Speaker 1: Hi everyone, I'm Rachel Zoe. When you're listening to Climbing
Speaker 1: in Heels for your weekly dose of glamour, inspiration and fun.
Speaker 1: I am so excited for this episode today because the
Speaker 1: brilliantly talented designer who is co creative director at the
Speaker 1: Helm of Oscar de Lorenta and Monsee is on the podcast.
Speaker 1: Fernando Garcia entered the fashion world after studying architecture and
Speaker 1: within six years went from intern to senior designer at
Speaker 1: Oscar Delarenta. His success with creating Monse with co founder
Speaker 1: Laura Kim seems to be just the tip of the
Speaker 1: iceberg of what is to come for this fashion genius.
Speaker 1: I am such a fan of Fernando and his work,
Speaker 1: and I'm so excited to share his story so far
Speaker 1: with all of you. So let's jump in with my
Speaker 1: very dear friend, my love, Fernando. So I probably should
Speaker 1: set this up for a second and basically tell you
Speaker 1: that you are the third ever male to grace the pod,
Speaker 1: and I feel like climbian.
Speaker 2: Hills against males, you know a lot. No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2: I'm actually kidding, you know. I love men.
Speaker 1: I like good men, great men, and I have been
Speaker 1: surrounded by many in my life, and you know, I
Speaker 1: started climbing in heels because in fact, apropos of that,
Speaker 1: I have actually been surrounded by more great men than
Speaker 1: great women in my life who have been supportive of
Speaker 1: me throughout my career, and climbi in heels is really
Speaker 1: just a way to celebrate and pay it forward to
Speaker 1: so many of the incredible women that I have in
Speaker 1: my life and men, and really talk about the insane
Speaker 1: journeys to get to actually the And you are very young.
Speaker 2: And you are at the top.
Speaker 1: I know you wouldn't say you're at the top, and
Speaker 1: every day you say, oh my god, I can't breathe.
Speaker 2: You have no idea what could happen?
Speaker 3: You know, the core of me still I feel blessed.
Speaker 2: But I would say to that that.
Speaker 1: I think part of what makes you so successful is
Speaker 1: not taking for granted what's actually happening to you in
Speaker 1: real time. Yeah, but I want to talk first about
Speaker 1: how you even got to be Fernando, because you were
Speaker 1: interning for someone that you are now at the helm
Speaker 1: of the brand of one of my favorite human beings,
Speaker 1: Oscar de la Rena, the King.
Speaker 3: You're like raising up to that moment to be completely transparent.
Speaker 3: That's why when when we met, I felt like we
Speaker 3: missed out on ten years of friendship before because I
Speaker 3: was right there with you in sentiment with all of
Speaker 3: the moments that you and Ascar created together.
Speaker 1: I really was I, which is so wild because you
Speaker 1: never said anything, You never said anything like what I was.
Speaker 3: I was a wide eyed intern. I was dell War's
Speaker 3: product to the max. And in terms of soaking everything
Speaker 3: in and accepting that this is the world of people
Speaker 3: that are trade blazers and what they do is how
Speaker 3: they function. Oscar and me met in two thousand and nine,
Speaker 3: and because I came from the Dominican Republic.
Speaker 2: They also where he's from.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the Rainiery family is the family that founded Puncha Khana.
Speaker 3: Whoever knows Puncha Khana knows the Rainiery families legacy. They
Speaker 3: are some like they're one of the most hard working
Speaker 3: people I know in this entire planet, and they still are.
Speaker 3: And in the nineties, my dad and them and Frank
Speaker 3: the founder were very close and they grow up together
Speaker 3: and they were like, you know, heartbreaking spirits. And so
Speaker 3: when I went to Notre Dame to study architecture, I
Speaker 3: said to my dad, because I was obsessed with everything
Speaker 3: that elder old dads was doing and tom Ford an Oscar.
Speaker 3: I was like, you know what, I follow this world
Speaker 3: so much. I know that you want me to come
Speaker 3: back home to do the hardware company that you founded,
Speaker 3: but I want to give this one shot. And my
Speaker 3: dad said, I'm only letting you connect to the Rainiery family,
Speaker 3: meaning the Winter Comma founders the moment you have actual
Speaker 3: time to give to them instead of just like, you know,
Speaker 3: a summer here. So in a way, my dad was
Speaker 3: like stalling it. See if I like, which is.
Speaker 1: Like like stopped thinking, like just kidding, this is yah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And then I didn't. I didn't like take that,
Speaker 3: and so I decided, okay, here's why diploma. I was
Speaker 3: top four another name. I'm very proud about that.
Speaker 2: That's insane. By the way, I am very proud about that.
Speaker 3: I was a straight a student to get.
Speaker 1: You know, so you're gorgeous and smart.
