With a career that spans over thirty years, Carlyne Cerf De Dudzeele is responsible for the fashion in some of the most memorable Richard Avedon and Irving Penn images, Anna Wintour’s first Vogue cover, and just about every sexed up story in V Magazine. Carlyne still collaborates with the likes of Karl Lagerfeld, Azzedine Alaïa, Steven Meisel, Patrick Demarchelier, Mario Testino, Peter Lindbergh, Inez and Vinoodh, and all of the Supers. CCDD (as I call her) is a fashion editor extraordinaire and was featured in the recent Vogue book The Editor's Eye. She is also a photographer, art director, and a treat to be around. Carlyne blew me away when Brayden and I visited her at her home last month.
Gillian Tozer: I’m loving your head-to-toe Jeremy Scott look!
Carlyne Cerf De Dudzeele: Yes, JEREMY SCOTT X ADIDAS! I absolutely ADORE him. I think he has a talent absolument incroyable! I met him in Paris years ago.
GT: How great was the Spring/Summer 2013 show?!
CCDD: Because it's actual FASHION.
GT: It’s an all-out performance: the music, the lights, the styling, the casting…
CCDD: Because he is passionate! He loves what he does. So many people don’t! I stopped working for 15 years because I had a dog, a little Jack Russell, and he was my passion. I always wanted my dog to have the best life so I wasn’t concentrating at all on work. I lost my dog two years ago, so now I’m back at work. I am a passionate person. I adore what I do and I do it with my instinct. Everything comes from my gut.
GT: So you’re shooting a lot more now?
CCDD: Oui. I recently shot for the Wall Street Journal in Bora Bora. When I photograph, I do it all myself. It’s very hard because what you see [on set] and what you see in the viewfinder is very different. It’s very weird. It’s fine when I work with certain photographers like Mario [Testino] or Steven [Meisel] but sometimes the story is just so in my head I need to shoot it myself. Patrick [Demarchelier] told me years ago, “Carlyne, you can be a fashion editor, an art director, and a photographer!” I even love to do the layouts—I have learned a lot. J’aime ça.
GT: As the fashion director and fashion editor at large at American Vogue for ten years, how would you put the stories together? What is the relationship between the designer, the editor, and the other creatives on the team?
CCDD: At American Vogue you propose your idea to Anna and discuss it. Then you tell the photographer you would like to work with them, you find the girl, the story, and that’s it.
GT: What makes a good model?
CCDD: She has to love fashion, love what she has on, and have attitude. Attitude! Usually when they pass by the hand of Meisel they know how to work. I absolutely know this. And they should not move all the time. The real pros don’t move.
I was recently in Lima and Boston with Mario, at the opening of his foundation. [Mario and I] love the same girl—sexy, glamorous, and divine. And it felt like the old days; the girls were looking at one another to see who would get the best dress—who would look the sexiest. I love this, it reminds me of the good old days. I worked with Gianni [Versace] for eight years and the girls would [beg], "Carlyne, please let me have this dress, please don’t give it to her!" This is the role of the model—not someone who
Gillian Tozer: I’m loving your head-to-toe Jeremy Scott look!
Carlyne Cerf De Dudzeele: Yes, JEREMY SCOTT X ADIDAS! I absolutely ADORE him. I think he has a talent absolument incroyable! I met him in Paris years ago.
GT: How great was the Spring/Summer 2013 show?!
CCDD: Because it's actual FASHION.
GT: It’s an all-out performance: the music, the lights, the styling, the casting…
CCDD: Because he is passionate! He loves what he does. So many people don’t! I stopped working for 15 years because I had a dog, a little Jack Russell, and he was my passion. I always wanted my dog to have the best life so I wasn’t concentrating at all on work. I lost my dog two years ago, so now I’m back at work. I am a passionate person. I adore what I do and I do it with my instinct. Everything comes from my gut.
GT: So you’re shooting a lot more now?
CCDD: Oui. I recently shot for the Wall Street Journal in Bora Bora. When I photograph, I do it all myself. It’s very hard because what you see [on set] and what you see in the viewfinder is very different. It’s very weird. It’s fine when I work with certain photographers like Mario [Testino] or Steven [Meisel] but sometimes the story is just so in my head I need to shoot it myself. Patrick [Demarchelier] told me years ago, “Carlyne, you can be a fashion editor, an art director, and a photographer!” I even love to do the layouts—I have learned a lot. J’aime ça.
GT: As the fashion director and fashion editor at large at American Vogue for ten years, how would you put the stories together? What is the relationship between the designer, the editor, and the other creatives on the team?
CCDD: At American Vogue you propose your idea to Anna and discuss it. Then you tell the photographer you would like to work with them, you find the girl, the story, and that’s it.
GT: What makes a good model?
CCDD: She has to love fashion, love what she has on, and have attitude. Attitude! Usually when they pass by the hand of Meisel they know how to work. I absolutely know this. And they should not move all the time. The real pros don’t move.
I was recently in Lima and Boston with Mario, at the opening of his foundation. [Mario and I] love the same girl—sexy, glamorous, and divine. And it felt like the old days; the girls were looking at one another to see who would get the best dress—who would look the sexiest. I love this, it reminds me of the good old days. I worked with Gianni [Versace] for eight years and the girls would [beg], "Carlyne, please let me have this dress, please don’t give it to her!" This is the role of the model—not someone who