My name is Sophie Fontanel, I am a fashion critic.
I am also a writer.
I am also an influencer.
It's all a jumble.
I hardly recognize myself in these words, but they define me.
I was born in Paris, I know Paris by heart, I know all the streets;
but still, I feel completely international and not very Parisian.
This is a hotel from 1920.
We are right in front of the Tuileries garden.
I would never have dreamed of living there.
It's small, but still, I would never have dreamed of living here.
In fact, seven years ago there was a loss in my family,
followed by a need to move, I closed my eyes and said to myself :
"What would I dream of?
I would dream of overlooking a huge garden.
Which one?
The Tuileries!"
I went on seloger.com, and I said :
View
I found this flat under the roof, which nobody wanted
because it has only one room, even if it is very big.
It is several maid's rooms that make up a single room.
What I liked is that it's a flat, if you open the windows,
it's quite high, we are completely in the middle of the birds.
It's up in the air.
And I wanted the whole flat to be airy.
It has to be very soft.
In fact, I love country houses.
I love houses with flowers.
And at the same time, I don't like what's corny,
as they say.
I had been longing for a house like that,
as if it were in nature, in the city.
Here we are in what is normally my office, but it is also
- that shows all my relationship to work - the dining room.
I wanted a huge table to host a lot of people.
And in fact, I love that my office doesn't look like an office.
I write all day long, so I need this universe to be pure.
I must not be cluttered, I must be free.
I bought this tablecloth at the La Capte market in Hyères,
it costs absolutely nothing.
Vases are perhaps the only thing on this table that are valuable.
They come from Astier de Villatte.
When I was young, I understood that when you didn't have money,
- because I was really broke - it was interesting to save
money and buy the pair.
This is India Mahdavi for Monoprix, the small tray.
And I know people, if you tell them it's from Monoprix,
they will never buy it.
This tray is lovely, I will keep it for years.
I change these all the time.
People draw me.
The girl who thinks she's Patrick Bruel.
Because of Instagram, they say I inspire them.
They regularly send me drawings they do.
I think it's great.
I don't want it to be the crazy narcissist who thinks she's so adored...
That's not it, it's just that it touches me a lot.
It is beautiful.
This, my grandfather made it.
I have very, very little family stuff.
I keep it preciously.
One day, I will restore it.
That's where I put my make-up on in the morning, in the daylight.
What I like about this spot is that it's like a little boudoir.
It's a very ladylike place, very cosy.
This sofa has been completely destroyed by the neighbour's cat,
extraordinary formula, so it will be completely redone.
When I arrived, the bookcase was like this.
I had a lot of books.
I don't keep things, I don't want to clutter up.
There are books there, I know I'm going to give away and so on.
I have always loved to give.
Because I come from a family where, whether it's a candleholder,
a small container, clothes, if I said to my aunt, for example:
"Oh, it's beautiful",
when I left, she would say, "Here you go, take it".
In fact, I'm used to things being given.
And I give them away.
I discovered fashion at a very young age because my family didn't have a lot of money,
and so we made our clothes.
We used to go to shops, when there was Issey Miyake,
and we would look.
We'd go there several times, we'd measure things.
And afterwards we would go to the Saint-Pierre market, and my mother would make me clothes.
I immediately saw what sewing was all about,
and especially how important it was in life.
Because for us, it took a long time to do all this.
Then I worked in journalism, I started as a young journalist.
And I saw the two girls next to me, they were in charge of the fashion shows.
In the 1980s, not many people went to the fashion shows.
They had a much more fun life than I did,
so I thought, "Maybe one day I could go to a fashion show",
and that's what happened.
I went to a Martine Sitbon fashion show.
I arrived and saw Martine Sitbon and her husband Marc Ascoli,
with whom she works.
I saw this world; and that day, I became addicted to fashion.
I think it's a safe world.
And it's not hysterical like people think, even if there is a show,
It's very tense.
Everyone works with an aesthetic interest.
I loved it.
