Paris Designer Carole Fakiel

“It’s a bit Sgt. Pepper, don’t you think?” says designer Carole Fakiel in her Marais showroom, trying on one of her signature pieces for me, a long velvet coat with embroidery on the back, down the sleeves, and up the front and around the collar, over one of her own white shirts, a pair of deep indigo jeans, and Uggs.

She twirls around to show me the front and the coat, too, pirouettes along with her.

“This lifts up your look,” she says. “It’s a bit…” she says, looking for the word, “fantastic.”

I’m in love. Do I want this one, in the soft baby blue, or the black? Or the faded ballet slipper pink, leafy green, or the one that’s the color of a mushroom that’s just been cooked in butter? I feel myself getting dizzy, the way that I do when I go into Patrick Roger to pick out a selection of my favorite chocolates. (Chocolates are easier. I just get two of each.)

I know what you’re thinking. What does this have to do with food?

Nothing, but it has everything to do with cowgirls. From the first time that I saw one of her slouchy boho bags, slung over the shoulder of her cousin, Veronique, who walks her dog LouLou at the same time that I walk Rose, and along the same street, not far from the Champs – I could tell that there was something very spirited about her designs, and an indie vibe is something that all cowgirls share.

So off on the metro I went to meet her.

Fakiel looks like she should be on the back of a horse, bareback, or walking along the beach somewhere. She lets her long blonde hair fall wherever it may – to one side or another, or straight down the back – and wears chic round-framed tortoiseshell glasses, a clue that she’s Parisian, after all.

She tells me that she’s been designing all of her life (her last venture was a shirt line with her mother and brother, who also live in Paris), but this three-year-old line, simply called Carole Fakiel, is all hers.

“I’m not into fashion,” she says, trying on another jacket for me. “I make what I like to wear.”

What she likes is what she can pair with jeans – blazers and knee-skimming jackets in velvets and silks, all embellished with embroidery and details down the front, up the sleeves, and always along the back; and romantic, crisp, white cotton blouses. There are tie-dye silk tops, a collection of purses, summer-worthy long flowy dresses, and tunics to be worn alone or over jeans.

I keep thinking about how great it’ll all look with my cowboy boots and jeans. Don’t you think?

It’s a bit 70’s and kind of hippie, but not in an unstructured way – you’ll never look like an Olsen twin in one of Fakiel’s blouses or jackets because her pieces are gently fitted to the body –there’s a also a strong tribal element in her pieces, which I really love.

These are pieces from the Winter ’09 collection, recently shown at fashion week in Paris.

Not surprisingly, Fakiel draws inspiration from textiles and designs from Native Americans and tribal cultures around the world. Her computer holds a scrapbook of images that spark her creativity – photographs from books of ancient tribal ceremonies become wrappable, wearable jackets in her collection.

This sheepskin coat (also from the Winter ’09 collection) makes me think of tromping through the snow in Colorado somewhere.

I’m ready to start my own collection.

In Paris, Carole Fakiel sells at her showroom (listed below), or you can buy online, www.carolefakiel.com. You can also find her in St. Tropez at BlaBla (Place de la Garonne, +33 4 94 97 45 09) and Mission Accomplie (11 av Foch, +33 4 94 97 48 46), and in Milan at Biffi (Corso Genova 6, +39 02 83 11 60 39).

Carole Fakiel
Hotel de Retz
9 rue Charlot
+33 1 42 71 95 77