist.

I'd like it to inspire joy and power! Lightness and fun with the strawberries, and confidence with the leopard pieces. And the feeling of looking crazy with the suit, without even thinking about it!

We're going to tone down the extravagance a bit and rework our classics with a new denim capsule. Two years after the first, we're back with iconic pieces from our collections in a new wash, as well as knitwear pieces that tell a lovely timeless story.

To always do better, to invent ever more colorful and joyful stories, to offer new shapes that flatter as many silhouettes as possible and to think of each piece as a potential love at first sight for the people who cross Make My Lemonade's path. A great program!

If you regularly scroll through your Twitter and Instagram feeds, you may have noticed a resurgence of interest in Une nounou d'enfer star Fran Descher and her character Fran Fine over the past few years. Could this passion be linked to the series, which tells the story of a former cosmetics representative who lands in the very stuffy home of Broadway producer Maxwell Sheffield to babysit his three children? Not really, no. If this series, which ran between 1993 and 1999, is still the talk of the town, it's more for Fran's looks, which have become an Internet cult. From miniskirts and houndstooth prints to vinyl dresses, fur coats and big polka-dot dresses, Fran's colorful outfits fascinate and excite. From the Instagram What Fran Woreaccount, on which American Shanae Brown has been compiling the heroine's most beautiful outfits since 2016 and trying to find their provenance, to The Nanny Art which draws parallels between Drescher's silhouette and famous works of art, Une nounou d'enfer offers itself a second life.

This iconic look is the result of a close collaboration between Fran Drescher, co-creator and lead actress of the series, and stylist Brenda Cooper. The two women met in 1991 on the set of Princesses. The actress promised the then assistant stylist that if one day she had her own series, she would hire her immediately. After selling One Hell of a Nanny to CBS, Drescher kept her promise. Cooper helps design the look of the heroine, Fran Fine, a young woman from Queens (New York) who finds herself in a bourgeois world whose codes she completely ignores. The pace is frantic: the stylist has to come up with some 50 outfits a week. She invented what she calls the "Fran Fine formula". In an interview with Lenny Letterin 2017, she explained how she constructed these looks. "I always started with an all-black silhouette: a black turtleneck, a black miniskirt, black opaque tights and black stilettos. Then I'd add color. I'd adjust all the outfits to fit her character perfectly. We'd shorten skirts to make them sassy, make tops tighter, change buttons..." She thought about every volume, every detail, to make the pieces seem tailored for Fran while mixing thrift-store finds with designer clothes (Moschino, Todd Oldham, Dolce & Gabbana, Nicole Miller...). Brown recounts finding outfits both in another show's trash cans and on the catwalk.

The costume designer was very strong, because she started with a uniform that a lot of girls wore in the '90s," notes journalist Agnès Léglise, who confesses that her son was amused at the time of the broadcast to find some of his mother's dresses in Une nounou d'enfer. Mini-skirts, black tights, turtlenecks, black sweaters - all the women wore this "uniform". On top of that, she added incredible pieces. Except that, unlike a series like Emily In Paris, where you can see that every outfit is very expensive and unbelievable, there was enough eccentricity so that it didn't look too much like an heiress princess!" Fran's look has endured through the decades. Brenda Cooper, for her part, is delighted that the clothes continue to inspire millennials. It has a lot to do with the character's cult status," she tells HelloGiggles. I didn't create this look to be fashionable. Her outfits are still wearable today. They're daring, they're colorful, they say something about the character. They're sexy."

How do you explain the appeal of Une nounou d'enfer to a new generation? Nawal Bonnefoy, journalist and vintage fan, who maintains an Instagram account dedicated to her retro looksNawal Bonnefoy, a journalist and vintage fan who maintains an Instagram account dedicated to her retro looks, draws a parallel between her attraction to Fran and to china. I love her taste for pop colors, patterns, cool suits and maximalism in general," she explains. These are elements that I myself like to introduce into my wardrobe and turn to when I go shopping. Often I come across a vintage piece and think, "Fran could so wear this!" My love of her style echoes my love of vintage, especially as what Fran wears doesn't necessarily correspond to current trends: even though the series is set in the 90s and we find many codes specific to the nineties, Fran's style also flirts with the mod and yé-yés trends of the 60s (her vinyl Courrèges ensembles), the 70s (her patchwork clogs, for example), the power dressing of the 80s..."

