Opening image: Alexandre Tabaste
Words Leelou Reboh
Cecilia Bönström, former Creative Director of Zadig&Voltaire, visited Istituto Marangoni London on the 15th of May to reflect on her 20-year career designing for the French label.
Last week, I had the pleasure to interview Cecilia Bönström, former Creative Director at Zadig&Voltaire, and attend her talk at Istituto Marangoni London. Zadig&Voltaire was the It-brand of my teens — I remember in admiration the most stylish girls at school always seemed to be wearing the signature silk camisoles and carry the iconic clutch adorned by the label’s emblematic angel wings- so meeting Bönström felt like getting a VIP seat at the cool girls’ table. Stepping into the tiny office space my questions in hand, trying not to act too much like a fan girl, I was stunned by the youthful energy of the Scandinavian model-turned-designer. The 53-year old is as effortlessly chic as the brand for which she designed for two decades of her career. Bönström is the embodiment of the Zadig woman she forged and fondly reminisces about as ‘free, her head filled with music’. Loyal to the dress code she pioneered, she’s wearing black skinny jeans, a white t‑shirt, a slightly oversized blazer, and fringed heeled booties — and she looks like she’s left from her boyfriend’s place in a hurry to make it on time for her talk on Fashion Street. Her hair is messy, like a true French girl too cool to care, and her welcoming demeanour makes me forget about my initial apprehension.

If Bönström can now confidently talk about her career and the impressive work she’s accomplished at the helm of Zadig&Voltaire, she reminds me that it didn’t happen in a day. Joining the label in 2003 as an assistant without having a fashion school education, and leaving behind her successful modelling career in search of more challenging endeavours, it only took Bönström three years before she was appointed as Head of Design. ‘It took me almost ten more years just to study the brand’s history, and to understand the past and its roots to honour it,’ she explains. ‘Only then did I put my own personal style in it’. The designer left the label three months ago, but her creativity will forever be imprinted within its identity. Wrinkly leather trousers, baggy t‑shirts that look like they have been borrowed from a boyfriend after a long night, and most importantly Le Cecilia bag, these are some of the elements one will find in a Zadig&Voltaire store that are quintessentially ‘Cecilia Bönström’, and her personal emprunte — as she likes to describe it in French — on the brand. Her legacy is one of fearlessness, and a touch of classic Scandinavian structure. By adding in more masculine elements to the Zadig&Voltaire identity, like pairing flowery dresses with chunky cargo boots or sharpening the tailoring of the blazers, Bönström built upon the vision of the brand founder Thierry Gillier — one of ‘a beautiful woman, non-sophisticated, and nonchalant chic’ — to create her own of a powerful and independent rock star bewildering those whom she encounters in her freedom.

The achievement she is the proudest of, however, isn’t the unmistakeable Zadig&Voltaire dégaine she so carefully crafted, but the relationships the designer has cultivated with the members of her team over the years. ‘I’ve actually convinced the team to trust and believe in me, even if I didn’t come from a fashion school background’, she says, ‘I came in to learn and be an assistant, and I succeeded in imposing my taste and my vision.’ As creative designer, Bönström hasn’t only sought trust with those she worked with, but also with the Zadig&Voltaire customers. Although the business aspect of fashion is glossed over more often than not, there is more to being a designer than creativity today. Clothes must sell for a label to thrive, and Bönström reminded the students of the Istituto Marangoni London of it. ‘You need to create something that is desirable and that looks good on a hanger,’ she insists, a more business-inclined mentality that the designer has applied to every step of her journey at Zadig&Voltaire. ‘My obsession was never to design for pleasure, but for real life, and the real women that I see walking in the street,’ she explains.
To satisfy her clientele and stand out from her competitors, Bönström understood that she needed more than beautiful designs. People also bought into what she stood for as the Creative Director of a brand. As consumers grow more conscious of their purchasing habits, it was important for Zadig&Voltaire to take its own stand as an important fashion player, a step towards sustainability spearheaded by Bönström during her time at the company. The secret to why Zadig&Voltaire is capable of conducting 80% of its operations sustainably today is the result of a long collaboration process between the company and its production chain. ‘It’s not only up to me as a designer. Our suppliers need to industrially be capable to change their production habits, use less chemicals, have better conditions for their employees,’ she points out. A greener approach she encourages the designers of tomorrow to adopt as soon as they start their own companies, as it will always be easier to start the right way than trying to do damage control once the machine is ready and running. ‘It’s important to be honest with yourself first and not take on more than you are capable off,’ Bönström stresses. ‘I think young designers today are coming into this profession with a lot more set out in terms of sustainability, so they can only do better than what I did,’ she continues.

Bönström has turned the page on fashion design in the meantime, but it doesn’t mean she is ready to retire fully from the industry just yet. Now city-hopping to visit some of the top-ranked fashion schools in the world, she hopes to inspire students and provide them with some guidance to navigate the treacherous industry they are about to enter. If she has one advice for the young designers striving to one day open their own label, it is to stay focused and to avoid comparison. ‘Trust your instinct, and don’t look at what other people are doing,’ she says, ‘that is really the key, because there are so many ways you can express yourself creatively.’ After all, fashion remains a life-long dream for many that should bring them joy and fulfilment, and allow for their creativity to flourish above all else.

Many thanks to Cecilia Bönström for her time and insights on the industry, and to WhiteHair.Co for the invitation! Follow Istituto Marangoni on Instagram @istitutomarangoni_london to stay up to date on the latest talks organised by the university.