Speaker 3: I mean, I'll say this, I'm much more hard working
Speaker 3: than smart, but I definitely felt the need to, you know,
Speaker 3: come to New York, New York City with something that
Speaker 3: I loved in more than life and still do. And
Speaker 3: then This was a great like meeting of the two
Speaker 3: dreams that I had to be in New York City
Speaker 3: and to live the dream of being and a team
Speaker 3: of creative thinkers and the Auscarople are into team. And
Speaker 3: when I met him, imagine me now you know me, yes,
Speaker 3: imagine me at twenty years old. I'm thirty eight now
Speaker 3: and showing up to OSCARS. Hou was in Punta Kana
Speaker 3: with a stack of my engineering and architecture and construction
Speaker 3: notebook textbooks, where I doodled in the back of all
Speaker 3: of them and said, this is all I know, and
Speaker 3: he just took one of them right from the tip, one, two,
Speaker 3: and then he pushed all of them aside. I think
Speaker 3: that now looking back, he basically summarized what I knew
Speaker 3: from a few sketches, which I can I can do
Speaker 3: today now with my experience from some of the sketches
Speaker 3: that I see from new designers that company when I
Speaker 3: work in our team, I understand the person the aspirations
Speaker 3: from a few sketches. But at that time I didn't
Speaker 3: know anything. I didn't know that he could figure that
Speaker 3: out in the second and so when I let him
Speaker 3: do that, he took two seconds to look at it,
Speaker 3: and then he pushed everything aside, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: I think I I think I don't have the job
Speaker 3: because he just like push everything to the side.
Speaker 2: It's like and that's enough.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And so what he proceeded to do because he
Speaker 3: just had a gut instinct about me, he was like, Oh,
Speaker 3: this girl Laura, Laura is somebody that I think you
Speaker 3: should meet. She is very hard working, She's been with
Speaker 3: me for a long time, she is very talented, and
Speaker 3: she is running my studio right now. And I was
Speaker 3: just like, in my head the first time I need
Speaker 3: to ask her, I'm like, I think I want to
Speaker 3: hear more about you, like watching He spent the entire
Speaker 3: thirty minutes at her first meeting talking about Laura, and
Speaker 3: so I was just like, oh, this is interesting. So
Speaker 3: but he had something in his head about yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: of course in Laura.
Speaker 2: He was like putting you together as like a doo.
Speaker 3: So he did. And so when I went to meet
Speaker 3: my father after the meeting, he was like, oh, Fernando,
Speaker 3: I think he should come intern with me. And so
Speaker 3: I went to New York City like the week after that,
Speaker 3: and I met Laura and Laura and I fell in
Speaker 3: love and worked together forever and ever.
Speaker 2: I cannot believe that. So and what's wild.
Speaker 1: I was just telling Mary, my producer, that the very
Speaker 1: last time I saw Oscar, you told me last year
Speaker 1: that you were there. The very last time I saw him.
Speaker 1: It was at his final show at the studio like
Speaker 1: that you know that building I think on forty second
Speaker 1: right between the that's mine, yes exactly.
Speaker 3: Our company took over that place and out of fun,
Speaker 3: we took the under construction moved into introducing our run
Speaker 3: way shows in there. But then we kept the venue
Speaker 3: after the office for fully finished, so our showroom will
Speaker 3: like we sell our clothes.
Speaker 4: Became our actual runway her mother, which was like very
Speaker 4: interesting and fascinating because all of the teams had to
Speaker 4: like take up their desks really and about with a
Speaker 4: runway show right through there, and the next day the
Speaker 4: buyers would come and it would be like a little
Speaker 4: bit of a like weird vibe because like everybody's unsettled, like.
Speaker 1: Right, of course, it's like the morning after the party.
Speaker 2: Basically, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: It was like, yeah, but I remember that night more
Speaker 1: than anything because the show I think was like at
Speaker 1: five o'clock and I was at my studio doing fittings,
Speaker 1: and I had like twenty models coming in for castings
Speaker 1: because my show is the next morning. And I remember
Speaker 1: looking at this girl on my team I'm still very
Speaker 1: close with, and I looked at her and I said,
Speaker 1: I have to go. She said, what do you mean
Speaker 1: you have to go. You can't go. There's twenty girls coming,
Speaker 1: you have all these finnings, we have tailors. I was like,
Speaker 1: I have to go. Yeah, and she said why and
Speaker 1: I said, I have a feeling. I said, First of all,
Speaker 1: I can't miss Oscar show. I said, weirdly, just I
Speaker 1: don't know, it's just were there the last time I
Speaker 1: see him?
Speaker 2: I don't know, And it was.
Speaker 3: I'll be completely front with you, we didn't know it
Speaker 3: was going to be his last show.
Speaker 1: I felt it is that weird. I felt it. I
Speaker 1: said it to her.
