PARIS–It makes perfect sense that French boutique Zadig & Voltaire recently opened their fourth location in New York (on 409 Bleecker). Their bad ass not-trying-too-hard French girl aesthetic is a perfect fit for the city.

So Zadig & Voltaire has enlisted NYC scenesters Erin Wasson (who is also the face of their current campaign) and Gaia Repossi to design capsule collections for the brand, and both ladies were on hand this week at Zadig & Voltaire’s flagship store in Paris this week to discuss their collections. I sat down with Wasson to ask her about her forthcoming capsule collection for the brand (it will be out in October), and what it was like to be a judge on America’s Next Top Model and work with Alexander Wang again. (Repossi, unfortunately had to run before I had a chance to talk with her because she brought her exotic kitten to the store and it got finicky and she had to take it home. Really, this happened. You can take a look at her lovely creations for the store below.)

Fashionista: Why partner with Zadig & Voltaire?
Erin Wasson: I’m really excited to work with Zadig & Voltaire because I feel like we have a parallel aesthetic. I remember going into my first design meeting and the culmination of my inspiration pictures and their inspiration pictures–a lot of what gets our rocks off is very similar. We’re both into the days of old, that rock n’ roll spirit. Working for them is easy–for me it just makes sense.

You’ve designed before with RCVA and currently design your own jewelry collection, Low Luv. How will this be different?
To tell you truth I’m not trying to do anything different. I’m not trying to come out with a capsule that’s going to blow anyone’s mind and change the world of fashion. What I’m trying to do is just make clothes that are easy and that have an edge. It’s like designing that piece of clothing that you’ve gone to 15 thrift stores looking for that you could never find–I’m trying to design that one piece.

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