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“You will follow your instincts“: Vanessa Seward and the 8 commandments of the gentlewoman

2022-01-23T06:20:41.083Z


Born in Argentina, raised between Paris and London, the stylist, Vanessa Seward, has created fashion in her image, feminine, a bit vintage, absolutely chic. His secret? A philosophy that she reveals in a guide.


Courbevoie, 17th floor. Stylist Vanessa Seward lives at the top of a tower, with her musician husband Bertrand Burgalat and Jacqueline, their lovely eleven-year-old daughter. We go around the terrace. “On the north side, it's New York, with La Défense; south side, it is Paris, with the island of Jatte”. To sum up: on one side, the American continent, on the other, that of old Europe. A striking shortcut of Vanessa Seward's various roots, being a hybrid, tossed about in her youth, between these two worlds on either side of the Atlantic.

Vanessa was born in Buenos Aires, a city mixed with European influences, from an English mother - socialite - and an Argentine diplomat father, posted in London and then in Paris.

The girl is shy.

Her mother makes her understand that clothing can be a tool of seduction, but also a shield to overcome her fears, that the look and style can change a life.

Vanessa listens and from invisible becomes remarkable.

“That's why I got into fashion, to transform women, to sublimate them, to give them confidence.

“She finds herself at Chanel “to carry Diet Cokes to Karl”, then at Tom Ford, Loris Azzaro, APC, before founding her brand.

"After spending thirty years in this world of fashion, I was told that I had become an expert in 'vintage', 'neo-bourgeois' women,

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It is therefore

Le Guide de la gentlewoman

that she has decided to undertake, in the form of an alphabet, a sort of self-portrait of a chic and nostalgic woman with a poetically outdated universe, who cultivates her garden in the sense that Voltaire heard him.

"I wanted to promote a subtlety and a timeless refinement that can embellish today's world…" Here are some of her chic tips.

1. You will cultivate your own taste

“For a long time, wearing white shoes was considered bad taste.

That didn't stop my husband, musician Bertrand Burgalat, from wearing white moccasins that gave him a sleazy Marseillais look.

He was right not to abdicate since it became hype.

The most important thing for a

gentlewoman

is to trust herself, to favor a singular look and not to want to please everyone at all costs.

When I was at Azzaro, I sometimes made dresses sulphurous with deep backs, rhinestones, feathers.

In short, a few touches that did not necessarily go in the direction of good taste, but which gave spirit to the clothes.

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2. You will not submit to diktats

“Being

young, thin and beautiful

(“young, thin and beautiful”) is no longer an obligation.

You have to know how to build yourself on your own desires, your qualities, but also your faults, know them, learn to hide them or on the contrary to sublimate them.

Marlene Dietrich admitted not having beautiful legs, but added that she knew how to place them to highlight them.

Barbra Streisand has a big nose that she has always refused to entrust to plastic surgery knowing that charm had nothing to do with so-called perfection.

3. You will take care of mystery

“I am not comfortable with this society of transparency where you are expected to reveal, through social networks, all of your privacy and your body.

Nothing is more disturbing to me than this wanton obsession.

It's anti-glamor.

This is what the

gentlewoman

must absolutely avoid .

I think it is important to keep a part of mystery in oneself by suggesting rather than exhibiting.

Wearing a slightly transparent white silk shirt that suggests ravishing undergarments enhanced by a strict ascot, that for me is the height of charm.”

As always elegance is a subtle dosage.Vanessa Seward

4. You will dare comfort

“When I started in fashion, I would buy my shoes at Ernest, pumps with gigantic heels.

Then there were Louboutin shoes, objects of worship.

Today, the very high heel has become desecrated.

It renders the woman motionless, unable to move.

It is the opposite of sensuality.

To move, a woman must be comfortable in her shoes.

Daring to be comfortable doesn't mean slouching in shapeless jogging or ripped jeans.

As always, elegance is a subtle dosage.”

5. You will not neglect your partner

“My husband supported me in all my projects, as I did in his.

The acceptance of this duality is part, for me, of the fulfillment and the balance of the

gentlewoman

.

She knows very well how to live alone, but is also comfortable in a couple.

Moreover, couples are very stimulating sources of inspiration.

The interferences and the mysterious emulsion of two styles reveal explosive cocktails.

This is the case of Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards, or Jerry Hall and Bryan Ferry, the best period of the singer with his gentleman-farmer side of super chic rock.

This is also true of the mythical couple formed by the famous photographer Annie Leibovitz, and the feminist intellectual Susan Sontag.

Listen: the editorial staff podcast

6. You will be creative

“When I was young, you had to be inventive to dress cheap and tinker with

cheap and chic

outfits .

I went to flea markets, to thrift stores, or rummaged through my mother's or my father's wardrobe.

I was inspired by street fashion.

With vintage, you can afford a strong fashion piece.

The rule is never to adopt the total look of a decade, to mix with timeless elements and to relax what is “couture”.

The chic is in the dosage.

As Coco Chanel said: "Before leaving your home, look in the mirror and remove an accessory."

7. Thou shalt love thy neighbor

“Learning empathy, practicing politeness, treating everyone the same regardless of their place in society is part of the panoply of the

gentlewoman

.

It is the antithesis of a self-centered person.

She is reluctant to talk about herself… even at her shrink!

If we stick to the root of the word, a

gentlewoman

devoid of empathy will be amputated by half.

Feeling the will and the emotions of my clients has always been essential for my creation.”

8. You will follow your instincts

“When I was young, I was very shy and I quickly realized that to get noticed, I had to create a 'look'.

Clothes are a pass to inaccessible worlds.

It's also thanks to a little shorts suit from Miss Selfridge - a cheap English brand - that I landed my first job at Chanel.

He was cute, a little quirky bourgeois.

It rained.

I had hesitated.

I listened to my instincts.

I was right."

The Gentlewoman's Guide,

by Vanessa Seward, with Matthias Debureaux, has just been published by Éditions Jean-Claude Lattès.

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Source: lefigaro

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