Intermission: When did you open your store?
Sarah Lerfel: 20 March 1997.
IM: Staff size?
SL: Today, around 90.
IM: What brands do you carry?
SL: Ohlala, so many, impossible to list like this… And there’s not only fashion… You can check on www.colette.fr
IM: Why did you open your store?
SL: To make discover artists, brands and things we love.
IM: What is the philosophy behind your store?
SL: To propose in a same space fashion, design, art, hitech, beauty, food, etc… And to renew every week, so it’s always a surprise.
IM: What are you exited to sell this winter?
SL: Many new designers like Vika Gazinskaya, Graeme Armour, Hakaan, Julien David, Anthony Vaccarello, Joseph Altuzarra, etc.
IM: What is your women’s buyer buying for herself?
SL: I’m the womens buyer… And I buy for myself some stuff from what I buy for colette.
IM: If you weren’t in fashion retail what would you be doing?
SL: I don’t consider we’re in fashion retail since we’re doing so many other things… We can do via colette anything we would like to do.
IM: What is your all-time bestseller?
SL: Lucky, we had many bestseller… Impossible to mention only one…
IM: And all-time bestseller in your web shop?
SL: Same… but let’s say a recent one is the Coca Cola Light bottle by Karl Lagerfeld.
IM: Why does the world need your store?
SL: I never said so…
IM: Recent projects?
SL: Exhibition with Aaron Ruell, Tom Sachs Basement crew show and Trunk shop in October, our new compilations coletteville and discolette, iPad App, etc…
IM:What do you anticipate will be your biggest seller this spring?
SL: I wish I had a crystal ball…
IM: Is there anything you saw at the runway collections you knew immediately you had to have?
SL: Rodarte fabrics mix dresses and jackets.
IM: Your favourite collections from the fall?
SL: Proenza Schouler, Marc Jacobs, Lanvin, Celine, Christopher Kane.
IM: Your favourite magazines?
SL: Ohlala, many as well, but let’s say Fantastic Man, Industrie, Monocle, Purple, Self Service, TAR, Another…
IM: Who are your favourite current brands?
SL: Let’s say Mary Katrantzou, Sacai, Tao, Andrea Crews, Jeremy Scott…
IM: What excites you about the future, personally or in terms of fashion in general?
SL: Everything !!!
