Last week Wednesday, the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) held a talk with Joan Juliet Buck. She was the features editor of British Vogue at 23 and was the first (and thus far only) American to become editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris.
Buck recently released her memoir, “The Price of Illusion“, which speaks to her journey of self-discovery while navigating through the fashion industry.
During the discussion at FIAF, which was curated and moderated by former WWD journalist Melissa Ceria, Buck spoke to how she “always wanted the imaginary to be real” and how she counted Manolo Blahnik, Pierre Bergé (former partner of Yves Saint Laurent) and Karl Lagerfeld as friends. She lived in Paris, Milan, New York, Los Angeles and London and thought of herself as someone who was always an expatriate and who could not quite fit in, such as when she briefly moved back to the U.S. and found herself a French speaker who had a Londoner’s wardrobe.
“I always wanted the imaginary to be real.”
As for Buck’s time at Vogue Paris, she recalled upon the time she worked with David LaChapelle fondly and how she approached editorials, “everything came out organically, from seeing the fashion shows”.
After nearly seven years with the publication, she was sent to rehab by her boss, Jonathan Newhouse, chairman of Condé Nast International. She held the position she did not have a drug problem, although, she did come to the realization that for her, Vogue became like a drug and that “making the dream [was] a huge responsibility.”
Connect with FIAF:
fiaf.org
Connect with Joan:
Twitter @JoanJulietBuck
And, Joan’s new memoir: “The Price of Illusion“