Speaker 3: Funny that you say that. My parents obviously followed every
Speaker 3: single show into as many as they could. And because
Speaker 3: Laura and I were in like the deep like trenches, Yeah,
Speaker 3: you don't really pay attention to any kind of.
Speaker 1: Like human response.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this person is at the very last time. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it was a very big shock when he passed away.
Speaker 3: For Laura and me, like, even though we knew he
Speaker 3: was going through a lot of like chemo, we were
Speaker 3: I will speak for myself. I was a complete wreck
Speaker 3: for a month. And I will never forget being in
Speaker 3: Italy and being like I flew to Italy with Laura
Speaker 3: because that's what we do every time we have a collection.
Speaker 3: We go there and see the tailoring that we're developing
Speaker 3: for daywear. And I still remember being in and because
Speaker 3: we work in Naples, we went to Capri and we're
Speaker 3: at our hotel that we stay there just to like
Speaker 3: have a weekend stay. And I remember the daya that
Speaker 3: happened and I felt it in my gut that was
Speaker 3: going to happen that day.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was.
Speaker 3: It was intense.
Speaker 2: It was intense.
Speaker 3: I was in touch with everybody in the house, where
Speaker 3: he was, where he pas. It was. It was emotional.
Speaker 1: He was like this surreal figure in my life that
Speaker 1: was this kind gentleman and so talented. And I remember
Speaker 1: him saying, how much you loved to sketch, and you
Speaker 1: would show me his sketches and he would say, I
Speaker 1: don't ever not want to do this. For the last
Speaker 1: time I saw him, and I was so glad that
Speaker 1: I that I did, and I remember he was leaning
Speaker 1: against the window when I came backstage and saw him
Speaker 1: after the show, and I wasn't going to because I
Speaker 1: was in a hurry, and I said, let me just
Speaker 1: go give him a kiss, let me just go talk
Speaker 1: to him. And he was very weak and there was
Speaker 1: a lot of people around him, and I left there going,
Speaker 1: thank god, I just went. And I remember in my
Speaker 1: praierher role because when you told me, I remember you
Speaker 1: and Laura kind of like if he was like to
Speaker 1: the left, like you guys were like back by that column,
Speaker 1: you know, on the stage, but I didn't know you,
Speaker 1: which was so weird.
Speaker 2: You remember that, Yeah, I remember where you were standing.
Speaker 1: And it's very strange because when I met you, I
Speaker 1: remember the first time it was sort of like I
Speaker 1: knew you for ten years. There was some part of
Speaker 1: my life that you were in and I hadn't physically
Speaker 1: met you. So then when we finally connected, it was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're in love. Now we're best friends for life, and
Speaker 1: let's just talk. Let's just I think.
Speaker 3: That he definitely understood the electricity that your personality in
Speaker 3: mind lare have, so obviously he was a very good
Speaker 3: curator of people that would get along with each other,
Speaker 3: and it was seamless to me. As soon as I
Speaker 3: met you, I'm like, oh, I feel like I've known
Speaker 3: you for a day.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: It's so weird.
Speaker 3: So he knew what he was doing, well, he knew.
Speaker 2: What he was doing because look at you. Now.
Speaker 3: He had a gut feeling about the fire Sagittarius in
Speaker 3: me that Martha was celebrating.
Speaker 1: As wait, did everyone hear that he just went to
Speaker 1: a Sagittarius lunch with the Queen Martha Stewart?
Speaker 2: You didn't hear that? We need to embrace that.
Speaker 3: I think that that's like a badge of honor that
Speaker 3: I will never forget, I.
Speaker 1: Said next to her at a dinner and almost did,
Speaker 1: I said him years ago. Now, I like, I think
Speaker 1: we say hi to each other. But I still will
Speaker 1: reintroduce myself.
Speaker 3: I mean, by the way. You know what's funny is
Speaker 3: I always reintroduce myself to people that I don't believe
Speaker 3: I'm friends with. And so my guess is in my
Speaker 3: floor is the Michael course, And you know he's like
Speaker 3: a sweetheart, but.
Speaker 2: The sweetest person in the world.
Speaker 3: I know, but like, I'm thirty eight and I'm still
Speaker 3: in my mind an intern at Oscars company, right, I
Speaker 3: really really am.
Speaker 1: Can I say something, Fernando, I'm still twenty two crashing
Speaker 1: a bakeup show. No, I honestly I.
Speaker 3: Lower coffee every single day because I am in my
Speaker 3: mind her intern still so and I still do. Okay,
Speaker 3: So when I see Michael and the elevator. Every time
Speaker 3: I see him in the elevator, I'm like, Hi, am Fernando,
Speaker 3: and I know who you are, just.
Speaker 2: Like with his sunglasses on and the tan, I know.
Speaker 1: I'm always This episode is brought to you by eBay.
