Leïla Slimani
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What inspired Leïla Slimani to become a writer?
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Hi, come in. Welcome to Fashion Neurosis, Leila Slimani. Thank you. Can you tell me what clothes you're wearing today and why you chose them?
Today I'm wearing trousers and sweater of sienna color. I love this color very much. And I love more and more monochromatic outfits because it's easy. And actually I chose this outfit because it doesn't crease and I travel a lot. I have to pack suitcase all the time. So it's a very convenient outfit to travel.
I read that you were dressed by Dior. You wear quite a lot of Dior. Is it from Dior?
No, it's from Max Barra. And you know, this color for me is very Mediterranean, very Italian, very Moroccan also. And I bought it a few weeks ago. I was in Rome. I was working at the Villa Medici's. I was working a lot. And I woke up in the morning quite depressed, I have to say. And I was on the streets of Rome looking at women and I wanted to be a Roman. I wanted to be them. And I saw this outfit in a Max Mara store and I was like, okay, you deserve it. Go and buy it for you. So it was just a gift for myself.
That's so nice. Why did you want to be a Roman? I lived in Rome when I was in my early twenties and it was quite claustrophobic and
You know, when I'm in a place, it happens very often that I want to become the others. I'm in New York. I want to be a New Yorker. I'm in Rome. I want to dress like them, which is weird because at the same time, I like the idea of being different. I like being visible, but also probably because I immigrate at a very young age. I have this desire also to belong and to be like the others, that no one will notice that I'm a stranger. So when I'm in Rome, I want to be like a Roman. When I'm in Paris, I want people to think that I'm a Parisian. I don't like the idea of looking like a tourist or looking different. Maybe it's a little bit snob also, this idea of being like other women, but it's also... because it makes me feel vulnerable not to understand the fashion and the way they want to look and the way they want to appear.
And I think Roman women are quite elegant.
Yes, definitely. I had that experience when I lived in Morocco and we lived in the 60s in Morocco for two years and I really wanted to belong and I dressed in Arabic clothes like the little girls I used to hang around with in the square and I spoke fluent Arabic and fluent French dialect. It was a really wonderful feeling.
How does Slimani's Moroccan heritage influence her writing?
What I did totally kind of feel part of, and I know that feeling. It stays with you, doesn't it?
Yeah, and it's also something that is very childish, this desire to disguise. And, you know, to put the clothes, and once you have the right outfit, you are the character, right? You can embody someone else and people will believe it as long as you act well enough. And I love that this metamorphosis that can happen all the time. And it's something for me that is really related to women. You know, I was born and raised by women in a home with my two sisters, my mother, my grandmother, my aunts. And what fascinated me when I was a child was that women were changing all the time. Men were very dull and boring because they would always wear suits, gray or blue. It was not very interesting. But a woman, from the moment she wakes up to the moment she goes out for dinner...
She changes all the time. She can change the color of her hair. She can curl her hair. She can put lipstick on her lips and makeup or no makeup. And for me, it was something extraordinary. It was a way also to... to resist to the monotony of life. And I had this idea that, yeah, being a woman is hard, and I will have a lot of obstacles in front of me, but I can disguise all the time.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What inspired Leïla Slimani to become a writer?
0:00–3:58
2
How does Slimani's Moroccan heritage influence her writing?
3:58–8:13
3
What role does fashion play in Leïla Slimani's life and work?
8:13–13:01
4
How does Slimani view the relationship between women and fashion?
13:01–16:29
5
What does Leïla Slimani say about the importance of visibility?
16:29–21:01
6
How does grief impact Leïla Slimani's creativity?
21:01–24:35
7
What are Slimani's thoughts on phobias and their origins?
24:35–28:42
8
How does Slimani define revenge in the context of her writing?
28:42–1:15:43