1. When do you feel at your most attractive?

When I have the softness of face and hair after a good nap—or that lazy calm after sex.

3. What are some things you admire about how other women present themselves?

Women who wear their natural skin tone, posses good posture, use lyrical hand movements, and embrace their body type.

19. What are you wearing on your body and face, and how is your hair done, right at this moment?

No makeup, glasses, ballerina bun. Striped shirt, striped skivvies, bare feet (its 90º in New York right now!)

I lightened my hair a few months ago and I love it! My skin has warmer tones because of it, and so different colors speak to me now. It's thrilling. It also brings out my eyes.

23. Do you think you have taste or style? Which one is more important? What do these words mean to you?

Yes.

I've always been fond of expression through clothing. When I was a child, my parents owned an antique and vintage clothing shop in Chicago. Their tastes were free and theatrical. If you can imagine my delight as a child seeing heaps of lace and tulle, silk chiffon dresses, a monkey hair collared jacket (which frightened me!), fascinators, kimonos, turbans, fur stoles, etc. This exposure to fashion and aesthetics has had a lasting impression on me. When I am getting dressed up for a special occasion, my style leans towards the theatrical. My mother would say "make an entrance," not by being brash or ostentatious, but by radiating your mood.

At the core of my taste and style is improvisation. My mother has passed down this trait to me in dressing; seeing the fur collar on an old vintage coat and making a hat out of it, taking an old beaded collar and creating a headpiece.

25. Are there any dressing tricks you’ve invented or learned that make you feel like you’re getting away with something?

Have fun with your hair. It's your free accessory.

37. What is your process getting dressed in the morning? What are you considering?

Often I am inspired by a movie or a photograph that resonates with my mood. I will challenge myself and my wardrobe with that emotion. For example, this past October I discovered a photo of my grandmother from the seventies, wearing her hair in a chignon, a beautiful beige dress, and brown heels. Throughout the following week I wore my hair in that style and an item of clothing that was brown or beige, in homage to my grandmother. Emotional connections make getting dressed very easy.

52. Do you consider yourself photogenic?

I would say yes, but it wavers. Depending on my mood, I can feel at ease in front of the camera, other times complete distrust. It all depends on my confidence.

54. Are there any figures from culture, past or present, whose style you admire or have drawn from?

Isadora Duncan, Solange Knowles, Audrey Hepburn, Megan from Mad Men, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jane Birkin.

59. Are there any dressing rules you’d want to convey to other women?

Always consider the silhouette.

Be considerate with your purchases, but get dressed quickly.

Knitwear is the most unforgiving fabric.

Heels are wonderful so long as they agree with you; if they compromise your gait, don't wear them—float, not stomp!

71. What’s the first “investment” item you bought? Do you still own or wear it?

I have a pair of Chanel pumps that I have literally run into the ground. I remember the little booklet that came in the box that read "these shoes are meant to be danced in, walked around the streets of Paris, etc etc" and I took those words to heart. They have suffered through rain showers, shitty Williamsburg dance parties, and high tea at Bergdorf's, all with reckless abandon. I couldn't be precious about these shoes, as the life you live is more interesting than some prim pair of shoes. The more banged up, the more beautiful they are to me.

78. Do you like to smell a certain way?

Yes!
A mixture of a natural facial tonic and shampoo that is a fail safe compliment catcher.

81. Is there an article of clothing, a piece of make-up, or an accessory that you carry with you or wear every day?

YSL sheer lipstick!

http://www.christyclaire.com/