Draped over her bed in the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme,
Christine Centenera is wearing a sculpted black Chanel
jacket and leggings from her own brand Wardrobe NYC.
She’s on the phone to her actor and filmmaker boyfriend
Joel Edgerton in New York, planning their weekend in Atlanta,
where he’s currently filming. She’s quizzing him about clothes he’s
bought for himself, and recounting her day of fittings at Louis
Vuitton, where she works alongside Virgil Abloh. When Abloh
was made men’s artistic director of the house in 2018, his call to
bring Centenera on board cemented the Australian stylist’s impact
on the millennial fashion landscape. “I do feel like decisions we
make in the studio are dictating what kids are going to want to
buy into,” she says, when asked if she is feeling the momentum.
“They want to be part of something – and Virgil is that.”
Like Abloh, she has tackled the fashion industry in her own way,
expanding her repertoire from fashion director of Vogue Australia to
a veritable brand in her own right. In 2017, she and the designer
Josh Goot co-founded Wardrobe NYC – “A conceptual composite
of luxury essentials” – which perfects staple garments from the
tailoring, streetwear and sportswear genres, and sells them as complete
four- or eight-piece foundation wardrobes (the collection sells as
separates on Matchesfashion.com). Worn fervidly by the likes of Kim Kardashian,
Hailey Bieber and Gigi Hadid, it’s been a runaway success, capturing the digitally
led fashion esoterism that Abloh and Kanye West’s Yeezy have come to embody.
Centenera speaks their generational language of desirability, and leads a life to back
it up. Last year, for example, saw cover shoots with Rihanna, Zendaya and Nicole
Kidman for Vogue Australia, a red carpet appearance alongside Edgerton at the
Venice Film Festival and a trip to South Korea to promote The King, which he
wrote and starred in (on the phone, she and Joel refer to the film’s lead, Timothée
Chalamet, simply as “Timmy”).
Centenera is a familiar face in the ever-expanding albums of street style, always
on point in her trademark structured silhouette. “Not fitted, just framed,” as she
describes it, listing Nicolas Ghesquière, Phoebe Philo, Helmut Lang and Azzedine
Alaïa as some of her purveyors. “It’s not whimsical or romantic. I love tailoring,
I wear a lot of black. It’s easy and strong. I wear leggings a lot. There’s often something
cinched at the waist; a bit Catwoman-ish. What’s another word for sexy?” she asks.
She actually dislikes having her photo taken. “I can tell you any back entrance
into any show,” she insists, such is her effort to escape the lens. So much so, that it’s
rare to see her stopping for a photo. “I love fashion, and dress like I dress when
I go to shows.” It was, however, the medium of street style that led her to Abloh. >Street smartsShe’s the influencer’s influencer, whose innate style has
entranced the industry. Those in the know count on
Christine Centenera, says Anders Christian MadsenCentenera at New York
Fashion week last year.
Left: styling Gigi Hadid
for Vogue Australia.
Below, from top: with
Virgil Abloh in Paris;
and boyfriend Joel
Edgerton; wearing Miu
Miu at Paris Fashion
Week; marking 60 years
of Vogue Australia with
Edward Enninful“I do feel like decisions
we make in the studio
are dictating what
kids are going to
want to buy into”CHRISTINE CENTENERA; HUGH STEWART; GETTY IMAGES/EDWARD BERTHELOT/CHRISTIAN VIERIGSPOTLIGHT04-20-FOB-Christine-Cantenera_1985465.indd 83 06/02/2020 12:03
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