Interview

KLEIN: We both are grandparents. Tell me how it feels for you, having grandkids.

KARAN: I have seven of them. And there’s something about the things I wasn’t able to do with my own daughter that I’m able to relive with my grandchildren. Do you know what I mean?

KLEIN: Yes, that’s brilliant. Why are we such good traveling companions?

KARAN: We both love the visual. We both exist on the same sort of principles. You’re naughty, like I am, and adventurous and simple, like I am. I’m an earthy girl—earth mama. But I didn’t realize what an earth mama you were.

KLEIN: As soon as we landed in Ethiopia, you had 40 children around you, and I was thrilled because all I wanted to do was find the best-looking guy or girl, take them aside, and photograph them!

KARAN: I was so jealous! All I wanted to do was take their Polaroids and give them to them. That was my whole MO. Then I come home, and I don’t have any pictures, and you have a lot of them. I’m standing there going, “Look how Calvin sees this!” Your eye is so f-ing sharp. This is where we show our differences. You are more minimal and more of a purist, which I appreciate and am humbled by. And I’m more of an eclectic mess.

KLEIN: It’s the human thing. You often have a lot of people around you—you love people, and they sense it. They were running to you; they weren’t running to me. I came to Africa to do what I wanted to do, and you were saving every tribe.

KARAN: The funny part was how we didn’t want to go home. We were just like, “Okay, where should we go next? We need a next place!” If I could say what my dream would be, it would be to just keep going and not have to go home . . . We could just be able to truly experience. When else are you ever going to get to do it? We ain’t getting any younger . . .

KLEIN: I’m just waiting for you. I mean it. I’m ready.

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