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Speaker 1: I can't, but Fernando, so tell me a little bit
Speaker 1: about Like so, you started as an intern.
Speaker 2: You obviously belt your way up.
Speaker 1: You've worked your ass off the old fashioned way. You
Speaker 1: have the fire and the passion, and I think that's
Speaker 1: part of why I love you so much, just because
Speaker 1: I don't think that's ever going to change.
Speaker 2: I think you'll be sixty five doing this and you'll still.
Speaker 3: Have that Oscar never wanted to retire and now understand
Speaker 3: it now.
Speaker 1: Yep, he didn't, but you know, but but you have
Speaker 1: done different things throughout the last you know, ten years
Speaker 1: or more, whatever it is. But like, so, I want
Speaker 1: to talk about that because I want to talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about how tremendously scary this business can be.
Speaker 2: And you know it's not that scary.
Speaker 1: Well it can be, though, I sure.
Speaker 3: For people that don't know where they want to go
Speaker 3: in fashion, it absolutely should be scary, right right, And
Speaker 3: you knew, and that's where you are where you are.
Speaker 1: But but I was driven a lot by fear of failure.
Speaker 2: Sure, and I know that you have.
Speaker 3: That failure isn't a big motivator for sure. Also, you
Speaker 3: know what the big motivator is? Competition Laura and me,
Speaker 3: and yes, we fell in love in every way. And
Speaker 3: Oscar Atnuit he was doing because he was not just
Speaker 3: gaining a lovely relationship and his team, but gaining two
Speaker 3: fears competitors that wanted to outdo each other every single season.
Speaker 3: So every single season, Laura and I would like just
Speaker 3: like want to like up like one another, and so
Speaker 3: and and and Laura is really competitive, just like me
Speaker 3: and so whenever.
Speaker 2: And she's a quiet competitive though.
Speaker 3: Bitch, excuse me, I didn't say that, but she's not that.
Speaker 3: She is a serious one that comes across as like
Speaker 3: a sweet little angel, and as soon as you get
Speaker 3: in the trenches with her, you realize that, oh so
Speaker 3: she means business Like I don't have the best selling
Speaker 3: dress this season, and I am in the best I
Speaker 3: don't matter to her as much. So and it motivated
Speaker 3: me because I am not a business mind. Person in
Speaker 3: a couple of ways. So it taught me to be
Speaker 3: one because of her right and so now her our team,
Speaker 3: we're all like looking to and even in the team
Speaker 3: now and noticing the pattern repeating itself like that. The
Speaker 3: team is like, okay, so this is what you know
Speaker 3: is the top dog strategy. You have to like have
Speaker 3: the bestseller dress, also the big red carpet moment, like
Speaker 3: they have a combination of things, and so all of
Speaker 3: that mattered, and it made us better. It made us
Speaker 3: chisel our you know, knife and become stronger letners.
Speaker 1: You know, it's kind of funny because I think you
Speaker 1: guys have this very kind competitive relationship, which is very rare.
Speaker 2: Though that's very rare.
Speaker 3: We're on the same team, but we are definitely always competing.
Speaker 3: All of us in fashion are always competing. But you
Speaker 3: just have to have your heart like be very like
Speaker 3: clear and transparent. Everybody's motives are going to be like
Speaker 3: very like noticeable. As soon as you enter a team,
Speaker 3: you notice what the people's priorities are in the team.
Speaker 3: And so once you align everybody's like priorities, you really excel.
Speaker 3: And I will give Laura credit. Laura aligned the team
Speaker 3: after two or three years in a really impressive way,
Speaker 3: having an understanding of everybody's priorities in the team, no
Speaker 3: matter how old or young they are. Everybody has to
Speaker 3: be aligned and focus on a goal. So I think
Speaker 3: that she deserves a lot of credit for that. She
Speaker 3: helped the team align.
Speaker 2: Myself, Now, how do you decide?
Speaker 1: Because so much of what people know you for and
Speaker 1: knew Oscar for is the red carpet, right, But the
Speaker 1: other thing is that I think many people don't know
Speaker 1: is just one of the things I love most about Oscar.
Speaker 1: That I love most about you as well is your
Speaker 1: love of women, your love of making women actually feel,
Speaker 1: look and feel they're absolutely most glamorous, most beautiful. But
Speaker 1: to your credit, you have taken the reins at Oscar
Speaker 1: with Laura and made it incredibly modern and your own.
Speaker 1: And that is not easy. It's not easy, and there's
Speaker 1: a huge expectation. And you know, Oscar has had customers
Speaker 1: that have been Oscar customers and clients.
Speaker 2: For what fifty years?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: More more?
Speaker 1: And so how is that in terms of like pressure,
Speaker 1: Because the reality of it is, you have had more
Speaker 1: hits on the biggest stars in the world over even
Speaker 1: since I've known you really over the last few years.
