Personal Style: Judith Milgrom
The Maje artistic director takes boho style in an office-friendly direction.
The first thing I do when I wake up is meditate. I live in the 16th Arrondissement of Paris, and mornings are my favourite time of the day, with all the natural light streaming in the windows. We’re celebrating the 20th anniversary of Maje this year, and I often find myself thinking back to 1998, the year I decided to launch my own collection. I had been working alongside my older sister, Evelyne Chétrite, for several years on her label, Sandro. Sourcing fabrics from wholesalers was my first summer job in high school. Some might find that’s a lot responsibility at 16, but I loved it! At the time French fashion was dominated by luxury brands, and Sandro’s offering of high quality and stylish separates was unique in that it embodied that quintessential Parisian tailored elegance at a more accessible price point.
With Maje, I wanted to try something that felt a bit more bohemian and flirtier, more deeply authentic to my own personal style. My first store, on Rue du Four in the heart of Saint-Germain, was filled with silk, lace, prints, and vibrant colour inspired by my childhood in Morocco, where we lived until I was 10. The Maje woman is resolutely feminine, glamorous, and bold.
I try to meditate for 20 minutes, but somehow it’s always already past 8am when I look at the clock, so then I’m late and have to hurry up and get dressed! I’ve always adored peasant skirts and loose tops, but my sister finds it really funny that these days I’m most excited by more structured styles that toy with the masculine-feminine equation, like a button-down with whimsical bug embroidery or a single-breasted blazer that’s cut close to the body to reveal a woman’s curves.
Like most French women, I don’t like to wear a lot of make-up, though I am serious about my skincare routine. Every morning I start with either Sisley Paris Black Rose Cream mask or the Hydra-Flash for 10 minutes, followed by Biologique Recherche moisturiser and By Terry Hydra-Éclat Serum. I skip foundation and do just a touch of Face Stockholm concealer and pink Chanel blush. For my eyebrows, I go to a beauty studio that’s close to my apartment called Un Jour, Un Regard to have them shaped every two weeks without fail.
My driver comes at 8.45am, so I pack the things I need for the day in our signature leather frilled M bag. It takes about half an hour to get to the Maje offices in Rue du Mail in the Sentier, which was the city’s historic garment district. Today, it’s a lively neighbourhood filled with interior design shops, which I find super inspiring.
After I settle in, I quickly touch base with my assistant on all of my important appointments. I drink a lot of espresso and jasmine tea throughout the day. Coffee that comes out from the Nespresso machine just isn’t the same as you can get from a real Parisian café, so once in the morning and once again in the afternoon I’ll go down the block back to Le Moulin de la Vierge for a double espresso.
Next, I’ll meet with my studio manager and each of the four lead designers. I’ll review their technical sketches, and I often bring in personal items, like a glazed biomorphic vessel by my favourite ceramicist, Kristin McKirdy, to give direction on shape and colour. Music helps me work, so I make playlists on the streaming app Deezer with everything from the Bee Gees to Rihanna and French singers like Françoise Hardy.
I have lunch around 1pm, and I’ve been getting the same takeout order from Takara every day for the past four years: miso soup, seaweed or avocado salad, salmon sashimi, and a side of white rice. It’s the oldest Japanese restaurant in Paris and simply the best, but they don’t deliver, so I’m fortunate to have an assistant who’s willing to pick it up.
In the afternoon we work with a fit model on production samples. You can’t really get a sense from a hanger of how something falls. If we’re making a dress from classic men’s shirting material like cotton or linen, I want it nipped in at the waist. Another tweak I made this season was to crop our suit pants just a bit so that they can be worn with a flat boot or stilettos. I think seeing a flash of a woman’s ankle is really nice.
After the fitting I’ll have more meetings on topics ranging from e-commerce to merchandising and store windows. We’re getting ready to open a New York flagship later this year. It’s hard to believe we have close to 500 points of sale in France and abroad.
I try to wrap things up in the office by 6pm. Twice a week, I do Pilates at Studio Kinétique, where I practice on the reformer machine and take Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis classes. On the other evenings, I might take one more meeting, this time at the bar at Hôtel Costes. I design all of our pieces so they can go from day to evening with only a change of shoes. I wear sandals in the spring even when it’s a bit cold, so I always have my toes done. I prefer gold heels if I am going out.
For dinner, I love the organic pasta at Cibus, a tiny traditional Italian restaurant by PalaisRoyal, but it’s even nicer to cook for my family at home. After dinner I’ll relax with a good book, and I tend to go to bed early, around 10. I’ve been rereading the complete works of Romain Gary. I do think there are some classics you can’t improve on.