Q: What events in your early life, made you get interested in the arts?

A: Well growing up in the orphanage and having the nuns who raised me, sewing gave
me an interest in learining to sew. They eventually taught me basic sewing skills when I
was old enough to comprehend the method. I really developed my eye of designing in
my early years, when I was being introduced to many popular costumers. It really
opened my eyes to how complex it all is. How one little detail can make or break the
entire outfit.

Q: What roles did mentors play in helping you develope the interests in your feild of
work?

A: My mentors were as I said before the nuns, they really taught me as much as they
could. Just that little bit of knowledge gave me a higher chance in becoming who I am
now, when I first started. Shop owners are more likely to make someone with basic
sewing skills an employee, rather then someone who has no idea how to even thread a
needle. Working in the shops really gave me some good advantages, it allowed me to
learn more and see how a shop worked before I started my own. Meeting all of the
people that had already become extremely successfull in the industry also showed me
how hard they had to work to get to where they were, it scared me at first. I thought I
would have a rather hard time becoming popular, but luckly I had it pretty easy.

Q: What was the world of art in your art feild like when you entered?

A: Well growing up and living in France, was a very big deal. Fashion and costume are a
very large deal in France, you have to stay on top of the popular fashions. I opened my
first shop in 1910, so that was when I really entered the world of fashion. I was on my
own, I had a little shop in France selling hats. At that time fashion was very popular and
little shops like mine were either busy all the time or pretty much dead all the time. As I
said before knowing the people I knew at that time also brought alot of attention to my
store, because they would refer me to people, which brought me more and more
custumers. I guess you could say I was rather lucky to be so successful when I first
started.

Q: How did the major cultural, economic and political situation of the time impact your
work?

A: The economic crissis in France from the war forced me and alot of other shops to
close down completely for many years. There was just not enough money for anyone to
begin with, and with no paying people to buy things, there was no money for me to
invest into making new creations. I however took a break with my work and served as a
nurse in World War one. I got myself in some trouble after that, and was accused of
having an affair with a Nazi officer, which made my return in the fashion industry rather
difficult. Everyone assumed I was a cruel person, because I was associated with a Nazi. I
assure you I am not a horrible person, the whole war was a mess. I did eventually make
my recovery though. I came back with a strong new look for women, and I made my
name big.

Q: What were your major accomplishments and the method you used in your
art?

A: I would say my major accomplishments were my creations of " the little

black dress" it was a very large success. It gave women a large advantage,
ecpesially the busy ones. As I grew up I realized watching others, and later
expirencing it myself that going from working clothes, then to formal clothes
to go out for lunch, and then changing again for dinner. Which to those who
don't know about that it way seem silly, but in all honesty it is very tiering.
For a woman that has so many tasks to get done in one day, is already under
alot of presure, but of course they always want to look presentable. Feeling
beautiful is a task a woman has to check off everyday, in order to have the
confidence they need to get through the day. The little black dress provides
that busy woman to have an extra amount of time in her schedule, because
she doesn't have to change four different times. With the dress she can go
from work to dinner and still look and feel beautiful. My methods for making
this are just really trying to put myself not just in my shoes of being a busy
woman, but putting myself in every busy womens shoes. I try to think of
many ladies thoughts on how they look in their clothes, and also how they
feel. My goal is to make something beautiful, and comfortable for the hard
working woman wearing it.

Q: What were the key oppurtunities you had that lead to turning points in
your life in your art?

A: I had a huge oppurtunity to do the costumes for the movie La Regle de

Jeu, and many other movies. This provided my with new adventures. In this
case I had to think in terms of a certain character, and how I was going to
help express them through their costumes. This lead to my profession
widening, and me being able to learn more about the character, and how to
express them. It created a turning point in my career, I was able to work in
so many diffrent ways with clothes, and costumes. I am very proud to have
the talents to be diverse in the fashion industry. I am also very greatful for
the oppurtunites I have been blessed with.

Q: What personal choices did you make in order to become successful?

A: I made the decison to give up my singing career, I didn't feel like that is
where I belonged. Although I had many people who loved my voice and
wanted me to try to become a huge success in it, I chose to go for something
totally different, something I knew deep down was what I wanted. I made a
choice to risk pretty much everything I had at that time, to jump for the stars
and live my dream. I knew that I would have to go through alot and work
really hard to make it to the top. When the war began I had to shut down the
shop, I knew it wasn't going to workout with such a horrible ecconomic
crissis. That was hard for me to do, I was unsure of what the future had
instore for me, without my bussiness to run, I had no clue what I was going
to do.

Q: What hard-ships or road blocks did you have to overcome to be an artist?

A: I had to learn to except that I wa going to have competition, I was going

to have to deal with critisism. There was many higher up designers in the
begging that wanted nothing to do with me. In France fashion is such a big
deal, that everyone is involved. The bigger fashion designers that had made
their work big already were not very willing to share the spotlight. I also had
to reaize that not everything was going to come to me on a silver platter, I
was going to have to work for it. Even though I was involved with people that
could give me oppurtunites, I still had to work at providing my custumers
with something that was unique and new. Something that no one else could
provide them with, and that was not going to grow boring a week later.

Q: What kind of limitations did you run into as both an artist and a person?

A: The limitations I ran into as a person in the begging, was that I had very
little family. The only blood relatives I was familiar with were my siblings,
which I am very greatful for. I didn't have my mother with me, nor my father.
That was kind of a struggle for me, I wanted someone to be there to support
me in my efforts on becoming a designer. In the end I believe that
disadvantage made me a stronger person, and made me learn to do things
on my own. As an artist when the war began my career looked like it was
over, as I said before. After the war the crimes I was convicted of brought my
popularity down to a very low percentage. I already had to deal with the
economic problem, but now I also had the problem of not having anyone
wanting what I had to offer. It was hard to recover from that.

Q: What personal stories best illisturate how you became an artist?

A: Growing up and having very little, gave me the ambition to grow up and
make something of myself. It made me want to reach for somethig that
many people told me was the impossible. I wanted to prove to people that I
can could change womens fashions forever, and make something that seems
so very small and un-important, a huge deal. Having the success I did, and
the motavation to get to that point is something that is amazing to me. I am
very greatful for everyone that has helped me reach my goals. I am very
honored to be the one that made such a huge impact on womans fashion, to
be the creator of something that grows and changes every year, but never is
over-looked.