Speaker 1: It's like one after the other after the other, and
Speaker 1: icons like Sarah Jessica, Taylor Swift, I mean, Selena Gomez NonStop,
Speaker 1: Nicole Kimmen, I mean, it goes on. This is like
Speaker 1: the drink, Fernando. It used to only be European designers
Speaker 1: and every once in a while an American designer would
Speaker 1: have that moment. You are having moment after moment after
Speaker 1: moment after moment.
Speaker 2: That is not easy.
Speaker 3: Thank you heard that? Huge bad I mean, I don't
Speaker 3: take it lightly, especially coming from you who find the
Speaker 3: reason I prowd became gay. I mean with the Tory
Speaker 3: Boys necklace, forget it.
Speaker 2: I'm like a hawk pin deer still will always be
Speaker 2: one of.
Speaker 3: My favorite iconic. So to answer your question, it's not
Speaker 3: overnight right. First of all, I didn't join Oscar thinking
Speaker 3: I was going to become creative director of Oscar. Oscar
Speaker 3: thinking I'm the luckiest Dominican boy in the world and
Speaker 3: I'm going to work my way up somehow and make
Speaker 3: him happy, and to me and Laura going home for
Speaker 3: six years as his assistant and making him smile from
Speaker 3: one dress in that one month that.
Speaker 2: To us was you're winning. You're winning.
Speaker 3: That was as simple as that. So I want to
Speaker 3: give everybody perspective to understand that that the pressure that
Speaker 3: I feel today is a pressure that was built through
Speaker 3: time to have me tolerate. So so the pressure to
Speaker 3: make him smile was my first pressure, and after that,
Speaker 3: other pressures, you know, surmount to themselves on top of me.
Speaker 3: So everything that you all see me and my team
Speaker 3: doing to me now after fifteen years is a lot
Speaker 3: lighter than probably from somebody from the outside of things
Speaker 3: that like, oh, this is like what they must be
Speaker 3: like dying right now. Now, Like we really have worked
Speaker 3: our way up to understanding the expectations and understanding what
Speaker 3: the talent wants to perceive themselves as through the public lands.
Speaker 3: So in a way, I have also become a little
Speaker 3: bit of a therapist, because you know that very well.
Speaker 3: So you understand that when I meet somebody they funny enough,
Speaker 3: you know me, They are nervous, they think, oh, you're
Speaker 3: going to be whatever whatever the impression is, and I'm
Speaker 3: just like, I like break them down and I figure
Speaker 3: out what is going to make them the most comfortable, vulnerable,
Speaker 3: susceptible to my words or my personality so that they
Speaker 3: can become their truest self in the moment that I
Speaker 3: need them. Why because I need them to be that
Speaker 3: way throughout the process that of my creating a Mechcali
Speaker 3: moment for them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because they're a wedding dress, which one or a
Speaker 1: wedding dress like on press or.
Speaker 3: I mean doing a Ma Bloney's wedding dress. Was as
Speaker 3: ls your's assistant. Even though I was doing a lot
Speaker 3: of the heavy lifting, Amala Floney did rely on Oscar
Speaker 3: and me and Laura to come up with something that was,
Speaker 3: you know, worthy of that big moment on stage right.
Speaker 3: And I was I was twenty six when this was
Speaker 3: all going on, and I was noticing how Oscar maneuvered
Speaker 3: the situation and how he handled himself. And I learned
Speaker 3: a lot from him during that period. And that's because
Speaker 3: and from that point on, amm Flue and I kind
Speaker 3: of like had this like it's not a battle scar,
Speaker 3: but it's just like she.
Speaker 1: And I like have this like monthly trauma bonding.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we were bonded from that. Like, so when I
Speaker 3: was developing mom say, I I was like, you know, scared.
Speaker 3: I was like, I'm all like I don't know what
Speaker 3: to do, like should we enjoy a show here? Should
Speaker 3: we do this? And she's like, why are you know?
Speaker 3: I'm like, oh, I'm in Italy right now. I'm developing
Speaker 3: the first month a collection ever and this is in
Speaker 3: twenty fifteen, and so she's like, oh, I'm in come on.
Speaker 3: I'm like, oh, I'm in Milan. She's like, come over, Rachel,
Speaker 3: and I'm all there, how much I love this memory.
