Kim Jones puts Fendi on English time<

Paris Match. Punks before their time, say you about Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group, this modernist artistic movement of the beginning of the 20th century. He inspired your first haute couture collection for Fendi… Kim Jones. I love them. When I was a teenager, my parents had a country house a stone's throw from Virginia Woolf's, Charleston Farmhouse. A farm where, with her, her lover, the poetess Vita Sackville-West, and her painter sister, Vanessa Bell, the fine flower of artists and intellectuals of English romanticism led a life of bohemianism and collective creativity. Fiercely opposed to normality, they flirted with each other. Some were homosexual, frequented the suffragettes. The Bloomsbury Group was a particularly innovative artistic movement in prudish and Victorian Britain. Their abundance of ideas and their avant-garde personalities fascinated me.

It was to the Englishman Charles Frederick Worth that France owes its first fashion house, in 1858. You too are British. It's your turn to write the story of Fendi, an Italian brand owned by Frenchman Bernard Arnault… I've lived all over the world. Nothing would be tighter than not sharing between our countries. But I would have preferred England to remain European. I'm happy to be half Danish!

Why do you think the talents of the Crown shine so much at the head of French luxury? Between us, solidarity is not an empty word. [Laughs.] It comes, in my opinion, from our very spontaneous way of thinking and working. The British education system promotes autonomy. Perhaps it allows us to be more independent, unlike French schooling, which is more theoretical and a little less free. The worst thing for me is to hear myself say no! Either way, I do as I see fit. But you have the brilliant Olivier Rousteing, who brings youth and energy to Balmain…

What memories do you have of your childhood in Africa? What did she teach you? I have to go back there often! I remember the long wild afternoons. I grabbed everything I could. I hunted poisonous lizards and snakes. I am lucky to have seen elephants pass by our camp. Africa showed me how vast and beautiful the world is. My father, a hydrogeologist, traveled the world with his wife and children. I want to discover foreign countries and spend my time looking around.

How did you appropriate Fendi, this house over which Karl Lagerfeld reigned for fifty-four years, with the five daughters of the founding couple? I, who no longer have my parents, have found a clan. Maintaining the soul of this family is a matter of respect. Fendi is the story of five strong and pioneering women. Delfina, Silvia's daughter, belongs to the next generation. She joined us to create the jewelry. The house is the signature; the designer, the way to write it.

It's a heavy responsibility to be artistic director of two such major luxury brands, Dior Homme and Fendi, whose turnover is estimated at 1.5 billion euros in 2019. Others have cracked. John Galliano, Lee Alexander McQueen… I stopped stressing about my job a long time ago. You just have to have your head on your shoulders and adjust it well! Alexander was like a big brother to me; but, at this point in his life, it was difficult to help him. It's a very sad story. I loved it. What John is doing today at Margiela's is wonderful. You have to manage the trials as they arise, not keep them to yourself. If you don't talk about it, you're screwed. I have been through difficult times in my life, but this allows me to be strong in the face of difficulties. My mother died when I was 17. I lost my father last year.

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You are of a discrete nature and, nevertheless, in full light. Your friends are famous: Kanye West, with whom you worked, Kim Kardashian, David Beckham, Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss… My fame is not stressful. I'm not being stalked by the paparazzi! People sometimes stop me in the street, I like to chat with them. Younger people ask me how I started. At their age, my friends and I did not dream of becoming film actors, but fashion designers. My relatives are famous, but I have babysat school buddies from Sussex, and my best friend is a teacher. I love Kate Moss' peals of laughter. We have fun like kids, both of us. I spent Christmas with her. I can call her at any time, she will always be there for me. I asked her to be a consultant for Fendi accessories. She has fashion in her blood!

The dress worn by her daughter, Lila Grace, evokes the river in which Virginia Woolf drowned. It is made of 180,000 Murano glass beads! What is the meaning of such luxury, in the midst of a health crisis? People look to the bright spots rather than the dark. I maintain the optimism, many jobs will depend on it at the end of this crisis.

Animal welfare is at the heart of societal debates and is the subject of new decrees. Is it possible to keep Fendi, historically a fur house, in its time while continuing to exploit live animals? We research and reflect, we study recycling. I am in close collaboration with a large number of animal protection groups that work to save endangered species. North American mink that have been released from fur farms in Europe, sometimes by activists or accidentally, and swim up streams are a blight on biodiversity. If we could catch them alive, remove them from the ecosystem, we would help reproduce the other small wild mammals they are decimating, such as the critically endangered European mink. I've only been at Fendi for a few weeks, give me some time to move forward on these issues.

If fashion has the power to impose an image, can it influence our world? I don't like to use fashion for political ends, but to create a joie de vivre. Fashion makes people feel good. She has this power.

You are a great collector of works of art and books. In fact, I always wanted to be a painter, I still paint. I like to see the beauty around me, it inspires me. My favorite paintings hang where I am most often at home. I can watch them all the time. My collection is not thematic. I am lucky to have a Magritte, a "Lorette" by Matisse which I inherited from a relative, rare books by Virginia Woolf, a set of figurines from "The Planet of the Apes", objects from the queer icon Leigh Bowery. And I'm very proud of my collection of 20th century English fashion, including the first piece of clothing handmade by Vivienne Westwood for her Sex boutique in London.

Your first "fashion" love at first sight? A t-shirt printed with a lion, which had to be washed every night so that I could wear it the next day. I never left him. It's almost in tatters, I keep it carefully in a box. This is the first memory that reminds me of when I fell madly in love with clothing.