If you want to hunt down the best fashion and photography books in London, you head to Claire de Rouen on Charing Cross Road. Opened in 2005, the store is nestled in a small upstairs room in the heart of London's literary Bloomsbury neighborhood, packed floor-to-ceiling with treasures. Organized into sections including American photography, Japanese photography, reportage, and rare, the bookshop is committed to young photographers and unusual publications, with a broad range of zines and self-published magazines, as well as impressive fashion titles.
After Claire passed away earlier this year, artist Lucy Moore took over the running of the store and she continues to lovingly build the legacy Claire left, cultivating the same close relationships with photographers like David Bailey and Bruce Weber. Lucy also curates an incredible selection of books and magazines for the OC London store, with new offerings including Tim Walker: Storyteller, Diana Vreeland After Diana Vreeland, and Juergen Teller’s series of zines, The Master. I went to meet Lucy to find out more about the very special shop.
Lola Lalic: How did you first become involved with Claire de Rouen bookshop?
Lucy Moore: My boyfriend introduced me to Claire about three years ago. I had told him I dreamed of owning a bookshop one day, and he said I should meet Claire and maybe work for her. So we met up and she was wonderful, really amazing, very glamorous, and just lovely. She wanted to give me some work but had other people working for her at the time, so it just didn’t happen.
When she became ill, I was living in Australia and she called me asking if I could do most of the day-to-day work whilst she helped run the book shop. I had just arrived in Australia, so I couldn’t come back straight away, which is sad because I really wanted to work with her. When she died the bookshop would have closed, so I just felt like it was something I’d love to do and also something that a lot of people would really appreciate.
LL: What is your approach to running the shop?
LM: It is very idiosyncratic. I’m very much myself, and so are the people who work for me. We order things that we really love. I guess it’s almost like my living room or something, quite a personal space, and I really like running it in that way, so sometimes I bring in objects from home. I am actually working on a piece of art for the bookshop. I run it in a creative and informal way.
LL: Just this morning I saw someone come in to show you a zine––you must get that all the time. What do you look for in a new publication?
LM: I think a real commitment to making a good book or publication. I guess I see a lot of things that are just imitating other things so it’s easy to recognize something that comes from a really strong and independent voice, and I really appreciate that. I think it’s great to explore ideas but they need to be well thought through, and I do sometimes give people a real grilling! I just like to know as much as I can about them. Sometimes we get just absolutely amazing photographers coming in, and maybe it’s their first book or something they haven't shows anyone yet, and it’s just something totally brilliant, really beautiful, and well made, and that’s really great. I love that.
LL: The bookshop is well known for its unique fashion photogra
After Claire passed away earlier this year, artist Lucy Moore took over the running of the store and she continues to lovingly build the legacy Claire left, cultivating the same close relationships with photographers like David Bailey and Bruce Weber. Lucy also curates an incredible selection of books and magazines for the OC London store, with new offerings including Tim Walker: Storyteller, Diana Vreeland After Diana Vreeland, and Juergen Teller’s series of zines, The Master. I went to meet Lucy to find out more about the very special shop.
Lola Lalic: How did you first become involved with Claire de Rouen bookshop?
Lucy Moore: My boyfriend introduced me to Claire about three years ago. I had told him I dreamed of owning a bookshop one day, and he said I should meet Claire and maybe work for her. So we met up and she was wonderful, really amazing, very glamorous, and just lovely. She wanted to give me some work but had other people working for her at the time, so it just didn’t happen.
When she became ill, I was living in Australia and she called me asking if I could do most of the day-to-day work whilst she helped run the book shop. I had just arrived in Australia, so I couldn’t come back straight away, which is sad because I really wanted to work with her. When she died the bookshop would have closed, so I just felt like it was something I’d love to do and also something that a lot of people would really appreciate.
LL: What is your approach to running the shop?
LM: It is very idiosyncratic. I’m very much myself, and so are the people who work for me. We order things that we really love. I guess it’s almost like my living room or something, quite a personal space, and I really like running it in that way, so sometimes I bring in objects from home. I am actually working on a piece of art for the bookshop. I run it in a creative and informal way.
LL: Just this morning I saw someone come in to show you a zine––you must get that all the time. What do you look for in a new publication?
LM: I think a real commitment to making a good book or publication. I guess I see a lot of things that are just imitating other things so it’s easy to recognize something that comes from a really strong and independent voice, and I really appreciate that. I think it’s great to explore ideas but they need to be well thought through, and I do sometimes give people a real grilling! I just like to know as much as I can about them. Sometimes we get just absolutely amazing photographers coming in, and maybe it’s their first book or something they haven't shows anyone yet, and it’s just something totally brilliant, really beautiful, and well made, and that’s really great. I love that.
LL: The bookshop is well known for its unique fashion photogra