Vogue India June 2019

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1,2. Bendet strikes a yoga pose 3. StaceFace made with a bowl of fruits 4.

Bendet with her daughters Athena, Scarlet and Eloise 5. Bell-bottom pants

and ’70s styles reign in the designer’s wardrobe 6. Bendet’s plant-based vegan

diet that includes quinoa, fresh vegetables and rice 7. The designer with her

book stack 8. Alice + Olivia x Jean-Michel Basquiat 9. Alice + Olivia x The

Beatles collection 10. A painting of Bendet’s daughters by Julian Schnabel

girls, Eloise, 10, Scarlet

who’s eight, and Athena

is three. Eloise is this

intense fi recracker, a

ball of energy with long

red hair who loves

horseback rides and

gymnastics and chal-

lenges everyone around

her. Scarlet is like a

Buddha, so calm and

sweet. The baby is just

a ham—all she wants to

do is make everyone

laugh. Schnabel painted this beautiful

enamel-like work of them, which

looks like an old Goya.”

FIRST FASHION CREATION

“Pants! I was hunting for curtain fab-

ric one day and saw this crazy striped

upholstery and thought it would make

the coolest pants. I worked with a pat-

tern maker, and that became our bell-

bottom pant. First, I just made them

for myself, then everyone wanted

some. When we launched and my

pants were on mannequins at Barneys,

it still didn’t feel real. That was 17

years ago!”

FALLWINTER  LOVES

“The latest collection has butterfl y

prints—it’s so romantic

and special! Anything

rainbow I pretty much

love. There’s bordeaux

skirts with layers of

pleated taffeta and an

all-white puffer and

feathered skirt that I love.”

A FINE VINTAGE

“My love for vintage fashion started

when my grandmother, a crazy collec-

tor of vintage, took me to fl ea markets.

As I started designing, I gravitated to-

wards the ’70s aesthetic. I have some

amazing pieces collected over years of

shopping through vintage dealers, col-

lectors, auctions and shows. My fa-

vourites are some Thea Porter couture

pieces and a couture Alexander Mc-

Queen ribbon dress from the late ’90s.

It’s art.”

ON HOLIDAY

“My friend reopened the Villa Tre

Ville in Positano, a magical place that

was originally the

home of legendary fi lm

director Franco Zef-

fi relli. You can just feel

all the creative energy

of the past. I like to ex-

perience a culture on

holiday instead of sipping cocktails by

the pool, but I’ve learnt to be more

chilled out with three children. We

have homes in Aspen and Malibu,

where we go for the summer, and we

love Hawaii and Punta Mita. I’m go-

ing to take a solo trip to Marrakech

and also to Mysore to do ashtanga.”

GIVING BACK

“After we had Eloise we started work-

ing with the Ronald McDonald house

(a charity for hospitalised children). I

feel so lucky to have three healthy chil-

dren. As a company, for around 10

years we’ve thrown their annual Hal-

loween party. We supply the costumes,

do the decor, get all the kids and fami-

lies dressed —it’s really special.” ■

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