Florence Grellier is the designer who describes her style as ‘demi-basic, renaissance daddy’s girl’
This is A HOT MINUTE WITH, a quick-fire interview series championing all the rising talent catapulting into fashion, art and music’s fickle stratosphere. From pinch-me moments to bad dates and even worse chat-up lines, think of it as an overindulgent conversation – like the ones you have in sticky club toilets at 4.A.M. Except these guests don’t regret the overshare…
From a BTEC in fashion to Central Saint Martins and beyond, Florence Grellier reflects on her journey as we talk all things full-of-food bellies, guilty pleasures and fashion misconceptions.
Courtesy of @pearl_whipkill
NAME FLORENCE GRELLIER / Pearl Whip Kill
AGE 26
LOCATION London, England
STAR SIGN Aquarius
THREE WORDS TO LIVE BY Mellifluous, iridescent and iconoclastic.
Briony Sturgis: Hey Florence, what are you up to this week?
Florence Grellier: Hello! This past week has been a bit of a blur - particularly of pinkness towards the end. I went a bit dizzy staring at many shades of pink. I’m putting together a small collection, but had a little side project to make the most OTT itty bitty dress with lots of bows and madness. Think Marie Antoinette wakes up circa 1969 and Austin Powers dresses her, only in her new life she’s a gorgeous six foot man.
BS: What or who would you say is your biggest inspiration?
FG: I think probably Baroness Elsa Von Freytag Loringhoven, if you don't know her you should! Recently some historians have suggested that Duchamp’s ‘urinal' was wrongly attributed to him and actually her brain child. She also wrote poetry - ‘coy flapper toy...I got lusting bananas’ - among many other fab things! She’s iconoclastic! And obviously she looked iconic too.
BS: What is your earliest childhood memory?
FG: I think I have a huge amount of merged memories that are most likely informed by photos. My Mum and Dad are both artists and the first five years or so of my life were spent running around naked in the garden and their studios. My sibling and I would entertain ourselves with sticks, paints and plants, and search for ‘Cat Weasel’s’ den in the woods behind our house (I only recently found out that Cat Weasel is a character from a ‘70s TV show, and in fact not a wizard that lived behind our home).
BS: Do you remember the moment that you knew being a designer was what you wanted to do?
FG: I think the first thing I remember falling in love with was shoes. I used to make papier-mache shoes with toilet rolls for the heels. I was in love with all of my mum’s shoes, and definitely any time she went out I took the opportunity to parade around. Both of my Grannys showed me how to sew/use a machine from very young. I made my sister a bikini when I was about ten but we didn’t have any stretchy fabric, just upholstery. Looking back, it looked a little more like a baby’s nappy with elasticated waist and leg holes.
BS: What was your journey like from school to studying at CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS to now?
FG: I did a BTEC in fashion at Stroud College, instead of A levels. It was pretty fantastic - they taught us all the initial skills, and I quickly got obsessed with pattern cutting. I relied a lot on those skills at uni. For my year in industry I worked for stylists instead of working for brands, which was much more up my street than being in a studio at that time. It was a thrilling environment, and I really enjoyed that spontaneity of putting together crazy looks last minute. I was lucky to work on some pretty cool shoots and meet some other great creatives. Since graduating in 2019, I continued working with GARETH WRIGHTON on his FASHION EAST collections as a pattern cutter and sampleist. My friend LENA MARIE ZÖCHMEISTER and I then joined forces, and worked for the likes of MIMI WADE, MAXIMILIAN and various great stylists. Lena and I worked really well together and started to get a steady flow of work as a cutting and sampling duo. It was around then that we started sharing the amazing studio in Seven Sisters that we still have today.
BS: What’s your biggest fashion faux pas?
FG: Oooh really nothing visual springs to mind, but I think an ‘I’m cooler than you’ attitude never looks good on anyone. P.S. A blue bowl/monk haircut is also to be avoided...
BS: Which trend or look do you wish would catch on?
FG: A full-of-food belly.
BS: What’s one thing that can be found in your handbag that might not be found in someone else’s?
FG: I either have tiny handbags with the bare necessities or a trash-filled backpack. Right now the oddest things in my bag are an old light bulb, sleep mist, and a cat collar. You never know when these things might come in handy. Also lots of tampons, always. If you don't need them for their intended purpose they make great fire starters, cat toys or excuses to leave a room.
BS: How do you imagine the future of fashion? What do you think the industry will look like in 10 years time?
FG: I would hope that it slows down. I think the rate that designers are expected to create new things is mad, and feeds into the rate that the customer feels they need to update their wardrobe.
BS: Three words to describe your style?
FG: Me and a friend were trying to think of this the other day. I think for me, we came up with ‘Demi-basic, renaissance daddy’s girl.’ I know that’s a bit more than three words - but it’ll have to do.
BS: Favourite piece you’ve ever designed?
FG: Ask me again tomorrow and it will probably be a different answer, but today I think I would say a look from my graduate collection with huge puffy sleeves and ostrich feathers in very small bunches, mainly around the pubic area, on a sheer, bias, boobles dress with porn-filled jewels framing the nips.
BS: Biggest pinch me moment?
FG: Seeing my custom dress for Anne Marie at the BRIT Awards last year on the TV. I was actually on a first date at the time, and he was very uninterested in my need to tune in. Needless to say there was no second date.
“Every person has moments where they’re just not able to create or think of something new. It’s normal to just feel a bit exhausted by it and need a break.”
BS: Do you think having a traditional fashion education is important? What advice would you give to would-be students when deciding whether to go to university or not?
FC: That’s a really tough one. I think for me being in education means that your main objective is to learn and grow, whereas trying to survive off of something whilst also purposefully learning can be exhausting. Then again, many people thrive in that way. To potential students, I would say reach out to people who are at or have recently been to the universities that you're interested in. Ask a lot of questions - from my point of view, the experience that’s advertised to you is definitely not what you’re going to get, and it might help you to have a bit more of a feel of what actually is going on.
BS: What do you think is the biggest misconception about CSM?
FG: As a young person intending to apply to CSM, I was under the impression that every student there possessed a constant abundance of creativity and innovation. This is absolutely not the case. Every person has moments where they’re just not able to create or think of something new. It’s normal to just feel a bit exhausted by it and need a break.
BS: What was the last shower thought you had?
FG: That maybe I should open a sandwich shop. I proceeded to mentally prepare seven menu options.
BS: Who would you love to see wearing Florence Grellier?
FG: LIZZO. Goddess.
BS: Any guilty pleasures?
FG: Ridiculously pointless and funny chick flicks.
BS: Finish this sentence. I can’t get enough of…
FG: MERMAID CHUNKY (look them up, best band ever).