A Very Modern Classic
Isabel Ettedgui
“I remember when in 1993 we first introduced the original car shoe — pre Tod’s — to the Connolly family and they could not believe people would buy shoes with rubber bobbles on the bottom to wear around town ... we persisted and they were persuaded!” — Isabel Ettedgui
In the nineties, under the auspicious direction of Isabel Ettedgui, Connolly’s beautifully curated stores on Grosvenor Crescent Mews, Knightsbridge, and then later, Conduit Street, Mayfair, were go-to destinations for men searching out the finest leather goods in the capital. Originally founded in 1878 as a small family business of saddlers and shoe smiths, the brand quickly evolved to become the best-known supplier of leather to the luxury automotive industry — with a roll call of distinguished clients including Bentley, Ferrari, Rolls Royce and Aston Martin. Connolly’s high quality hides grace the seats of the coronation coaches of the British Royal Family, the benches of the House of Commons, as well as the original Barcelona chair by Ludwig Mies van de Rohe (1886-1969) and most recently, the lightweight E-type Jaguar. “You haven’t lived until you have sat your naked butt on Connolly leather,” actress Joan Collins (b. 1933) reputedly said. Indeed very few labels, even the most venerable of French fashion houses, have Connolly’s storied heritage. The label was bought and transformed by Isabel and her husband, the fashion designer Joseph (who in the 1980’s showed the early collections of designers like Moschino and Galliano in his eponymous stores), into a purveyor of exquisite leather goods and beautifully designed clothing. After the death of Joseph in 2010, the brand sadly shut up shop; but to the relief of its many fans, the label quietly relaunched in 2016 with a stunning new home at 4 Clifford Street, Mayfair, in a Georgian townhouse dating from 1719 and one of the oldest in the area. A witty and refined mix of classical and contemporary design, the space was meticulously restored and re-imagined by French interior architects Patrick Gilles and Dorothée Boissier into a three-storey retail space showcasing the label’s clothing collections, homewares and art. The furniture, upholstered in linen or leather is bespoke and the fixtures hand-crafted in fumed oak, marble and hornbeam; a harmonious synthesis of modern and traditional, minimal and ornamented — much like Connolly itself, each element is beautifully detailed and yet nothing screams for attention (perhaps a nod to the work of French decorator Jean-Michel Frank, who’s sparse elegant furnishings Isabel holds in high esteem). Despite myriad changes and incarnations Connolly has always stayed true to its core mission of coupling the rich heritage of classic motor racing with a strong sense of British know-how and European flair. With Isabel’s approach of “less consumerism, more quality”, the brand offers a thoroughly modern take on luxury and provides a welcome and artisanal alternative to PR driven big name behemoths.
The handcrafted staircase at Connolly, Clifford Street, designed by Gilles & Boissier, photograph by Michael Paul
What was it that drew you to a career in fashion?
I fell in love with Joseph Ettedgui.
Anthony Hussey, one time director of Connolly Leather, told the FT he wanted the company to become the English Hermès; is that a statement still applicable today?
Anthony worked very closely with me at the start of the Connolly retail story — he’s part of the Connolly family and believed completely in the design story and its retail application. I don’t think we could have developed the brand without his enthusiasm and belief. I’m always amazed when we get compared to Hermès — I think it’s because we started in leather and care passionately about the artisan and the quality; but what Hermès do is so beautiful so perfect so valuable that it’s something we should all strive for in this world of crazed consumerism!
Andrée Putman famously designed the original stores on Mount Street and Conduit Street. Why did you choose Gilles et Boissier, another interiors firm with a particularly French flair, to design your new London headquarters?
It’s strange isn’t it ? I’ve always worked well with French designers — their ethos of mixing modern and classic appeals, along with a vigour and understanding of artisanship and quality joinery. Gilles & Boissier also designed our last flat and as I wanted the new Connolly very much to feel like a home — it was a great choice. We completely understand each other and they know my style, my furniture and my art and I know and understand their way of designing and working very well; we respect and like each other enormously. They designed the Moncler stores so I also knew they understood the less exciting retail requirements but could make something very remarkable too. The shop staircase is probably the most beautiful thing we’ve designed together ... the greatest pain to build and conceive, given the requirements of listed building consent and Georgian proportions and strange uneven angles ... it was fitted by hand over three weeks, step by step ... but provides the greatest joy and the most accolades now!
In recent decades, both in terms of art, interiors and fashion, big name behemoths have tended to rule the roost and sadly we’ve seen independent boutiques and heritage brands disappearing from the streets of European capitals. Do you think stores like Connolly are playing a role in what seems to be a recently renewed interest in artisanal skill and craftsmanship?
We are, but it’s increasingly hard to compete with their marketing budgets, their consumption of raw materials and their general absorption of the creative oxygen; we all need to grow and prosper.
The first floor showroom at Connolly, Clifford Street, designed by Gilles & Boissier, photograph by Michael Paul
Connolly embodies a relaxed pared back formality; something traditionally associated more with the French and Italians. Do you think in recent years the English have adopted a different approach to dressing?