Fran's designer clothes are the talk of the web. Maylis tells us she's been actively searching for the famous Moschino piano dress she spotted on an account dedicated to the looks of Une Nounou d'enfer, even though she herself has never watched the series. The style consultant and author of Dress like a parisian Aloïs Guinut explains that this porosity between style and fashion is nothing new. She cites Rachel's famous hairstyle, so often requested in hair salons in the 90s, and Gossip Girl's preppy looks, which set a trend in the 2000s. "What's special about series," she explains, "is that the characters have time to develop their own style over several seasons and can become fashion icons. Just as we remember the look of Jackie Kennedy, we remember the look of Fran Fine or Rachel Green. And we have a catalog of looks at our disposal!" A way of learning more about fashion history with each episode. "A fashionista who's interested in Fran's eccentric, high-fashion nineties revival will know what to look for by looking at her outfits. Being in a vintage store without knowing what to look for can be quite complicated. By studying Fran's look, we can see that she was wearing this Moschino look and orient ourselves in that direction. This makes it possible to navigate through the vintage magma and even find missing designers that nobody is looking for!" And Fran isn't the only heroine whose look fascinates. Because it's accessible to everyone, pop culture has a huge influence on the way we dress," explains Nawal Bonnefoy. Fran Fine is far from the only heroine to inspire Internet users. Buffy, Blair Waldorf (Gossip Girl), Rachel (Friends) and Carrie Bradshaw (Sex and the City) all have styles that are widely acclaimed, analyzed, reproduced and commented on, even years after the series has ended.

When we ask her fans what they like about Fran, the answer is a mixture of admiration for the character and her audacity. Many women remember following her adventures as children, stars in their eyes. She didn't seem to have any particular worries in life," explains Fatoumata. Her lightness shone through. Her skirts, her dresses, the eye-catching colors and the high hairstyle: everything screamed 'life's a party!' and that made me realize that you can have fun with clothes!" For Celia, Fran asserted "a lot of her personality through her clothes. I always thought it was cool and interesting, not at all superficial!" Since the show went on air, Brenda Cooper has received a steady stream of letters from women telling her how Fran's clothes have helped them to assert and assert themselves.

Fran sent the idea of classic femininity represented by C.C.'s character into overdrive. "She embodies this notion of fun, of knowing how to have fun and enjoy yourself, and of daring to take a stand," explains Brenda Cooper. Margauxa big Fran fan. I'm quite tall, I have curves, and sometimes it shocks people that I'm also bold enough to have my own style, as if I were already taking up enough space. And that's what I like about Fran's look, this air of saying "yes, I'm taking up space, but that doesn't mean there's none for others, I'm just living my best life by dressing like my dolls."

Her clothes also reflect a disdain for a fixed notion of "good taste", as Tiphaine tells us, a subversive way of being colorful in Sheffield's "beige" world. She takes her character as the daughter of a Jewish family from Queens with her, and wears her difference proudly. The idea of good taste in the Upper East Side context where she works is very rigid, but she never questions herself," points out the journalist. Sarah Moroz. She's never ashamed, she's true to herself and doesn't question whether she should adapt, which I think is very cool." The singer November Ultra also emphasizes this desire to turn her clothes into "superhero capes". For me, the daughter of blue-collar workers, I still think that I don't have the natural class of some of my friends, so I tell myself that I'm Fran Fine, and I'm fine with that! She's got that 'street smart' side, able to put together incredible outfits with just about anything." Camelia draws a parallel with her own mother, also from a middle-class "even precarious" background. "My mother has always worn colorful outfits, high heels, with perfectly coiffed hair, and that gives her enormous strength and charisma. I think it's cool, even downright feminist, this figure of a woman who, regardless of her financial situation, remains herself, cheerful, outgoing and dignified. ! »

For Angélique Haÿne, Fran will forever remain a feminist icon, "strong and independent". For this avid fan of the series, who seeks to reproduce some of the iconic pieces in Fran's wardrobe by sewing or hunting them down, the heroine "uses fashion codes consciously". Even if the series offers her a fairly conventional destiny, a marriage and a pregnancy, Fran is in Angélique's eyes "a woman who uses fashion as a means of fighting men and the bourgeoisie" and who has helped her to "give herself confidence".