Speaker 3: It was incredible and she was like, show me all
Speaker 3: of your sketches. I want to see the first one
Speaker 3: the collection. I still remember that moment like yesterday because
Speaker 3: I arrived at the house and I got to the
Speaker 3: living room of her home in Como and I am
Speaker 3: showing her all discussion on the floor. The dogs were
Speaker 3: licking me. It was adorable. And then she's like, let's
Speaker 3: go have lunch outside and I'm like, okay where I'm
Speaker 3: like in my head, I'm like, it's real. And then
Speaker 3: she takes me to the courtyard and I noticed that
Speaker 3: there's high trenches because of aparazzi, so they can't really
Speaker 3: like have like this glorious view, which broke my heart
Speaker 3: a little bit. But then yeah, but then I was
Speaker 3: just like, okay, so let's go have some food. And
Speaker 3: she's like, oh, George arrived, and I'm like what and
Speaker 3: he shows up. I'm not going to repeat what he said,
Speaker 3: but it was really funny. And the buyguard was next
Speaker 3: to me, and I was probably like considered like a
Speaker 3: threat because that was like a brand new person mall's
Speaker 3: life in their eyes. But George was really sweet, because
Speaker 3: he's so sweet. He was just like asking me the
Speaker 3: importance of you know, the re carpet moments that we
Speaker 3: do with them all, and the understanding the world that
Speaker 3: we're in and the influence that they have on the world,
Speaker 3: and inquisitive and interested in fun.
Speaker 1: And it's good that in those moments you can recognize
Speaker 1: it's a pinch me, surreal moment.
Speaker 2: It's good that you can do that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you know, I think I made the
Speaker 1: mistake of never recognizing those moments until now when people
Speaker 1: ask me about them, and I'm like, right that, yes,
Speaker 1: it happened, because in my mind, the moments are more
Speaker 1: those moments of like seeing Oscar for the last time,
Speaker 1: or the first time he took me to a studio
Speaker 1: and showed me his sketches, and you know, with Car Lagerfeld.
Speaker 2: Those were my moments.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about Monse for a second, because what
Speaker 1: in what life and what planet? While you're at Oscar,
Speaker 1: jay La Rna, do you look at Laura and say, hey,
Speaker 1: let's start another brand, Let's start our own because I
Speaker 1: just I need to just like sort of paint the picture.
Speaker 2: Because what you're doing in Oscar.
Speaker 1: And arguably one of the biggest, most recognized, highly regarded
Speaker 1: houses in America for sure and throughout the world.
Speaker 2: But that in and of itself is how many collections
Speaker 2: a year?
Speaker 3: It's four for Oscar for for Monse. Too bridal and
Speaker 3: at this point the VIP list used to be me
Speaker 3: doing red carpet moments, meaning six a year o the
Speaker 3: ic list. Basically we're doing cature without right right, and
Speaker 3: it's fabulous.
Speaker 2: It's like closet to cature.
Speaker 3: It's closet cature. It's Fernando's so got.
Speaker 1: So really like what triggers you at that point to
Speaker 1: be like this isn't enough.
Speaker 2: I need to start our own line. We need to
Speaker 2: start it now.
Speaker 3: It wasn't that, to be right, honest, we didn't know
Speaker 3: what Oscar's health was going to end up, Like right
Speaker 3: and Lauren and I were thinking about our future, and
Speaker 3: Lauren and I also needed to understand who we were
Speaker 3: as designers outside of Yes, it wasn't that we wanted
Speaker 3: to like add on, it was that we need to
Speaker 3: like scratch an itch yeah, and it also is really
Speaker 3: like formative. We needed to learn who we were outside
Speaker 3: of a big umbrella corp, so to speak, and understand
Speaker 3: what the world was like when you have to fend
Speaker 3: for yourself, and we did have to fend for ourselves
Speaker 3: for two years. We figured out what their crass tax
Speaker 3: reality was for the majority of designers that want to
Speaker 3: start from scratch. And so I think that it made
Speaker 3: us the designers that we are today. I don't think that.
Speaker 3: I don't think that Oscar was wrong in thinking that
Speaker 3: we needed a little bit more growth. But we got it.
Speaker 3: But we got it and it was necessary.
Speaker 1: And also it's a very different language monse versus Oscar Dillierent.
Speaker 2: It's a totally different being.
Speaker 3: Because we had to figure out a new DNA after
Speaker 3: you know, his passing. It was important to us and
Speaker 3: we consulted a couple of people. We consulted Kit Young,
Speaker 3: we consulted Sex Buying Team, very important minded people that
Speaker 3: that saw ar trajectory as a system OSCAR and knew
Speaker 3: what we wanted, and so we were trying to like
Speaker 3: guide us as to like making a name for ourselves
Speaker 3: in a very independent, isolated unassociated to oscaring.
Speaker 2: So it's so unbelievably impressive.
Speaker 1: And so now one thing I really want to talk
Speaker 1: to you about is because it's something we see so
Speaker 1: often in so many industries, from food to beauty and
Speaker 1: certainly to fashion. And you and I have talked about this,
Speaker 1: you know, two three in the morning on text. How
Speaker 1: do you handle Copycatskay?