A very stylish English friend and I were chatting this summer about the first moment we discovered our style. For him, this happened in his early 20s, meeting two Italian friends who are still his best friends today ... through them he discovered that as a man he was allowed to take joy from dressing, pleasure from the cut of a suit, from the feeling of cashmere. So I think that we’ve learned from our European neighbours how to enjoy dressing. It’s a dialogue though, as I can see the English bespoke style and traditions and cloth inspire contemporary French and Italian fashion brands hugely.
I remember when in 1993 we first introduced the original car shoe — pre Tod’s — to the Connolly family and they could not believe people would buy shoes with rubber bobbles on the bottom to wear around town ... we persisted and they were persuaded! So yes I think our sports style has evolved out of the locker room and the boardroom into a more elegant European way of casual dress; and I think Connolly was very much at the start of that Riviera look, with our Loro Piana cashmere, Car Shoe and Valstar suede blousons.
Joseph Ettedgui was renowned for his incredible flair for design; how would you say it impacted your own sense of style?
Joseph had a great eye — his edit was impeccable and the detail came later ... he understood the big story. I’m more detail obsessed and I wish I could see the bigger picture more often. But god is in the details whether it’s service or product. Joe aligned every hanger 10 centimetres apart, his staff wore beautiful suits to work, he always had fresh flowers on every shop floor and he knew most customers by sight if not by name. Without that rigour you cannot grow a profitable business that encompasses menswear womenswear, designers, cafés and accessories. And without seeing the big picture you can’t work with great architects like David Chipperfield (b. 1953) and Eva Jiřičná (b. 1939) to create your retail environments and great photographers and art directors like Peter Lindbergh (1944-2019) and Pamela Hanson (b. 1954) for your campaigns. I hope I have understood the rigour, the times to let go and to let the team you’ve picked do their thing.
Isabel’s dining room, Clifford Street, with a Rose Uniacke table and André Dubreuil candelabra, designed by Gilles & Boissier, photograph by Michael Paul
You have an apartment above the shop on Clifford Street; do you find it difficult separating life and work?
It’s remarkably easy — I think if it was above my office it would be harder but the shop is so much a part of who I am and the team are so respectful of my privacy it works and allows an informal fluidity and a unique retail environment. If I had bigger premises I would adore to have another floor of extra rooms for friends who come to stay for a few days and need to be in town for PAD etc.
Who would you say is your favourite artist/designer from the past 20 years?
Lucas Arruda (b. 1983), a São Paulo based artist — his small landscape and seascape paintings are imbued with a sense of intimacy and infinity ... looking though a small window on a huge world painted from his imagination. And I also love Lynette Yiadom-Boakye (b. 1977), whose fictitious portrait paintings are so astonishingly alive and again painted from imagination and within 24 hours ... the speed the intensity and the paint techniques are extremely exciting.
Which designer, artist or architect do you think has had the biggest impact on your sense of style?
Jean Michel Frank (1895–1941) … eternal style in furniture, interiors, lighting … a vision that transcends time or place.
Which two artists would you collect if you could, one modern and one contemporary?
A late Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), from the 1980s ... the clarity and lyricism in these last works by the great painter have a luminosity and ethereal energy; nothing quite like it from any other painter! And a Magdalene Odundo (b. 1950) ceramic piece which takes me back to my roots, a visceral simplicity that is 3D perfection.
At Connolly you regularly stage exhibitions, from the work of contemporary artists like Spencer Fung, to the twentieth century photogravures of Karl Blossfeld. Do you consider the link between fashion and art to be important?
Crucial. I think they inhabit the same part of our imaginations and desires ... as adornment as signifiers and also as food for the soul. A designer is an artist with the same need for references inspiration and appreciation. Both are pretty tough and lonely roads to travel.
What’s the first important piece of art/design you ever owned, and which piece do you most regret parting with?
I bought a Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956) pressed metalwork grid candle holder at university and I have no idea where it went ... I hope to a good home, I knew nothing about the Wiener Werkstatte at the time and neither did the dealer — it was in a Scottish junk antique shop in Edinburgh in the late seventies. I loved its baseness and super modern form it seemed old but very new. With Joe we bought a pair of simple elegant Jean-Michel Frank side tables and sold them to the same dealer ten years later for something else ... but I regret it hugely.
Something you have your eye on?
A red Murano glass sculpture by Marcantonio Brandolini d’Adda (b. 1991) from Alma Zevi’s gallery in Venice, to hang against a crimson painted hemp canvas by Korean artist Ha Chong Hyun, with pigments mixed by his wife... from Lawrence van Hagen Art with a very early English wood chair that I missed at my friends antique store Gallery B.R in Tetbury … but wishing it will come back to me one day … the whole room is in my head. Alma Zevi (+39 041 520 9197; www.almazevi.com); LVH Art (www.lvhart.co) Gallery B.R (+44 (0)16 6650 2888; www.gallerybr.co.uk)
What’s your favourite room at home?