But what happened to the wardrobe that made so many women dream and won Brenda Cooper an Emmy? It ended up at Sony, who sold this goldmine to a thrift store. "Some people may have clothes in their wardrobe that came from A Nanny from Hell without knowing it..." explains Brenda Cooper to HelloGiggles. On this side of the Atlantic, all we have to do is scour the Internet to try and look like this unique heroine. Whose humor and freedom never cease to attract emulation.

I've been interested in these subjects ever since I was a student! My first dissertation, written ten years ago, focused on the representation of women in TV series and their impact on viewers, and my second on the evolution of black characters in TV and film. During my twenties, I consumed culture in every sense of the word: music, cinema, TV series... For me, it's the age when everyone builds up their tastes, when they become clearer and more precise, a time in our lives when we understand the impact they have on us. My job and this cultural consumption led me naturally to this essay.

I wanted to make it a personal and journalistic essay that starts from a truly grounded experience, while backing it up with concrete facts. I drew a lot of inspiration from Anglo-Saxon essays. In France, even though this is happening more and more, I still see women authors who find it hard to talk about themselves. For me, you have to be able to tell your own story without making it autobiographical. The aim wasn't to tell the whole story of my personal life, but to see how pop culture is both a personal and a global experience.

I think pop culture can really change our perception of love, friendship, ourselves, self-esteem...It's allowed me to see the world differently. I could even say that it saved my life: it answered a lot of my questions, as if the writers or directors had written this series or that film for me, and I finally recognized myself.

Pop culture can also be therapeutic, enabling us to learn more about situations we haven't experienced ourselves.

I'll talk more about this in the essay, but for example, I learned a lot about LGBT+ issues and a less normative vision of the couple. Inclusive works open up other horizons and deconstruct our ideals.

I didn't become a feminist thanks to heroines in TV series or films, but they did help me understand that it was possible to be an independent woman, to talk about sexuality without being considered a "slut", to think about one's career, to break out of heterosexual codifications, to deconstruct codes imposed from an early age. I think that the more works we produce in this direction, the more today's children will be tomorrow's feminists! And they'll have understood everything! My generation came to all this rather late, and we were forced to build ourselves in a world where women had a defined role in relation to their bodies, their sexuality...

Seeing strong, interesting female characters has helped me, but I'd also like to qualify the term "strong". Characters like Buffy, whom I adore, gave the impression that you had to be "badass" to be accepted by society. To be a good feminist, you'd have to pound your fist on the table... Whereas it's possible to be a feminist and vulnerable, to have contradictions. That's why I love Cristina Yang so much on Grey's Anatomy, because she's not presented as a mirror image of a man, and she always contradicts what we might expect of her. I think feminism needs to be much more inclusive of backgrounds and experiences that don't fit into the image of the strong, badass, warrior woman...

Pop culture has pioneered the representation of normalized, normative bodies. The main character or love interest is always a beautiful, slim blonde girl... It's both a fantasy for men and an ideal of the girl we should want to look like. We all grew up with this image that didn't look like what we saw in the mirror. Then we realize that the character who most resembles us in a film or series is the one who is less loved, who is not calculated, who loves a boy who doesn't love her back... In the construction of the body and appearance, this was really fatal. Even the female characters who have been interesting and have changed the vision of feminism are in a very classic norm: the girls from Sex and the City, Grey's Anatomy... When we saw Hannah Horvath, the main character in Lena Duhnam's series Girls, hit the screens, it was a revolution. Today, it seems crazy to us because she has the body of the majority of women, she's the most popular pants size in stores. But even back then, I thought she got naked for no reason at all, I didn't understand why she did it, even though she helped accustom our gaze to seeing other bodies.

If we go beyond pop culture, fashion was and still is the most grossophobic industry in the world. It made us believe that we had to dream about hipless, shapeless bodies, by hiring 14-year-old models. All this also had an impact on the way we think about ourselves and what a beautiful body looks like. Even today, I hear people tell me that a woman is "well built". But for whom? For whom? With the body, we can really talk about anything: ourselves, others, society.

