美国国家公共电台 NPR Garance Doré: New York Or Paris?

Garance Doré: New York Or Paris?

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

Our first guest is a fashion photographer, a blogger and the author of The New York Times best-seller "Love Style Life." Please welcome Garance Dore, everybody.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Now, Garance, you started as a street-style photographer in Paris. What is a street-style photographer?

GARANCE DORE: I just started taking photos on the streets of people that I thought were well-dressed because I didn't know how to dress myself, so I was kind of documenting that learning experience.

EISENBERG: So you just grabbed 1 a camera...

DORE: Yep, I just grabbed a camera and I went to people in the street, and I was like you look good. Can I take a photo of you?

EISENBERG: Yeah, no one's saying no to that, right?

DORE: They did at the time.

EISENBERG: Oh, they did?

DORE: Oh, yeah. They're like no, I'm shy. No.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

DORE: And then it started becoming a trend, and then people were asking me to take their photos.

EISENBERG: So basically, you just decided 2 this is what I want to do as a career. I want to be a fashion photographer of sorts.

DORE: No, I just - at that time, I wanted to be an illustrator.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

DORE: And I was literally 3 losing - I was a loser illustrator. And I - I was 30 and broke, and I - because my mom wouldn't talk to me anymore. And so I was desperate, and I couldn't pay for my life anymore. And as, like, my last thing that I'm going to try to do is open a blog. That's when everything started because I caught that sort of giant wave.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

DORE: Yeah.

EISENBERG: That's amazing.

DORE: It's crazy, yeah.

EISENBERG: So does your mother talk to you now?

DORE: She does. She's proud. I just came back from the city where I was born, and the mayor wants to give me a medal. And she just talks about that all the time. I was, like, Mom I have a best-seller in New York. She's like, you got to go to the city hall. You got to do that. I was like - I don't have time. So see that people kind of focus on what's important for them. But she talks to me.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: That's good. I'm glad.

DORE: That's for you, Mom.

EISENBERG: Garance, how do you describe your own style?

DORE: Pretty white.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Listeners, she is wearing all white, except for shoes, which are sort of a black sandal.

DORE: I made an effort on the shoes. Yep.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

DORE: Wear the same thing every day.

EISENBERG: Really?

DORE: Yes.

EISENBERG: That's what the French do?

DORE: Have you been to Paris?

Yeah. Yeah, it's like one very simple, like, style, you know, like shirt, jean, simple pair of shoes. And that's it. And that's, I think, why it got so famous. It's so easy to recognize.

EISENBERG: So basically, you look at your wardrobe a little bit like a uniform?

DORE: I prefer to unpretentiously say I have French style.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Very good.

Now, you have a podcast and web series called "Pardon My French" in which you talk to different people in fashion and film and culture who inspires you - Stella McCartney, Drew Barrymore, Isaac Mizrahi. So you're talking to all these people, is there sort of a common thread that you've taken away from speaking to these people, of what they think about beauty?

DORE: It's going to sound so stupid cheesy.

EISENBERG: No, no.

DORE: It's just, like, being yourself.

EISENBERG: Yeah? OK. No, that's fair.

(LAUGHTER)

DORE: I'm sorry. It's lame 4, but it's true. It's just, like, accepting who you are and all these things and not being perfect and just have fun and all these type of things.

EISENBERG: But I'm wondering, you know - I - so I might say...

DORE: And Botox.

EISENBERG: And Botox (laughter).

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: But that's a very good point. You're talking to a lot of stars. And I'm sure a lot of them, even though they'll be like, find your own dividual (ph) style...

DORE: Right, yeah.

EISENBERG: ...Individual style.

DORE: Yeah.

EISENBERG: But at the same time, they are engaged in getting plastic surgery or Botox or whatever it is, right?

DORE: Of course.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

DORE: Yeah. I mean, not everybody does it, but it's very common. And it's actually - I don't know. I do not have anything against it. You know, before, like, five or 10 years ago, if people were all made, we would kind of look at them in a weird 5 way. And - but now it's totally gone, so I don't know what's going to be in five years. Things change so fast, and it's just becoming so normal.

EISENBERG: Yeah. Is that scary for you?

DORE: I have a hard time finding things scary. Like, I'm from the internet. In...

EISENBERG: Right.

DORE: In the beginning, people...

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: From the internet (laughter).

DORE: Yep. That's where I come from.

EISENBERG: That is one of the best...