The dining room, it’s between the kitchen and the shop ... it’s simple and welcoming and where we all meet at this long draper's table from Rose Uniacke. If we’re eating you can see the food being prepared in the kitchen behind glass doors and it just feels like a happy space — with a couple of seriously good works of art and lit by a pair of André Dubreuil (b. 1951) crown of thorn candelabra, we bought over 30 years ago. Acoustically it’s all hard surfaces, wood floors and shutters ... so it’s a bit like eating in a trattoria but somehow the volume adds to the sheer enjoyment of the space. Rose Uniacke (020 7730 7050; www.roseuniacke.com)
Who’s the person that most inspires you?
Anyone brave .. who mends, cures, writes, creates and embraces the new and has an individual point of view that is different from the crowd. Emanuele Farneti editor of Italian Vogue is my top follow at present. He brings an independent intelligence and excitement to the role.
The first floor showroom at Connolly, Clifford Street, designed by Gilles & Boissier, photograph by Michael Paul
Where’s the most unforgettable place you’ve travelled?
Japan. Because it knocked me for six … the people, the culture, the food, the beauty, the craziness ... the traditions the restaurant Yakumo Saryo in Tokyo and the Odawara Art Foundation designed by Hiroshi Sugimoto. Yakumo Saryo (+81 3-5731-1620; www.yakumosaryo.jp); Odawara Art Foundation (+81-465-42-9170; www.odawara-af.com)
Where would you like to go next?
Japan — because I’ve only scratched the surface!
The site that most inspires you?
Château La Coste. It seems a very personal, almost organic curation and hugely generous of spirit, with great wine, delicious food and beautiful installations under the Provence sky. And there is nothing else quite like it anywhere in the world. It works in January and in July and if I was to take any child somewhere to interest them and learn to love art — here it is, and super friendly ! I heard that Paddy the owner, lets the artist choose exactly where they want to be on the land and what they want to do ... nothing about art-house power games. Created under the open skies, free for anyone to visit to see Richard Serra (b. 1938), Tadao Ando (b. 1941), Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010), Sophie Calle (b. 1953), Tracey Emin (b. 1963), Frank Gehry (b. 1929), Kengo Kuma (b. 1954), Lee Ufan (b. 1936), Ai Weiwei (b. 1957) and Renzo Piano (b. 1937) to name a few ... just astounding! Château La Coste (+33 4 42 61 92 92, www.chateau-la-coste.com)
If you didn’t live in London, where would you live?
Oh so hard — Greece I think, I seem drawn to these ancient lands, bounded by sea ... I love the powerful nature and sense of eternity you find in Greece; and cities like Athens that have an energy and a history with one foot in the past and one in the future. And the light in Greece shines far into the soul.
If you had to limit your shopping to one neighbourhood, in one city, which would you choose?
Marche aux Puces at Saint-Ouen in Paris and the largest antique market in the world. Walking through Marché Vernaison, browsing for smaller decorative pieces and paintings and jewellery and vintage clothes and linens then on to Paul Bert Serpette for furniture and bigger pieces for the home and a late lunch upstairs at the restaurant Ma Cocotte. My idea of a perfect Sunday. Marche aux Puces de Saint-Ouen (+33 (0)1 55 876 750; www.marcheauxpuces-saintouen.com); Paul Bert Serpette (+33 1 40 11 54 14; www..paulbert-serpette.com); Ma Cocotte (+33 1 49 51 70 00; www.lesbistrotspasparisiens.com)
What’s the best book you’ve read in the past year?
Self Portrait by Celia Paul (b. 1959). Born in the same year as me ... her description of becoming an artist in her own right with all the complications and resolution of those conflicts that men seem to suffer less ... to be able to devote themselves wholly to the creative process and her moving out of the huge shadow of Lucien Freud (1922-2011), her lover and father of her son, to become an artist in her own right. Words and images collide with a brutal honesty that made me sit up and realise certain things in myself and the strength it takes to move forward, on your own.
What would you do if you didn’t work in fashion?
Probably property ... or my secret dream which is to own a small hostellerie en route to a couple of European hotspots ... so people come by but can only stay a few days ... create a stopover that soothes the tired traveller and picks them up at the end of a holiday so they are not too sad going back ... that little bit of last minute pleasure after packing your bags for the journey home. Slower travel is the future. Breakfast only would be served and tea and cake in the afternoon and maybe there is a little gallery/antique shop ... no restaurant but with a good local to send the customers.
What’s next?
We’re looking at opening in Hong Kong and China with a partner but it’s all on hold. In many ways a future that is masked and virtual holds little allure for me or my team ... I have a strikingly beautiful winter collection designed by Marc Audibet with knitwear by Lorraine Acornley coming out this month and then we see. Each year I think maybe that’s it and then I see something that sparks my enthusiasm ... this time a suede shirt worn by Maurice Ronet in Plein Soleil and woosh off we go again with a new collection! We are also showing a young Berlin artist, Max Freund in the Autumn. Watch this space.
I am also collaborating with Jonathan Connolly on a new upholstery Connolly Leather collection and a project for a very fast Italian car …. And we are featured in the James Bond film coming out in November … so exciting things ahead!