FASHION
KIKI DE MONTPARNASSE AND FARFETCH CELEBRATE THE CAROLINE VREELAND CAPSULE COLLECTION
NOVEMBER 5, 2019
WORDS
by KRISTOPHER FRASER
PHOTOGRAPHY
COURTESY of KIKI DE MONTPARNASSE
Singer, model and actress Caroline Vreeland can now add fashion designer to her resume. Vreeland has collaborated with lingerie label Kiki de Montparnasse to create a limited-edition capsule collection of undergarments sold exclusively on Farfetch. The Kiki de Montparnasse x Caroline Vreeland capsule collection is comprised of two styles, a thong and bloomer. The crinkled chiffon underwear comes in a variety of colorways, and each incorporate an emblem that signifies something meaningful and influential to the burgeoning designer, whether it be her love of wine, pasta, or her microphone. The bloomer retails at $75 and the thong retails at $55. Both are available exclusively on Farfetch.com .
During the shoot for the collection (which you all can see in our upcoming Issue 16) I was sent upstairs by my editor-in-chief, Tatijana Shoan, to tell them put some leg in it with only 45 minutes until end-of-day for the shoot. It was at which point Caroline turns to me and asks, "Daddy, can we go to Café Select afterward for the interview."
If you told me the day would come when a woman would ever refer to me as daddy I would have had so many questions or wondered if the apocalypse would be upon us. However, I accepted this nickname with aplomb. Over dinner at Café Select in SoHo we discussed how this collaboration came together, her inspiration behind the line, how she balances her many careers, and of course sex!
Caroline Vreeland
As If: How did your collaboration with Kiki de Montparnasse and Farfetch happen?
Caroline Vreeland: As soon as I entered Kiki’s showroom—I think I went there to pull something for an event I had—I immediately latched on to the creative director, we liked each other right away, and I just felt really good there. Whenever I would come to NYC, I wanted to hang with the Kiki team! When I was young, I admired the brand but could not afford anything. I would walk by the store on Melrose Place in L.A. and marvel at what they had. I remember this silver ring with a shallow little dish that was designed for collecting semen after you give a guy a hand job! I loved it because sex should not be taboo or scary, sex should be chic and celebrated, and that’s what Kiki de Montparnasse was doing. I was like, absolutely yes! So, years later when they approached me about a collaboration of course I said yes. They had only done one collaboration before, with Julia Restoin Roitfeld. For my collaboration, my first thought was to make a bigger bra, because their bras are so delicate it can be hard for really big boobs to fit in them. Plus, I wear a size bigger than most any lingerie brands, so I thought it would finally be nice to make an elevated bra for this high-end line. They were fully onboard, but explained that bras take longer to construct, and they wanted to jump into this right away. So, I suggested that we get our feet wet doing underwear and thongs. We collectively came up with the idea to put different emblems of the things that make me who I am onto the pieces. We also did a bloomer to offset the thong. As soon as Farfetch got on board, everything was completed so quickly. It’s a testament to how they all work; they really pushed it forward. I mean, we were talking about this just a few months prior. I would love to look into the future and include a bra. I think this is going to be something that we continue to work on together.
You seem to really love the concept of sex selling.
I do.
How does that work into what you did with this collection?
I mean, I had to be a bit careful because I wrote a sex column. I’m very open about my sexuality – much to my manager’s chagrin! I’m sometimes a little too open with sharing my sexuality – which he supports – but I had to be careful to not be too overtly sexual. When I met my manager, I had just turned 30. I’m 32 and I feel really good about being in my thirties. But my stylist said it best, he was like 'You’re not a young girl anymore, stop trying to be sexy and let’s be sensual, let’s be a woman in her power, be at your age.' I just love that! I think working with a brand like Kiki makes me feel like I can be sexy but still have a certain level of elegance, you know what I mean? That’s important for me and where I’m at in my life right now. Sex should always be a thing, that’s why I started my sex column, I wanted there to be an open conversation about sex. I'm not claiming to know everything, I just wanted to create a conversation where people were not feeling like they had to be bashful or ashamed. Feeling sexy and feeling horny is a natural part of life, it makes the world go around, so why should we feel ashamed of that?
“I loved it because sex should not be taboo or scary, sex should be chic and celebrated, and that’s what Kiki de Montparnasse was doing.”
