Interview

By the time her first runway show (Sunday evening), Scandinavian-born, New York-based designer Elise Øverland is tired of leather-on-leather. But she isn't tired of Mexican fighting masks, "erotic yoga," or Rachel Feinstein on her doorstop, a bottle of tequila in hand.


FABIOLA BERACASA: How are you?  I'm sure this is complete madness for you.  I'm catching you in the middle of fashion week which is a disaster

ELISE ØVERLAND: I do acupuncture every three days. I actually just came from it. And Kundalini yoga. It's like getting free drugs.

BERACASA: I've read about it—it's like meditating.

ØVERLAND:  It's totally addictive—it's like sexual yoga.

BERACASA:  Sexual yoga? So you feel centered right now?

ØVERLAND: Yeah.

BERACASA: Tell me the story behind you becoming a fashion designer

ØVERLAND: I started with music, because I've always been so passionate for music. I started dressing musicians for the stage. So it had nothing to do with fashion-it was just one outfit for one rock star, onstage. I did that for a while and then I outgrew it.

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Fabiola with Beth Stern. All photos by Jason Beckman

Super Saturday is the all-day designer shopping event in Watermill, New York, where all the profits go to charity. There was lots of talk about designers' favorite causes, chief among them ovarian cancer—and there was more. Shoshanna Gruss dished with Fabiola Beracasa about what body grooming standards for the event; Blake Lively had a Benjamin Button moment; and InStyle fashion director Hal Rubenstein crossed his fingers for Angelina Jolie on the cover.


FABIOLA BERACASA: Here's the fabulous Rachel Zoe. I always use the words "I Die!" But now I have to say, "In the words of Rachel Zoe." What are you doing for Super Saturday?

RACHEL ZOE: I have my booth here, where all the designers contributed merchandise.  We're raising a ton of money. I want to make even more than I did last year. Not me, but this is just one of the most important days of the year to me. We've got to raise money; we've got to beat ovarian cancer. We're still pretty far from it—so it's very important.  Must come, must shop, must do, must bring my family and must get a beverage.

FB: What designers are you looking at in the fall, that you are really loving?

RZ: Oooh, I'm obsessed with Balmain obviously. Obsessed with everything Alber does for Lanvin, Marc for Vuitton. Some are predictable, some not so predictable, love Phillip Lim, loving Alexander Wang. Um, yeah, I love it all.

FB: Thank you!


FB: So you have a movie coming out. Tell me about it

BLAKE LIVELY: It's called The Private Lives of Pippa Lee and it comes out October 23. I play a young Robin Wright Penn, Alan Arkin plays the husband.  It's an amazing, amazing cast: Julianne Moore, Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Maria Bello, Monica Belluci...

FB: What's it like preparing for that?  You're such a beautiful, pretty, young woman-don't you just want to enjoy your summer?

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Christy Turlington is back, on the August cover of Vogue and shooting a documentary about the risks of bearing a child in developing countries. It's the culmination of years of work, often with the maternity-minded chartie CARE. At an event for CARE at the Temperley store in East Hampton, Fabiola Beracasa asks Turlington about her charity work, and sneaks in some questions about George Michael, Herb Ritts, and the "Freedom" of being a supermodel in 1990.


FABIOLA BERACASA:  How did you become involved in Care? And how did it come together for you?

CHRISTY TURLINGTON: I have been working with Care since about 2005. I was pregnant with my son and they asked me to get involved in sort of an ambassadorship capacity. So I took the trip—I was pregnant at the time—to El Salvador, which is where my mom is from. It was work that I had been doing a little bit before, but I wanted to have a relationship that I could build on. Care was very open and receptive to that. That relationship has completely changed my life in the sense that now I am their advocate for maternal health and I have gone back to Columbia to get my MPH [Master's in Public Health], so those issues about women and empowerment and children and maternal health are very much the focus of my life now.

FB: And then what's the relationship to fashion house Temperley?

CT: I have known Alice for the last couple of years now. I have come her shows and she always offered her help. She supports Care because I support Care, and because this store was coming out here and I spend the summer out here it was the first opportunity for us to finally do something together.

FB: So your focus is on maternal health, but CARE also focuses on micro-finance and small business...

CT: It's all kind of connected. I wanted to focus on maternal health  because I believe that when a mother is pregnant, it's often times the first time that who she is and her well-being is put on the map. It's the first time she may ever see a doctor—or even a nurse, for that matter. Micro-finance can help a mother take care of her children and allow those children to go to school, so it's all connected.

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When we first caught wind of Tavi Williams' blog, Style Rookie, we couldn't believe it. A twelve year old girl with a signature haircut (not quite a Wintour bob, yet), a Comme des Garcons for H&M rap, a precocious attitude and an interest in mythology, and unreleased Rodarte leggings—it sounded like the work of stage parents. We got Tavi on the phone to test our theories, and we put her to the test of the one vintage shopper who could match her, Fabiola Beracasa. What she found was a remarkably poised young girl—one who's ready to grow up, who isn't stuck on fashion, and who has fostered an international network of style rookies.


FABIOLA BERACASA: Hi, Tavi How are you? It's Fabiola.

TAVI WILLIAMS: I'm good. How are you?

FB: I'm good, thank you. What time did you get home from school today?

TW: Like 4:45, but then, I had to wait for my mom to get home because I was locked out.

FB: Oh, oh that's never good. So, first of all, I just wanna um, how old are you again?

TW: Twelve.

FB: When will you be thirteen?

TW: Uh, late April. I'm ready to outgrow it.

FB: Outgrow twelve?

TW: Yeah just ‘cause I've been kind of like, a twelve year old blogger for a long time. Once I'm thirteen I'll just be an annoying teenager and not like a cute little girl.

FB: Do you have an outfit picked for your thirteenth birthday?

TW: That's a little too far ahead. I think I'll just wear whatever fits my mood, which will hopefully be happy.

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