subscribe to style file blog via RSSrock chic: julia restoin-roitfeld meets rock & republic
August 8, 2008 9:21 am
Julia Restoin-Roitfeld likes to say that fashion was “always around” when she was growing up. This typical bit of understatement pretty much summarizes her iconoclastic approach to building a career in the fashion industry: Rather than assuming the role of heir apparent to, say, her mom—Carine Roitfeld, editor in chief of Paris Vogue—Restoin-Roitfeld has charted a path through the family business as peripatetic as that of any average Parsons grad. There was the internship at Visionaire, another one working with Craig McDean, some freelance gigs, a little modeling on the side. Normal-normal. Now, Restoin-Roitfeld is coming into her own, on her own. The up-and-coming art director conceived the new Rock & Republic ad campaign set to feature in September’s fat fashion books, and more projects are underway. Here, she talks to Style.com about keeping fashion in the family.
How did you connect with Rock & Republic?
My friend Keegan Singh works with them as a consultant, and he introduced me. I pitched them my idea for a campaign, and here we are.
Singh styled the shoot, which stars your brother (and Malgosia Bela). Was it strange working with Vladimir? I mean, it’s got to be a stretch to have to look at your brother in terms of those model-y qualities like, um, sex appeal.
Everything was very professional. And part of the reason we cast Vladimir, in fact, was that the campaign seemed to call for a real guy, and not a model. I mean, that was my pitch—the previous campaigns weren’t embodying the strength of the brand’s name, and its products, and I felt like it was important to express a rock “attitude,” in an authentic way, rather than do something like, oh, here’s a bunch of guys pretending to be a band and fake-playing the guitar. When I think “rock attitude,” I think confidence, I think strength; the choice of model reflects that. You have to be yourself, not someone playing a role.
You’ve done some modeling yourself—the Black Orchid campaign for Tom Ford, for example, and you’re in the new Gap ads, as well. Does that experience influence the way you think as an art director?
Well, seeing the business from a different perspective is always interesting and helpful. I’d say the same thing about working with Craig McDean—interning for him gave me another point of view.
And surely, there’s another point of view that comes from watching your mom work. Were you ever wary about going into the family business, as it were?
I don’t really think of myself as being involved in the “family business.” I’ve done some graphic design and a bit of consulting, I’ve worked with people like Fabien Baron and done jobs for VMan and Zac Posen and Teen Vogue. I’d like to add packaging projects to my portfolio. This is my career. I always wanted to do something artistic; art direction, that came naturally.
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