Fabien Constant Talks Carine Roitfeld, Mademoiselle C

Mademoiselle C stars Carine Roitfeld, the former French Vogue editrix who ran the magazine for 10 years, building a reputation as one of fashion’s most influential movers. The film chronicles Carine’s launch of her new magazine, CR Fashion Book, and gives a rare and fascinating glimpse at the inner workings of Roitfeld’s professional and personal life. The camera follow Carine as she moves to New York, starts a new business and prepares to become a grandmother.  It also shows her inner circle of friends including Donatella Versace, Tom Ford, Karl Lagerfeld, Mario Testino, Riccardo Tisci, Diane von Furstenberg, and Alber Elbaz. The film comes out Sept. 11, and premiered with a glitzy party last night in New York City, in the middle of Fashion Week New York.

We chatted with the film’s director, Fabien Constant, a fashion cinematographer with a long and reputable resume, who has worked with the likes of Karl Lagerfeld and Marc Jacobs (but never with Tom Ford, but more on that below), and he admitted that Carine is the best collaborator.

FashionFiles: How did you get involved with the project?

Fabien Constant: I knew Carine from French Vogue.  We’ve  worked other projects together and we had a lot of fun [working] together. She likes my attitude and she trusted me.  When she told me she is leaving French Vogue and wants to start her own magazine, I loved the idea. I jumped on the opportunity to work with her again.

FF: Tell us about the film’s inspirations and meaning? 

FC: The movie is about rebirth. It’s about the birth of a magazine, it’s about about Julia [Restoin Roitfeld] giving birth to Romy… It’s also a movie about the real Carine. She is exactly what you see on screen: the nicest, most approachable person. She gets involved, she gets inspired by people and doesn’t hesitate to ask your opinion on things. [But] this is the easy part of Carine. The difficult part is that she works a lot – all the time, really. So it’s physically demanding to work for her, to jump on planes, trains and cars with equipment and follow her.

FF: What did you want to convey with this movie?

FC: I wanted to show a story, a portrait of a woman. I wanted to covey who she really is. She is a true artist, even though in the film she doesn’t like to say she is an artist. She brings more beauty and different point of view of fashion.

FF: In the film Carine practices ballet in her home. Why was it important to include this part of her life ?

FC: It’s such a personal and private thing, but shows her hard work, the passion she has for dance that translates into the passion she has for art and fashion, which ultimately makes her a true artist.

FF: We also catch a glimpse of Karl Lagerfeld in the rare occasion of him interacting with children. He even pushes a stroller around! What was it like working with Karl Lagerfeld again?

FC: Karl is the nicest guys on earth. He is generous and warm, and a passionate godfather. Him and I have worked on many projects together and he trusts me, so working with him was quite easy.

FF: And what about Tom Ford? 

FC: Tom Ford was a different story. He hates cameras and is a control freak. It took a very long discussion for him to accept me on set. The day we shot the fairy tale story, I was on set and Carine was there and after a few moments he realized that Carine trusts me. But what made the difference is when I told him how I envisioned his fairy tale fashion story, and he agreed.