Yes, and what saddens me is that I don't think she dressed very well! (laughs) There's a way of not hiding but valuing these bodies that aren't seen in society that I find very well done in other series like Shrill or Drop Dead Diva. Shrill is a superb series because the character played by Aidy Bryant is comfortable in her body, she dresses well and the styling is superb. It's the others who tell her that her body is a problem.
Style has a role to play in series and films, and it's never insignificant.

Yes, and I think it's a really contemporary series, especially in terms of fashion. The show's stylist, Ayanna James, imagines the evolution of the characters through the way they relate to their jobs. The heroine, Issa, is a politicized person, interested in the works of African-American authors, who works in the social sector, so she wears clothes that go with her job: lots of vintage, small designer clothes mixed with more accessible pieces. Molly, her best friend, is a lawyer, so she always has to look presentable, whether in a suit or a designer outfit. When Molly goes out with Andrew in season 4, she frees herself from her work, she's more at ease and it shows in the way she dresses. Issa, too, lets loose when she leaves work. Liberation comes through clothes. They also dress differently depending on where they go.

The designer makes a point of showing the black community through clothing and pageantry. When Issa and Molly put bonnets in their hair, for example, the scene is very realistic: all black women have night caps. This is a series that succeeds in putting fashion in the right place.

Yes, there's something very "off" about shows like Gossip Girl, which I'm re-watching right now. Every scene was a fashion show! In Sex and The City, too, they're always very well dressed with their Manolo Blahnik pumps.

I grew up with this idea of inaccessibility, of thinking I'd never be able to afford clothes like these. Even if I had a lot of money one day, I don't know if I'd be morally prepared to buy a 3,000-euro bag! The image of a woman who's always chic and dressed up, who buys designer clothes, has been imposed on us and is unrealistic in relation to our lives.

My relationship with fashion is evolving, and is now linked to ecology. When I feel like buying yet another dress that I won't be wearing in two months' time, I try to go for small brands and slow fashion. When you spend 160 euros on a garment, it's not going to end up in the garbage can the following year! I think about putting more money into a garment but buying less.

For my part, I've been going to thrift stores a lot over the last ten years. I also think about the fact that my body fluctuates. I want to have clothes that correspond to different stages of my life and my body, without having to change them. Sometimes I think back to what I wore when I was younger, and realize that I no longer wear certain tight or short clothes. Not even because I don't feel like it, but because I'm more aware of my body on the outside and of street harassment. In Paris, you know you won't feel comfortable wearing low-cut clothes, and that men will make remarks. We're led to believe that certain clothes shouldn't be worn, when in fact it's men who have built their imaginations around clothes that are sexier than others. This is all the more true for black women: our bodies are judged as if they were inherently sexy.

In any case, I love fashion and it will always define me. In black communities, fashion is very important. I grew up with parents who dressed very well. For us, it's a matter of survival. When people see us, in addition to our skin color, they look at how we're dressed. It's a mixture of assimilation, wanting to be seen to be good, wanting to be respectable. And it's passed on from parent to child.

Thrift shops have become very gentrified, and a lot of small addresses are becoming overpriced. If there's a selection, a passionate person behind it who can tell you the history of the clothes, I accept that the prices are higher. For example, I love La Religeuse in the 19th arrondissement, a boutique run by a passionate woman. It's not cheap, but there's all the service that goes with it: we chat, she offers tea, she advises on styles... She's also interested in large sizes, which is rare.

Guerisol remains a safe bet. They've kept their prices very reasonable, even if I think the selection used to be better. I used to find crazy dresses for 2 euros!

Kiloshop is also still interesting because you can find pearls.

Otherwise, Le Coffre in Ménilmontant, prices are reasonable and they're really nice!

Thanks to Jennifer for answering our questions!

To follow Jennifer Padjemi's work, go to
on her account Instagram or Twitter.

"Feminisms and pop culture published by Stock

I'm 29 years old, now living in Paris and working as a photographer. I grew up in Basse-Normandie, in the middle of the countryside.
Surrounded by goats, mares, rabbits and chickens. My mother was a teacher and my father a baker. I was what they call a "wild child". I loved building huts, inventing songs, riding my bike...