DORE: Yeah.

EISENBERG: ...Things anyone has ever said on this...

DORE: Right?

EISENBERG: ...Stage, by the way.

DORE: And in the beginning, people were scared of me in fashion. They were, like, ooh, she's from the internet, you know. Like, be careful. She's going to say stuff. And so I don't know about judging and all that. I just think, let people do what they want. And I think in a few years, beauty will be so common and, you know, that having a normal, non-retouched face will actually maybe become more interesting.

EISENBERG: Maybe. Maybe we'll go...

DORE: Yeah...

EISENBERG: ...The other way, then everyone will be like...

DORE: I think so. I really do.

EISENBERG: How do you compare New York style to Paris style?

DORE: Parisians like to dress the same every day. They're really judgy. They look at each other like - wow, who does she think she is? - you know. In New York, it's the contrary. I think everybody's curious about what the other person is doing. But it's more like, oh, that's interesting. There's that mix of culture that - you never know what you're going to find. It's very interesting.

EISENBERG: So Garance, your game is about the two great fashion cities New York and Paris. I'm going to give you a quote from a famous person, and all you have to do is tell me if that person is talking about New York or Paris. And once you guess, we'll discuss. And then I'll tell you who said the quote.

DORE: (Laughter).

EISENBERG: OK. Here we go. It's the loudest city on the planet Earth. Garbage men come. They don't pick up the garbage. They just bang the cans together.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Garance.

DORE: New York.

EISENBERG: (Laughter) That is correct.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Lewis Black said that - a famous comedian 6. He yells 7 all the time because he's trying to be heard in New York.

DORE: (Laughter).

EISENBERG: OK. How about this one? This city is a haven 8 for all women's obsessions 9 - hot men, great chocolates, scrumptious pastries 10, sexy lingerie, cool clothes. But as any shoe-o-phile (ph) knows, this city is a hotbed of fabulous 11 shoes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Garance.

DORE: Paris.

EISENBERG: This is Kristen (ph) Loeb from the book "Paris Hangover" said that.

(LAUGHTER)

DORE: It's, like, all wrong, though.

(LAUGHTER)

DORE: It's just, like, Paris dream for Americans.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

DORE: Sorry.

EISENBERG: This city is always hopeful. Always, it believes that something good is about to come off, and it must hurry to meet it.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Garance.

DORE: It's New York.

EISENBERG: It is New York.

DORE: It is New York.

EISENBERG: That is correct.

DORE: That's why I live here.

EISENBERG: Yeah. That's - Dorothy Parker said that.

DORE: Yeah, I knew that.

EISENBERG: Hurry is the word there that gives it away.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: It's a big rush here. Don't you find, like, the speed - you like the speed?

DORE: No, no. I actually want to move away. But - that's....

(LAUGHTER)

DORE: It's way too much, too much speed.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

DORE: But it's - what does - what did she say in the beginning, the first thing?

EISENBERG: The city is always hopeful. And it always...

DORE: That's what I love.

EISENBERG: That New York is...

DORE: ...That America and New York - like, so much hope and positivity and all that - I'll never get tired of that.

EISENBERG: Oh, that's nice, yeah.

EISENBERG: Yeah, that's true.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: OK. This is your last clue. Even the pigeons are dancing, kissing, going in circles, mounting 12 each other.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Garance.

DORE: Paris.

EISENBERG: (Laughter) That is Paris.

DORE: That's them, mounting each other.

(LAUGHTER)

DORE: Yeah, that's the clue.

EISENBERG: So would you say Paris is a sexier city than New York?

DORE: Yes.

EISENBERG: Yes? Why?

DORE: Yeah. French people...

EISENBERG: ...Are just about love.

DORE: They - yeah - they're - I don't know. They have that thing. They're very relaxed about that.

EISENBERG: Art Chung, Jonathan Coulton, did you want to chime in?

JONATHAN COULTON: Nope.

(LAUGHTER)

ART CHUNG: I love France.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Art Chung, how did Garance Dore do?

CHUNG: She did fantastique. And we're going to give you an ASK ME ANOTHER Rubik's Cube. Congratulations.

(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)

DORE: Thank you.

EISENBERG: You should go online and read and listen to everything Garance has to offer. She is online at - guess what - garancedore.com. And her podcast and web series is "Pardon My French." Let's hear it one more time for Garance Dore.

(APPLAUSE)

DORE: Thank you.