Lunch with Carol Lim and Humberto Leon

FF

I’ve heard some good stories about when you two first met, can you tell me a little bit about it?
CL

Oh yes, Humberto had a class with my housemate and she brought him to the house once. She was getting ready to go out just as I was getting ready to go to bed and they said “Oh, just put some heels on and come out with us…” And that was the beginning of a 22-year friendship.
FF

Wow, and it all started with a shop, so it wasn't so much about being designers but being entrepreneurs, and retailers. How did the idea for OC come about?
HL

We both worked in fashion at a corporate level, myself for Burberry and Carol for Bally in Switzerland, and we decided to go on vacation together because it had been a long time since either of us had taken any time off. We decided to go to Hong Kong and visit the very same friend that had introduced us. She was like “Oh you should meet all my designer friends” so we did and we thought “Hey, wouldn’t it be cool to open a store with all these young designers”. We had a lot of other designer friends in NY and we envisioned a sort of friendly competition between NY and these guest countries. Carol and I love to travel and we had been wondering how we could find a job where we could travel and discover new things and shop at the same time. So we came up with the idea of Opening Ceremony, where every year we travel to a new country and feature new designers “against” American designers. I don’t know any other entity that has this kind of fun competition? It’s a constant celebration.
FF

So did the Opening Ceremony clothing line come out right away?
HL

We started with 10 pieces and it slowly evolved into what it is today.

FF

How did you start collaborating with other people, such as it-girls or muse Chloe Sevigny?
HL

Early on there was this really exciting buzz, you know, get it before it’s gone, and a lot of people started to come by and shop at the store. It was as though everyone had found their secret spot. People like Kirsten Dunst, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jessica Alba, Claire Danes and Chloe Sevigny all came by because a friend had told them about it. Erykah Badu was probably the very first. It just became everyone's secret spot and so celebrities started to come by and all these partnerships happened naturally. It was like the beginning of a good friendship.
FF

I read a very nice letter that Jessica Alba sent for your birthday, I love your blog, it's very personal and direct.
HL

We use the runway shows to tell a very personal story, it's the only way we really know how to work.
FF

And then the next break was Kenzo, how does it feel to work for such an amazing brand?
CL

It's amazing to be part of the history of the brand. We are Kenzo fans and we know the importance of what he brought to the fashion world. When we celebrated our ten year anniversary with OC we wanted to work on a new project, something exciting. There are actually a lot of similarities between us and Kenzo, who also started with a store. We tried to approach it by thinking “What would Kenzo do?” – thinking of the brand’s energy, colours and fun. And so we decided to bring it back to that.
FF

How do you work together on a collection?
HL

The whole thing is a conversation so we kind of split up and work on different projects and then it's all about this conversation between two people. That’s how we always approach design.

I think there’s nothing worse than just being content, being “ok” with everything. We want feel nervous and scared. It’s a good thing.

FF

I think that working as a couple is the best. What was it like meeting Kenzo?
HL

It was so exciting when we first started. We wrote him a letter saying how honoured we were to take over the Kenzo house and he replied with a really sweet note saying that he saw our first show and our work at Opening Ceremony and that he felt we had the right energy and were the right people for this job. He was excited to see our work and we have since become friends. He's been really supportive actually and I think that is rare. I think that in his heart, the brand is something that he is really passionate about and he loves that what we've done still has the right energy. He even says that he doesn't feel that he could do it the way we're doing it now and is so excited that we've pushed so far. He feels that we know the brand very well.
FF

And I really love the work you did on the campaigns in collaboration with Toilet Paper, how did that all come about?
HL

Well, we were fans of Toilet Paper very early on, during the magazine days. We fell in love with the magazine first and at that point they had never work on a campaign before and we always like using different platforms to do totally different things. We're two people with a lot of visibility in fashion, we have the opportunity to create something totally new, fresh and unexpected.
FF

Besides fashion, what do you like to do? When you're free and you've got time for yourself?
CL

We love music, we love films and art, we love shopping and eating… We're culturally obsessed. We love to work with incredible people and have had the opportunity to work with everyone from MIA, The XX, Disclosure and Air on our fashion shows. We like to find the very best and work with people that we really admire. It's unconventional and a lot of people don't realise that it's about the entire experience for us. It's important for us to create things that are memorable. I want to be able to look back and reflect.
FF

And when you look back, do you think you would do it the same, all over again?
HL

Yes, we have a test where we look into the future saying “What is this all going to look like when we look back in 20 years from now?” We are so proud, I think there's nothing worse than just being content, being “ok” with everything. We want feel nervous and scared. It’s a good thing.
FF

What are your plans for the future?
HL

We just want to keep working, even just coming here to Milan was our first step. We're just getting started.
FF

What about the collection that you're going to present in September?
HL

Carol and I get back to the roots of travelling, I feel that we haven't explored this idea in a while. We're super excited about the idea of travelling and all the function and functionalities you need. We're two people that approach things in a very human way, sometimes when you talk about fashion it's all about the glamour but I think we like to live our lives and our work and still think about where we exist today. We're people.

FF

About the kids, how did having two kids change your lives?
HL

In many ways it's completely life-changing and also, a whole world opens in front of you. It made us more focused, very productive and we have almost completely swapped our social activities for kid’s activities but it’s a funny thing, like rediscovering our childhoods. We're almost 40 but growing younger because we have to live our lives.
FF

What’s New York like for the kids?
HL

We just moved to Brooklyn and it's amazing, it's just a great city to grow up in. We grew up in LA so we know what that experience is like, but the beauty of NY is that there are so many adventures to be had outdoors. I remember taking my daughter to the Jeff Koons exhibition and things like that, there is so much interaction, there is a lot of choice. And unlike LA, you don't have to jump in a car every time you need to go somewhere.
FF

What is your fondest memory about LA?
CL

We love it, we go as often as we can.
FF

How do you think it affected your way of working?
HL

Well we grew up in the suburbs and I think anyone who grows up in the suburbs will always have this fantasy about what city life is like, so Carol and I always try to dream with that in mind. You can only really dream about city life when you’re a suburban kid.