After my baccalaureate, I spent a year at the Beaux-Arts in Rennes, then another year at the University of Visual Arts in Montpellier.
But I really wanted Paris. So I went there. I found an apprenticeship at the Réunion des Musées Nationaux for 3 years. It was fun. I worked on all kinds of stuff. Basically, I retouched photos, like Hokusai's wave. I worked on sculptures, Picassos... At the same time, I went out to LGBT parties and took photos. I also started doing personal projects. It was very enriching!
I was also a photographer at the Musée de l'Armée, I did retouching for Hermès...

For the past 5 years, I've been freelancing. I do a lot of work for the press: Libération, Télérama, Causette, Néon, Marie Claire, Grazia, Usbek et Rica... But also for fashion: Chanel, LVMH. And publishing.

As a child, I used to borrow my father's camera a lot. In particular, I used to take self-portraits, aka the beginnings of the selfie, but I only had myself to hand at the time. I have to say that this experience helped me to feel beautiful and to gain self-confidence, and that's more than just an anecdote.

After that, I took photos of my high school friends... And I've never stopped.

It's my way of reaching out to others. To meet people. I'm a pretty shy person, so what I like about my work is that it gives me a different approach. What I love most of all is covering a demonstration, then doing a Chanel fashion show, meeting an incredible filmmaker...
This whirlwind is really exhilarating.

When I was little, I loved dressing up. I used to put on shows (for no one but my parents). In fact, I wanted to be a singer! I'd steal my grandmother's clothes, and I'd wear heels, fur and make-up. I thought I was a great lady.

Afterwards, as I got older, I loved putting makeup on other people. I had friends who didn't wear make-up at all, and for me it was a game. I love getting into character.

I also read a lot of women's magazines. Like "20 ans" except that when I was 10, I bought Glamour. It was a way of extracting myself from the countryside, dreaming of another life, in Paris, with sophisticated people, telling myself that one day, maybe I'd be one.

As a child, I was already quite eccentric. I was the first to wear buffalos and slims. I'd find them on the Internet and everyone would look at me, but 6 months later everyone was wearing them. I was "The Original".
I've never changed my habits, even if it was upsetting. My mother let me dress myself and be who I was. I wore silver sneakers and a pink faux fur jacket. I sewed my own clothes. I added pearls. I loved it!

I think I'm bling but retro. I like anything that sparkles. A month ago I was given a pair of gold shoes, and I realized that I had like 8 pairs in my dressing room already. Otherwise, I'm very vintage. I try to avoid fast fashion to the death, even if for some things there's no choice.

I mostly go to thrift shops and garage sales. I prefer Le Bon Coin to Vinted where I get ripped off too much. I'm a big bargain hunter. I have my whims. Right now, I'm looking for an Hermès card holder, for example. Every time I go abroad, I go to thrift shops and bring back some crazy stuff. In Japan a man's jacket, in New York a Dior trench coat. I've even found some Make My Lemonade pieces!
Clothes take up a good part of my bedroom, they overflow from the furniture... I don't sort much because there are times when I feel like dressing this way or that.

Right now I'm in the mood for a men's suit jacket, derbies, super boyish because I watched the Fran Lebowitz docu. What I watch can influence my style. When I watched "Carol", for example, I felt like wearing vintage clothes.
When I watched season 4 of The Crown, I wanted to dress like Lady Di. After that, if I see a hot pink wool coat on the street, that can inspire me too!

There's a lot of feminism washing around at the moment. But I think brands are making efforts in terms of representation, and it's important that they take up this issue. Customers want to be recognized.

Today, we're finally seeing models who are black, Arab, Indian, round, with birthmarks, buttons... It's important. So yes, it's a necessary step, it's marketing, it's com, but that doesn't stop it reflecting a change in society, fashion always reflects changes, so I think it's positive.
I think there's enough to be offended about in this world, the copies, the slip-ups, not to appreciate the advances, when there are any.

Today I'm an outspoken feminist. My mother was a feminist. Back then, as a teenager, I took a dim view of it haha! Fortunately, I've changed. I've become more aware. I read King Kong Theory, and it turned my brain upside down.
I became interested in Riot Grrrl. I met my artist friend Elena Moaty (@elenamoaty), I owe her a lot. We had a lot of discussions, and she deconstructed me. It was those conversations that opened my eyes to these issues.

It made me realize that, yes, it's crap, yes, we need to unite. As a photographer, I tell myself that what I can contribute is representations. In my personal projects, I try to portray my models as humanely as possible. I often choose people who are in a minority, but that's only natural.
I go by feel. A face that inspires me is often someone different, someone with a face.

