Gabriela Hearst in 24 Hours
Talking sustainability and style with the Uruguayan queen of cool.
6.30AM I wake up every day at the same time unless I’m jet-lagged, in which case I wake up even earlier. I like to meditate for 20 minutes and have some time for myself. I actually look forward to being jet-lagged for this very reason! 7.30AM I live in New York’s West Village and my kids go to school on the Upper East Side. I leave the house with no make-up on. I’m very lowmaintenance when it comes to my beauty regime. The whole reason I cut my hair was because I realised how tangled it was getting after seeing a picture someone took of me. I was like, “Ok, it needs to come off.” Normally it’s between brushing my teeth and brushing my hair. I figured brushing my teeth was nonnegotiable! 8.30AM My studio is in Chelsea across the park, so by 9am I’ve basically done all of Manhattan. When I’m lucky I may get a few minutes of my time alone but it’s usually meetings, meetings, meetings. I have to be very strict now and put some sketching time in my calendar. 10.30AM At work, we’re still a pretty small team; 33 people in the whole company, but that includes freelancers and people we have in other countries. In the studio in New York however, we are usually around 18 and it’s mostly women 99 per cent of the time so it’s never boring! The office itself is all made from reclaimed materials and I had all of the furniture re-upholstered. It’s a very calm place. I tried to keep things neutral as our collections are full of colour so I wanted to create spaces that can frame the product. I love having music on while we’re working too, but when I like something I listen to it a thousand times which I’m sure is annoying for my team. Right now it’s “Intergalactic” by the Beastie Boys. 12PM During the day I try to keep calm. I burn my incense in the studio and also have a bottle of perfume that someone gave me that I adore the smell of: Maison Francis Kurkdjian in Baccarat Rouge 540. I spray myself between meetings to help focus. 1.30PM If I’m in the office, I always try to have a healthy lunch. Something with eggs or salad. The problem is that I snack! I eat everybody’s snacks around the office so people just put food on their desks if they need a bit of my time. My guilty pleasures are sugar and The
Daily Mail online which is awful—I really can’t do it anymore. Gossip is incredibly ugly. 2.30PM I have a set time limit for my daily Instagram consumption. The problem is that I am a visual person so I’m attracted to images and Instagram is a fairly gluttonous approach to them. I try to be involved in our company account, though, as I think you have to be a representative. I haven’t been able to let go of that yet so it really is me who’s posting! I like there to be a certain authenticity about presenting myself and I just want to communicate the truth. 3PM I always wear my own brand—Gabriela Hearst—and I like to be comfortable. Not overly comfortable, though, because nothing great has ever come from being too cosy. I never want to be one of those people in track pants and sweaters all the time. That said, I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about what I’m going to wear, and that’s real thing of beauty with our sustainable collections; you have to work really hard anything not to match. You can mix it all up. Recycling and sustainability are at the core of the brand. Eventually, I want to get to a point where part of our collection is with stock from past seasons. I have confidence that we can make something really if the material is amazing. 5.30PM If I’m lucky, before I go home, I do yoga. I try exercise five times a week now, which I only started recently because I wasn’t doing exercise at all. I’m 42 and my doctor told me that I have a problem with my hip joint so I started taking care to strengthen my muscles. For me it’s a matter of health, both mental and physical. Everything I do is to stay healthy for my family and for my work. 7PM If I’m spending the evening out at dinner, my absolute favourite place to go is Le Bernardin in New York. It’s a classic and it never disappoints. Normally, however, I love to just go home and hang out with my family. I have three children of my own, and I have two step-kids. We are five in total. The youngest is my son, who is four, the twin girls are 11. My step-son is 22, turning 23 in October and my step-daughter is 24. It’s very rewarding! 8.30PM Before getting to bed each night, I pray. Spiritual connection is very important to me. I also love to read so although I go to bed fairly early, I usually don’t get off to sleep until around 10pm.
“I always wear my own brand— Gabriela Hearst—and I like to be comfortable. Not overly comfortable, though, because nothing great ever come from too being cosy.”