Camille Charrière has long associated her personal style with icons such as Kate Moss and Mary-Kate Olsen. Elegant, of course, but, ultimately, a little messy, effortless and chaotic.
Sat in New York's Upper East Side Carlyle hotel hours before Dior's Pre-Fall 2024 show on Monday, however, the Anglo-French broadcaster admitted she's entering a new era. Now aged 36, Charrière is starting to connect with the more polished and thoughtful ensembles of the late Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy. The ELLE UK Contributing Editor is channelling the late fashion publicist for her front row visit, pairing a messy chignon with a black (and totally sheer) maxi dress, kitten heels and a simple, silver timepiece.
But for all our discussion of ladylike poise, Charrière was positively 'giddy' about the upcoming Dior show in Brooklyn. 'I actually shed a tear, embarrassingly, when I left the hotel this morning,' she said. 'I don't know what it is with New York. I'm really just excited to see what Dior has in store for us.'
We spoke to Charrière to learn more about her personal style shift, the vintage shops she'll be visiting in New York, and how to get away with wearing 'naked' dresses...
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What advice do you have for something hesitant to try a sheer dress - or any new 'look' for that matter?
'Trying [a naked dress] by night is my first piece of advice - the lights are much dimmer and it can sometimes get a bit beachy in the day. Then pick the place and company carefully as not all audiences are receptive to that kind of thing.
'If you're going out with your girlfriends on a really fun night out, and it's not something formal, so it's a really good place to start because you're with people that you trust and that will help you be more confident.
'When I try new things I have a gap of hesitation where I'm like: do I really like this? Is this really me? Does this make me feel good? Those are all really valid questions.
'What people forget about clothes is that styling is not easy, I've had to practise a lot. You need to sit at home with yourself in front of a mirror, pour a glass of wine, try things on. Some things won't work, some will - people that have more a more interesting sense of style and a sense of self are those who are not afraid of getting it wrong.'
If you have time, where will you stop off in New York for some shopping?
'I really want to be able to stay an extra day and do some shopping and walk around the city - it's one of those cities that even just walking around gives me energy and makes me want to work harder.
'There are some shops here that I always visit. Procell is a vintage store downtown that's got a great selection of Y2K stuff. It's full of streetwear stuff I can't find when I'm in London. And then there's a really cool place called Treasures of New York which, funnily enough, is where I've bought all my collector Dior pieces. I have three amazing saddle bags that are from the different eras - I'm a bit of a hoarder of the Dior saddle.'
Are you someone who claims to never pay attention to trends?
'I definitely pay attention to trends. I try to not be a fashion victim who is dictated by trends, but I'm definitely inspired by them. For example, last winter we saw a lot of red tights, which is a really nice trend because everybody can take part.
'When people say that they don't follow trends, I think what they mean is that like they don't want to be told what to wear. That's something that we, for a long time, have kind of gotten used to, with magazines and influencers telling us what's cool and what's not cool. And that's where you've got to draw the line - you decide what's cool and what's not cool.
'It's really nice having trends coming in because it gives you like a fresh approach to look at your own wardrobe. It can give you new ideas of how to style things.'
What item do you keep buying again and again?
'I have a big issue with jeans – I'm addicted to buying jeans. I have so many, I haven't got rid of a single pair - I still have my skinny jeans from when I was in high school.
'There's just an emotional attachment, I wear them so much that they really become part of you, they become the building block of all your outfits.
'Funnily enough yesterday, I was wearing a pair of jeans that Dior sent me, in a very old school French shape, a shape that I haven't been wearing for a really long time because to me it made me feel a little bit too proper. I was chatting to my manager yesterday and I was like, "I think I need to bring back this era," and she was like, "I agree. I never thought we'd see the day where we'd see you back in those kind of like very elegant, high waisted French girl jeans", and here we are.
'I sometimes joke that I swing between my English upbringing and my French side. Sometimes I'm leaning more into one and that's when I'm being a lot more experimental, fashion forward, silly and flimsy with my clothes. And I want to be really expressive and I don't care what anyone thinks. And then other times I suddenly pull back and I'm like, absolutely not. I just want to look really like elegant chic, simple, almost, almost dressing in a formulaic way, where you've got a uniform and you're just like changing the details or the accessories every day.
'Right now I'm definitely more into that which to me is, is more reminiscent of my French side. I love the fact that I can swing between those two things and I don't have to put myself in a box .'
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