'I grew up in the suburbs of Paris [and lived there] pretty much all of my life—I went to university there and studied business and law. It’s what my parents wanted me to study because they thought I would find a good job and stuff, so I did it, but I never ended up working in those fields. I got my degree and was like, now is the time for me to do what I really want to do. I really wanted to travel, so I took a year off and traveled to Australia, Malaysia, and Indonesia, doing all kinds of odd jobs—waitressing, picking fruits, planting tomatoes. When I moved back to Paris I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, and I ended up getting a job at Colette. Colette doesn't care if you've worked in fashion before, [Sarah Andelman] just likes people who work hard. I worked in the Beauty department, and then in Ready-To-Wear, but after two years I relocated to New York with my husband. He's American, so I moved for love.
My husband is a tattoo artist at Black Square, and he works with this traditional tribal technique. He was always encouraging me to create things—I was collecting patches at the time and just decided to make my own! Getting started with embroidery is mad cheap, too. It's like $5 and you can buy a hoop, thread, needles, and that's all you need. So I was doing that, and that's how the whole Drake thing started. My friend and I were listening to one of his songs, and the next day I couldn't stop listening to it, so I decided to embroider his prayer hands on the back of my jeans. I Instagrammed it and tagged him, and the next thing I knew, I had 4,000 more followers because he regrammed me! He sent me a DM saying, 'I'd love to have some custom embroidery from you.' We started texting, and when he was in town, he came to Lovely Day [where I was working] and dropped off his clothes, gave me a hug, and gave me some money. I put the money in my pocket and that was the beginning.
I'm doing more work now—I've done embroidery for Marc Jacobs, Stella McCartney, and Miley Cyrus. Everything I do is done by hand, and it takes a long time. That's why I don't wear any nail polish, because I work with my hands, and after one day they're chipped! But I love makeup. I buy all my makeup at MAC on Broadway or at Duane Reade. I like to wear mascara, just L’Oréal Telescopic. It’s not a regular brush, it’s long and skinny and it’s plastic. I like it because I don’t have really long eyelashes, so it makes them longer. I’ll use it if I look tired or if I have a meeting and I have to look nice. When I wear lipstick, I like MAC's Ruby Woo. It’s a really deep red. I used to have all the lipstick colors when I was younger, but I don’t really wear makeup that much anymore. Most days, I use the Australian Lucas' Papaw Ointment for my lips and that’s it. For eyeliner, I’ll use MAC Liquid Liner, which is easy to take off but stays on all day.
Like every French girl, I use Bioderma Créaline just to wash my face and remove makeup morning and night. My whole family was using it and it doesn’t leave my face dry—and maybe because it’s French, I trust it. Nobody has complaints about it. At night, I put Weleda Rose Smoothing Cream on. I like the smell and it’s not too greasy. For the day I'll use Weleda's Skin Food Cream, too, and I always, always have to wear SPF. I had skin cancer two years ago and had to get surgery—my dermatologist told me I had used up all my ‘solar capital’ so I can’t go into the sun anymore. Now I use Actinica SPF 50, which is Swiss. It’s the best one although it’s really expensive and the bottle is really small. I put it on my face, neck and chest. It’s really thick, but I don’t have many other choices.
For my hair I use Bumble and bumble. They just launched the Bb Curl line for curly hair, and I use the Bb Curl Shampoo, Priming Spray, and Conditioning Mousse. After I wash, I put my head upside down and rub the mousse in. It makes your hair very curly and I love it! I’m telling all my friends with curly hair to try it. I used to blow dry my hair when I was younger because you’re never happy—when you have curly hair you want straight hair. Now, I don’t color my hair and I don’t blow it dry. I leave it natural and crazy. It’s just who I am and I want to enjoy it. If I want a treatment, I’ll sleep in coconut oil and wash my hair really carefully the next day—not too much on the scalp.
I love to get massages in Chinatown! There’s a great place called Fishion Herb Center. You can get acupuncture and massage and it’s pretty cheap. If I’m working at Lovely Day I'll go after because I always work, so my neck hurts and I need a good massage to feel better and relax. And the acupuncture is great...I get really bad headaches, and acupuncture is way better than those pills they give you. I'll get tea, too, in Chinatown—brown rice tea or green tea—and maybe some dim sum. And after that, there’s a bakery on Spring Street— Ceci-Cela—that has the best chocolate croissant. I love bread, I'm a bread monster. I don't really work out, but maybe I should.”
—as told to ITG
Marie Sophie Lockhart photographed by Tom Newton.
Cedella Marley prefers to glow, Ariana Papademetropoulos draws beauty inspiration from the Renaissance, and Sunny Shokrae vows never to dye her gray hairs in The Face.
