On Carine Roitfeld, Minimalism, And Creative Success

On Carine Roitfeld, Minimalism, and Creative Success
By Sarra Salib

It is a simple idea that dates back to the writings of Socrates and Thoreau: declutter and edit your life in order to pursue a truly meaningful motive and focus on the creative outlets. It seems that Carine Roitfeld — and her family for that matter — has applied and mastered this art of minimalism and through it continues to push the envelope when it comes to creative confinements.

But before one can go on to illustrate how minimalism can lead to creative success, one must define the ever-challenging word “success.” According to the ultimate modern minimalists Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus — which if you have not heard of them, I urge you to visit their website, The Minimalists — success is comprised of “happiness, constant improvement, and contribution.” Carine Roitfeld easily embodies these three elements.

In CNN’s documentary Revealed, Carine states that she is doing what she is doing because it’s what she loves. She has been working in fashion for over thirty years — if that is not a testament of happiness, what else can be?

Next is constant improvement. Mademoiselle C is the perfect example of an individual constantly growing in what she does. Ever since she flew from her “golden cage” that was Vogue Paris, it has been non-stop fashion action. From Irreverent to The Little Black Jacket to her very own CR Fashion Book, not to mention the numerous legendary campaigns in which she has participated recently. Carine Roitfeld just doesn’t get stuck in one place, ever.

Last, but certainly not least, is contributing to other people in a meaningful way. The first thing that occurred to me is Carine’s role curating the amfAR Cinema Against AIDS Gala which raises millions each year to help fund research for the cure of AIDS. Who would have known a charity could be so chic and creative? If it involves Carine Roitfeld, you best believe it will.

Now that we have defined what it means to be creatively successful, we must analyze how the art of minimalism ties it all together. In order to do that, we must revisit Carine’s former Vogue Paris office. One need only look at a few images of her office to realize how minimalistic it is. In an interview, Carine claimed that, “It’s very minimalist because it’s better for my mind when everything is clean and empty. It cools me down; if someone brings in pictures or articles to show me, I can see them better.” Juxtaposing Carine’s minimalist lifestyle to the iconic and not so politically correct images she produced at Vogue Paris can only add up to make so much sense.

Thus concludes my venture on the cause and effect of minimalism and being [outrageously] creatively successful. Carine Roitfeld’s way of life makes her a triple threat.

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Carine Roitfeld photos courtesy of Fashion Spot. Irreverent, The Little Black Jacket covers courtesy of Amazon. CR Fashion Book cover courtesy of crfashionbook.com. Vogue Paris cover © 2010 Condé Nast.

Comments

[bernie]

Carine is a minimalist but she can be an extreme maximalist to the point that it looks.....

[kellina]

Sarra, I so love your thinking here. Also, thank you for turning me onto The Minimalists, they are giving me lots to think about, now to take action...