Since the beginning of her career, Wies Schulte builds her collections piece by piece (one per season) in a range of intense colours. This time she imagines a chic winter collection worn through strong emotions by the young actress Adèle Haenel, in a film directed by Frédéric Guelaff.

- Caroline Cornu - translator Richard Gilles -

Caroline Cornu : Where do you find your inspiration?

Wies Schulte: I find it in photographic books by Stephen Shoren, Jeff Wall, Mitch Epstein, Alec Soth, and Steichen. I come across colours when I ride my motorbike in the streets of Paris.

CC: When did you find out you had an inkling for fashion?

WS: I was about 10, I already started to like colours and feel fabrics my mother was buying, as she used to sew her own clothes. I left the Netherlands when I was 17 and joined Antwerp Fashion College. This is where I started to experiment with all sorts of materials, colours and shapes and where I started to really appreciate fashion.

CC: Where do you live and work? How many people do you work with?

WS: I live and work in Paris: two of us work full time on the collections and a super trainee helps us as well.

CC: How many collections so far?

WS: Twelve.

CC: What do you like in this city?

WS: I like the daily life in my neighbourhood (the bar where I drink my coffee every morning, a real mix of people). Paris is the right size for me, neither too small nor too big. I love to ride my motorbike and discover new areas.

CC: Who is your muse?

WS: Romy Schneider represents feminine chic.

CC: Do you have other artistic skills? Do you feel close to an artistic movement?

WS: In the evening, I like to draw with a ballpoint what touched me during the day. I have dozens of notebooks with moments in life not to be forgotten.

I support my lover in his film and photographic projects. I am surrounded by friends who work in movies, music, and art. I feel close to them because of their diversity and not because the represent a specific artistic movement.

CC: What fascinates you?

WS: Being in love and live with the same man after 16 years.

CC: Can you describe the colours, cuts, shapes and fabrics for this collection?

WS: I use colours such as bright red, electric purple, dark ink blue and a very chic ecru. I use fabrics such as silk crepe, flowing wool satin, waterproof heavy wool, kid mohair and merinos wool. The cuts are pure, simple and definite.

CC: What fabrics would you like to experiment with?

WS: Flowing, heavyweight fabrics with natural compositions. For this collection, I waterproofed a wool twill to make a trench coat.

CC: How do you define your style?

WS: It is chic in surprising colours.

CC : What’s the story of the movie?

WS: In 5 scenes, Frédéric Guelaff describes 5 emotions - doubt, violence, wait, stubbornness, and confusion – played by the actress Adèle Haenel.

CC: How and why did you decide to collaborate?

WS: Frédéric and I wanted the film of the 2008 winter collection to be played by an actress: a story, a face, and emotions in 5 scenes.

We met Adele Haenel, a young actress nominated at the French 2007 Cesars through Christel Barras. We filmed the movie in one day: it was simply magical…