Designer INTERVIEW

Style icon carolyne roehm

Originally printed in Compass, December 19, 2018.

In 1997 American fashion designer Carolyne Roehm started a new chapter in her life — that of an author. With her first book, “A Passion For Flowers,” Roehm looked beyond the expected and invited readers into a new aspect of the taste and polish she cultivates in all aspects of her life. Now in her new book, “Design & Style: A Constant Thread” Roehm looks back on that life and traces the sources of her intense desire to create, and what has kept her artistry sustained, even through instability of unexpected change.  

Alexander Wilburn: This is your 13th book in about 20 years. Looking back do you see your books as instruction or aspirational? Or do you even see a difference between the two?

Carolyne Roehm: I don’t see a difference. When I’d done my books in the past they were on subjects that I loved and knew about. And when you get older you naturally start turning into a teacher, so I hope that they have been informative, but I do hear from readers as I tour around that they find certain aspects of my life or my work aspirational. For me, those two aspects work well together.

AW: Have you been touring a lot for this book?

CR: I have been. The designer who died this year, Mario Buatta, was such a fabulous man, but he only did one book, and not at a young age. He traveled and flogged that book all over America. Well, this isn’t quite like that, but it’s enough for me. It’s been eight cities this year, but I’ll have nine coming up in February. 

AW: You’ve been open about the mentors in your life, and now as an author, you’re a bit of mentor. What’s some good piece of guidance that you’ve received?

CR: I’ll never forget, a million years ago, I was on a bunch of charity boards in New York City, plus I had a full-time business, obviously doing several collections a year, and I was having lunch with Barbara Walters one day. She said, “You know Carolyne, you can’t do it all.” When you’re young you think, yes I can! Yes I can! But she was right.

AW: Your books are really about finding space for yourself. Away from screens, working with something tactile, whether it’s flowers or decorating a room… For you, you must be so busy, where’s your quiet space?

CR: It’s hard to find time to be creative and think. I have a studio in Sharon and there’s a part of me that wants to put up a sign that says “Meditating, Do Not Disturb” even though I’m not. Finding that quiet time… I haven’t been successful at that yet. I’m hoping one day I shall be, because there are so many things I want to learn and study, and you can’t do it if you’re always on the search for the latest and the greatest. It’s hard to disconnect.

AW: A really lovely moment from the book is when you write about trying on your first Yves Saint Laurent dress. Can you speak to the transformative nature of clothes?

CR: It is transformative. The reason I made rather conservative clothes was I wasn’t interested in being edgy. I wanted women to feel good about themselves. Feeling good was not just putting your chin up and striding into a room. It was someone who could feel sexy, who could feel pretty, who could be a coquette. The clothing I made was expensive and I didn’t want it to become obsolete in a season. I respect women too much. That wasn’t the philosophy of many in design. The press is more interested in what’s new. But that wasn’t who I was. It comes back to one of the things I talked about in my book, and that’s staying power and being classic. Classicism represents to me the capability of enduring. One of the nice things that’s come out of “A Constant Thread” is hearing women say they would still wear the designs today. I was never really thinking of a specific woman I was designing or writing for, I just never assumed that I was that different from the other women in my same milieu of life. And of course, when you get to the emotions and heartache, I’m not that different from any woman any place.

This interview has been edited and condensed.