Literature is basic, but Virginie Despentes inspires me enormously. Women writers who have emancipated the voice of women in general. Like Annie Ernaux. They've helped me to live. Otherwise, in cinema, Céline Sciamma has really changed the game in terms of representation, whether it's a kid questioning her gender, lesbian films, the suburbs. Otherwise, I listen to a lot of podcasts! They're my life. I listen to them all day long. Quoi de meuf, La Poudre, Les Couilles sur la table...
Whether I'm retouching or doing the dishes, I always have something in my ears.

High-waisted! Jeans, skirts, shorts... I also have a lot of bodysuits. I find them so much fun to wear. I even wear one-piece swimsuits as bodysuits. And I love jumpsuits...

Other than that, in terms of top 3 high quality items that I love, there's a Hermès square with boats on it. I feel so powerful when I wear it. Mythical! Otherwise I have an absolutely insane multicolored sequin dress. It's from the thrift shop rue du roi de Sicile (Room 33). And finally, a pair of Marc Jacobs suede thigh-high boots I paid 50 bucks for in New York that make me feel so sexy when I wear them.

It doesn't exist! I dare everything. I always dared everything when I was young in the countryside... In Paris, I don't see the way people look at me. I don't give a damn.

Two photographers who inspire me a lot @marcinkempski and @chogiseok 

@CamillaMengstrom (a feel-good account: a painter who does happy dances)

and because instagram lacks poetry: @OmarExacoustos

Nice encounters, work, that's really what makes me ultra happy, and may the world get better.
(but that's very Miss France, isn't it?!)

Thanks to Marie for answering our questions!

To follow Marie Rouge's work, visit her Instagram account @lesjouesrouges !

Banner photo credit: Dorian Prost

I was born in Romans sur Isère, I'm 46, I have a Masters in History and a DESS in Communication. I've been writing about feminism since 2001-2002. At the time, the web wasn't considered "serious", you had to go through paper. I used to write on féministes.net, and then I had what we call "the imposter complex."

Back in 2008, I needed a bubble of oxygen. So it didn't start out as a feminist blog; it gradually became one. I don't come from a feminist background at all. But I became one completely

(TW: violence and rape)

I didn't put a word in about feminism right away. When I was 18, I had relationships with men. I was in a hostel. I was living a real slut shaming as we say today. That year, I was raped. An "ideal" rape, by a stranger, with a knife. I felt no guilt. It was the reactions around me that made me feel guilty. They say, "You asked for it, you're lying". From then on, I told myself that it wasn't normal. But I didn't put the word feminism on my thoughts. Then in 1999, I went to the only feminist forum in France, called Les Chiennes de Garde.

I've just published a book ("Une culture du viol à la française", Libertalia), so I was obliged to use my real name for promotional reasons.

My mother was very passionate about fashion. And I am too. I'm passionate about vintage fashion, old fashion, and I love clothes from the 30s and 40s. Fashion is an eternal restart, and a lot of the codes of the '40s were revived in the '80s, for example. On Instagram, I only follow American fashion specialists from the 1930s and 1940s. After that, I subscribe to Facebook groups and check out what's on. I like to hunt at flea markets and flea markets.

I love this period because the shapes are so interesting. Broad shoulders, marked waists, fabrics that fall perfectly. I regret that today there are so few colors and prints.

I love: jewelry. I can never have too much jewelry. I like them massive. It's hard for me to limit myself!

It's hard for me to know if it's "too flashy" or not.  I love floral prints. I have a PASSION for pink. The one Jacquemus created is the most beautiful thing I've seen in a long time!

I love Catherine Baba. In these rather dull times, she reminds me of a ray of sunshine.

You can't deny that historically, women have been pushed to dress a certain way. Ultimately, if we want to dress to please, it's to please men. And you have to detach yourself from that. It's also a waste of time and money. On the other hand, feminism isn't a battle that makes me feel good.