Speaker 3: The last time I remember that is once a copied
Speaker 3: manse our beginning of our deconstructing of shirts. I don't
Speaker 3: think that there's anything else to say but to be
Speaker 3: flattered by it, because the price points are very different,
Speaker 3: and it doesn't affect your business to a to a detrimental.
Speaker 1: So how do you continue to keep everything new and fresh?
Speaker 1: And what's so interesting is I did not know that
Speaker 1: you studied architecture, because that tracks, by the way, because
Speaker 1: so much of your most recent collections I've seen so
Speaker 1: much of that.
Speaker 2: I've seen so much architecture, and.
Speaker 3: I think that's what Laura and I do because you know,
Speaker 3: our lives are extremely busy. Yes, is be surrounded by
Speaker 3: the people that we want to dress. And you know, Nikki,
Speaker 3: as you know, is my.
Speaker 1: Best friend absolutely Nilton. Yeah, you guys are the cutest
Speaker 1: best friends.
Speaker 3: By the way, Well, she takes caramels and we love.
Speaker 3: But I do want to give credit to the to
Speaker 3: the girls in my life like you, like Nikki, like Laura,
Speaker 3: that keep my head on my shoulders. We made it
Speaker 3: and it's beautiful and hilarious and fun.
Speaker 1: And you there is no one that can make me
Speaker 1: literally laugh out loud in the morning.
Speaker 2: Out of it.
Speaker 1: Do I sleep?
Speaker 3: Then?
Speaker 1: You it literally like give me life when I need
Speaker 1: it the most.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: I just want to say that I love you madly.
Speaker 1: I love everything you've done. I love how you've built
Speaker 1: it humble brick by humble brick. I love that you
Speaker 1: have your confidence now but you still feel twenty two.
Speaker 2: In some ways. I am.
Speaker 1: I also think you're dressing the best, and you know,
Speaker 1: I think keeping that humility is a superpower.
Speaker 2: I really do.
Speaker 3: Well, I'll say this. When Laura and I left Oscar,
Speaker 3: I noticed something that was a great and very valuable
Speaker 3: calling card that I recommend anybody who is starting something
Speaker 3: from scratch to vulnerability is something that I didn't understand.
Speaker 3: What is not just attractive but welcoming to personal and
Speaker 3: all like relationships or business opportunities. It is extremely attractive
Speaker 3: because people feel like they're about to join something important
Speaker 3: in someone's life. So as soon as I discovered that,
Speaker 3: I was like, without any shame, knocking them a few
Speaker 3: doors and being like, hey, we just left Oscar, we
Speaker 3: want to figure this out. Help us. Saying the words
Speaker 3: help us is something I cannot say enough and recommend
Speaker 3: to people, because yeah, you definitely have to have a
Speaker 3: draft record, right, you have to have like a little
Speaker 3: bit of a reputation to like earn the Okay, I'll
Speaker 3: help you. But but you will be surprised how many
Speaker 3: people are so like hard on themselves about asking for help.
Speaker 1: Of course, no, I mean I think that's actually the
Speaker 1: hardest thing to do.
Speaker 3: That's crazy, you ask for like, don't want to ask
Speaker 3: for help. There is absolutely like a ton of reasons
Speaker 3: why they don't want to, but they tell.
Speaker 2: Us I would agree with that very much.
Speaker 1: I think it makes them feel less than or that
Speaker 1: they haven't achieved any success or when he.
Speaker 3: Was there and me and Laura were like, no, no
Speaker 3: problem asking help us.
Speaker 2: I mean, and it worked.
Speaker 1: And I think you're doing it, and I think your
Speaker 1: relationship is amazing, and I think I'm very excited to.
Speaker 2: Just continue to see what you guys do. I mean,
Speaker 2: I like love it.
Speaker 1: I'm like standing here with pom poms like cheering you
Speaker 1: guys on in every dress and every collection, and you're
Speaker 1: so adored.
Speaker 2: You are so adored.
Speaker 1: For me, it's the thing that always attracted me the
Speaker 1: most to Oscar was how he spoke to women and
Speaker 1: how he treated women and how he he listened to them.
Speaker 1: And that's what you guys are doing. That's what you're doing.
Speaker 1: Like I see you when you're working with someone, whether
Speaker 1: it's Paris or Taylor Swift or Selena Gmez or any
Speaker 1: of these people. Jessica Chastein like you are, like I
Speaker 1: have to suit you on. I don't know if she
Speaker 1: I don't know if that color she made that may
Speaker 1: be too somewhere. I don't know if this is going
Speaker 1: to be you know, it's.
Speaker 3: Like that thing I seriously like think like you might
Speaker 3: want me to. Like there's moments where I'm like, sac
Speaker 3: actually tell me, Like hell, Elizabeth Stuart is going to
Speaker 3: probably want me to do this, Like I seriously have
Speaker 3: moments where I think about the people that got us.