I said to myself, "I want to live there." And I couldn't be a model,
I didn't have the looks of a model, so I chose another branch of the profession.
I think my style is a mix of a completely teenage thing,
which also corresponds to today's teenage girls,
fluo kids - and also because I'm actually 58 years old -
of the great culture of fashion, and of my great culture in general,
no doubt, although there are more educated people than me.
In fact, I'm a bit of Monica Vitti, I'm a bit of Greta Garbo,
I am a bit of (Kay Renz) because there is also an androgynous side.
I'm a bit of Mick Jagger, I think.
There's a mix, and I think for me, fashion and style
is a whole accumulation of things that we keep,
that we reject, of change.
And I don't believe in intemporal style at all.
I think that everything is constantly moving, and that's the great thing about fashion.
What I like about this living room is that it contains old layers of my personality.
This table dates back to when I had only a tiny room,
and I had chosen this huge table.
And we all sat around it on the floor to eat.
There were no chairs, there was nothing, no cushions, nothing.
The sofa that is here is not a sofa, it is a single bed.
I'd rather have a small single bed, first of all I think it's nice
so that people can sleep over and have big pillows.
And the fabric too dates back from when I had no money.
We went to the Marché Saint-Pierre with my mother.
Although she was very old, she sewed all this for me.
She ruined her hands, she told me what I had asked her to do was impossible
because she had no strength left.
I will never part with it.
From time to time, people come and say :
"Couldn't you get a better couch?"
And I feel like biting them,
because this sofa is my soul.
These are armchairs that my grandfather made.
He was a cabinetmaker, a very modest man, but he loved Finnish furniture.
This is from an aunt who got rich and bought this piece of furniture
which is signed by some very, very good brand.
This is something of value.
But for me, whether things have value or not,
all that matters is whether it matters to me.
I like this piece of furniture because it reminds me of my aunt,
not because I could probably sell it for a bit of money.
I love that.
These are from Instagram meetings.
FaĂŻenceries George, it's called.
It's all painted on it: landscapes, sea or mountains.
It's full of childhood, I love it.
Here is my bedroom.
There is a mirror here.
That's why it's very bare, so it looks nice when you take pictures.
And every day I photograph my look.
Otherwise, in terms of decoration, this is the first piece of furniture
I bought with my first paycheck.
I was 22 years old.
All these are second-hand things I found.
My grandmother did that.
But these are really bits and pieces.
And here, the story of the bed is really ...
It's silly to say it like that,
but it's really the story of my life because these are beautiful sheets.
These are sheets from a brand called Porthault.
It's incredibly expensive.
Every time I think it's crazy.
And so I have only been able to buy three sets in my whole life.
But I became obsessed with buying them.
Because when I was a child,
my parents' friends were much richer than my parents,
and they had Porthault sheets.
For me it was better than having a boat, better than having a house.
I tried to make this dressing-room a nice place.
These are Saint Laurent Rive Gauche blouses.
It's one of the few things I collect.
All the jumpers that put me in a good mood are there.
These jeans, of course, I've got a lot of them.
When I can't put them away anymore, when there are like 10 of them,
I take everything out and give half of it away.
I have bargain hunted about 70% of the things.
It's crazy.
This is my most precious item at the moment.
It's silk twill.
It is lined entirely with silk.
It's very, very, very nicely done.
These are unbranded clothes, probably made by a seamstress
in the 60s and 70s.
I love this piece of clothing, if I wanted to find it today,
in a shop, I'd have to pay a fortune.
When I post this dressing room on Instagram, everyone says:
"We thought you had a lot more".
There are some elsewhere.
But it's true that in the end, I don't really pile things up that much.
I think that clothes have to be passed on,
when I've worn them and that a lot of people want them,
it's nice to give things away to someone who badly wants them.
I think it's a mistake to think that an essential
lasts 30 years, because you can get tired of essentials too,
or your personality changes.
I didn't use to wear colours.
I was dressed in black for years.
Now I wear colourful clothes.