For me, fashion is an enchanted parenthesis. For me, there's no connection. On the other hand, when fashion turns to feminism, I call it "fashion". feminism washing

I think grossophobia is the most misunderstood form of discrimination. We hide it behind a health issue, but it's a very gendered discrimination, despite the fact that there are also fat men. Most people who undergo surgery are women. We mix up, I think, the body shaming with grossophobia. I've often been told, "We don't carry your size in the store." But I'm not fat. Today, the bodypositive movement has been reappropriated by vaguely curvy girls, but that's invisibilizing fat women. The other paradox is that the patriarchal injunction on beauty has been taken up in feminism, where we keep saying that everyone is beautiful. Isn't that hard? We have the right not to be "beautiful".

I experienced it this summer with my mother, who was very damaged by illness. It wasn't necessarily beautiful, you know. You get older, you lose weight. She had a swollen belly. You have to accept this body that isn't really your mother's anymore. It puts the idea of beauty into perspective.

An off-white Gucci coat worth around 2,500 euros (crazy). It's in wool, with a beautiful martingale, it's straight, sober, perfect.

Then, it's not really to put it on, but more to look at it, to touch it, it's a dress worn by Marilyn Monroe. There was an auction recently...

Well, it's not unobtainable, but vintage Yves Saint Laurent boots. And I'm cheating: as a bonus, I'd love to buy myself a big Maison Gripoix bracelet for Chanel, but it's going for crazy money!

I love 40s high-waisted shorts, but I wouldn't dare because it doesn't go with my age I think. I was talking on Twitter about a cardigan I had my eye on on a website, and in the end... On a 20-year-old girl, it's okay, but on me, it looks like Santa Claus is a scumbag!

Chez PouPoule, rue de Charonne and Mamz'Elle Swing too, rue du Roi de Sicile.

On Instagram I follow a lot of saleswomen too, so you can send me a little message if you need to. Finally, I also buy a lot on Vinted and Vestiaire Co.

My name is Lucy, I'm 27 and I live between Paris and Los Angeles. In 2015, I finished my higher diploma in Applied Arts in Fashion and Textile Design, with a furious desire to paint. That urge has never left me since.

I draw a lot of rhythm. While my paintings often show large, full forms, my research is essentially a naive stroke, thrown onto the paper without a second thought. I fill sketchbooks with abstract drawings, marked with great pleasure and freedom. As if to fix a sensation in the composition, while searching for new color combinations. This process can be infinite; it's like a game. When you look at these drawings, they can seem very childlike. I think I like that idea.

What resonates most in my work is the nature and wide-open spaces of my childhood. The repetition of certain elements, such as the haystacks in the fields, the ochre dunes of Mauritania, California and its golden hills, the morning smell of the rainforest in northern India? All these forms reappear in waves in my work. When I observe a plant or a landscape, I directly deduce flat tints of color. It's automatic, I paint them in my head in a continuous abstract way.

To dare

It seems to me that our idea for a collaboration was born with this large canvas of colorful flowers I made in California in 2019. Seduced by the inexhaustible freshness of the Make My Lemonade collections, I was immediately enthusiastic about the idea of crossing our two universes.

The motif emerged quite simply and naturally. When it comes to painting these flowers, I make a lot of trips back and forth to Marseille. In fact, the entire range of my research is imbued with the light of this city. I think we mutually wanted a comforting, soft motif that could live with the garment.

Yes, it's always been there! I'd even say it's an effort for me to do things differently. My first series of canvases is already "bigger than me". I like being able to move around, step back, confront myself with another scale, walk on my canvases, observe and wait for the paint to dry... it's like a dance in the studio.

Although I generally admire painters who are capable of this, I'm far from static, sitting behind an easel going over a detail with a brush. For me, painting is sport. I paint flowers as far as the eye can see, looking for a feeling: it has to go beyond me. I try to cultivate this feeling all the time.

I have my favourite colors. Obviously, I'm directly influenced by the quality of the light and my environment. These ranges can be very different depending on where I am. It's a real exhilaration for me to look for associations. I like to make it my main subject in my canvases, and sometimes simplify my subject as much as possible to take full advantage of the quality of a color and its depth.

I always come back to Henri Matisse or Ellsworth Kelly's drawings of plants, they soothe me. The sculptures of Frank Stella fascinate me, and I often look at the paintings of Cy Twombly and Robert Motherwell for the quality of their gestures... The list goes on!  

My favorite tool is a spatula! Otherwise, my must-haves are always wide brushes, preferably used brushes...