Speaker 1: To Let's talk about stylists for one minute because or
Speaker 1: two because I want to talk about it. I'm going
Speaker 1: to take my stylist hat off, but I want to
Speaker 1: talk about that because you work with so many stylists,
Speaker 1: and I know you do, and you have an appreciation
Speaker 1: for them rather than a there are any designers that
Speaker 1: are resentful about stylists. There are some that love them,
Speaker 1: and there's some that hate them.
Speaker 3: So I'm going to give you some perspective. I came
Speaker 3: to Oscar before Silence for to be honest cool. The
Speaker 3: first one that like broke my thinking of how important
Speaker 3: they are to the business was Kate Young, right. I
Speaker 3: saw the resilience of her clients throughout my career and
Speaker 3: learned a lot about the psychology that goes into creating
Speaker 3: something for somebody in a really like pressure filled moment.
Speaker 3: From after that, Pristina Rlick and you know Andrew McConnell
Speaker 3: and all these other amazingly talented people that in a
Speaker 3: way are like therapists. They are they are psychologists. They
Speaker 3: are there to understand the level of impact they need
Speaker 3: to deliver, also the influence that they want to cast
Speaker 3: upon the fans that that person has like and by
Speaker 3: the way, that fluctuates. Every every client wants to go
Speaker 3: up or down or medium, and they do mean medium sometimes,
Speaker 3: So it's it's It was an incredible learning experience during
Speaker 3: the most like like soaking moments of Fernando's twenties. So
Speaker 3: I learned a lot about that psychology through the people
Speaker 3: that you know, delivered the moments that everybody remembers from
Speaker 3: a brand outside of like you know, selling a lot
Speaker 3: of clothes to customers that are loyal to us and
Speaker 3: deserve all of our attention. The loudest voices are the
Speaker 3: santatriska partners or sex of the city. For the brands
Speaker 3: like mine, I don't even have words like meeting her
Speaker 3: when Oscar did her last at Galla moment and she
Speaker 3: ORed herself on the floor of the office with a
Speaker 3: binder that she herself came with of all the Charles
Speaker 3: jam the references, because that's who we were celebrating at
Speaker 3: that moment.
Speaker 5: It taught me that you know, no matter what how
Speaker 5: complicated or how busy your life is in fashion, everybody
Speaker 5: does get wrapped up into all of that.
Speaker 3: But when you see somebody that is as passionate as
Speaker 3: Sara just got, throwing herself on the door with a
Speaker 3: binder that she herself research and in her closet where
Speaker 3: she has a bin of ribbons, like we go a
Speaker 3: way back, and I herd that relationship like an idiot.
Speaker 3: But she truly does matter for culture, She matters for fashion,
Speaker 3: and she is somebody who has always upheld it in
Speaker 3: a very respectful, intelligent, researched way. I don't think that
Speaker 3: there's enough of Sergey. I guess in the world.
Speaker 2: There aren't. There are not.
Speaker 1: They are not. I mean I hope that there will be,
Speaker 1: but there are not now. But I think I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's just it's such a beautiful thing. And I love
Speaker 1: that relationship, and I cannot wait to see you keep
Speaker 1: doing what you do. I love you so much. I
Speaker 1: love seeing your love for women. I love seeing your
Speaker 1: love for creating for women and creating these magic moments.
Speaker 3: Peer from the entire planet for the next two months.
Speaker 2: So well, I'm gonna hunt you down and I'm going
Speaker 2: to blow up your phone.
Speaker 3: You love I am.
Speaker 2: I love you so much.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much to Fernando for coming on the
Speaker 1: pod today. He is truly brilliant. He is so beyond talented,
Speaker 1: and he designs not only with his talent, of course,
Speaker 1: and his skill, but with his heart and with a
Speaker 1: huge admiration and respect for women, with humility, with humor.
Speaker 1: He is so incredibly funny. He's the most fun person
Speaker 1: to go out with, and I know he has truly
Speaker 1: just begun. His statement that vulnerability is attractive is really
Speaker 1: inspiring because I think it really is very true. And
Speaker 1: I think asking for help is an important reminder and
Speaker 1: lesson for everyone to take from this episode, including me,
Speaker 1: because I think we have so much ego and so
Speaker 1: much shame in asking for help, and so I loved
Speaker 1: that moment amongst many. I loved this episode so much,
Speaker 1: and I love you, Fernando. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: listening to Climbing and Heels. If you haven't already, please
Speaker 1: subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the iHeart app,
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts so you don't miss
Speaker 1: a single episode this season. And be sure to follow
Speaker 1: me on Instagram at at rachel Zo and the show
Speaker 1: at cleming Inhales pod for the latest episodes and updates.
Speaker 1: I will talk to you soon.
Speaker 3: Lack