Fashion Icon Ines de la Fressange on Her Uniqlo Collaboration and How to Be French-Chic

As evidenced by the beyond-chic woman in the beyond-chic outfit above, there's a serious wallop of French chic coming soon to a Uniqlo near you—in the form of legendary fashion icon Ines de la Fressange's spring 2014 LifeWear collaboration with the Japanese fast-fashion retailer. Fressange, the daughter of a marquise and an Argentine model, was the first model to sign an exclusive contract (with Chanel, no less) and soon thereafter become Karl Lagerfeld's muse. Since her modeling days, she's consulted with Jean Paul Gaultier, owned her own line of clothing stores, designed, and continued to model well into her 50s. We caught up with de la Fressange to talk about her work with Uniqlo—and how we too can capture some of her signature French-chic in our wardrobes. Glamour: From haute couture to mass market—what inspired your LifeWear collaboration with Uniqlo, and how was working with a mainstream retailer different from working with Chanel? Ines de la Fressange: In fact, at first I thought it would be different—but working with Naoki Takizawa, who also comes from the luxury world having been the assistant of Issey Miyake, I was happily surprised by the quality of the fabrics, the preciseness of the
As evidenced by the beyond-chic woman in the beyond-chic outfit above, there's a serious wallop of French chic coming soon to a Uniqlo near you—in the form of legendary fashion icon Ines de la Fressange's spring 2014 LifeWear collaboration with the Japanese fast-fashion retailer. Fressange, the daughter of a marquise and an Argentine model, was the first model to sign an exclusive contract (with Chanel, no less) and soon thereafter become Karl Lagerfeld's muse. Since her modeling days, she's consulted with Jean Paul Gaultier, owned her own line of clothing stores, designed, and continued to model well into her 50s. We caught up with de la Fressange to talk about her work with Uniqlo—and how we too can capture some of her signature French-chic in our wardrobes. Glamour: From haute couture to mass market—what inspired your LifeWear collaboration with Uniqlo, and how was working with a mainstream retailer different from working with Chanel? Ines de la Fressange: In fact, at first I thought it would be different—but working with Naoki Takizawa, who also comes from the luxury world having been the assistant of Issey Miyake, I was happily surprised by the quality of the fabrics, the preciseness of the