The Sustainable Approach To Fashion Week With Model Camilla Deterre

It’s the eve of New York Fashion Week and Camilla Deterre is brimming with energy. Although the model and interior designer suspects she’s covered nearly 25,000 steps in the last few days, traversing the city for castings (her FitBit is working overtime!), she doesn’t have fashion fatigue in the least. In fact, the New York native has managed to keep pace with the neck-breaking speed of the city and the industry’s relentless demands. “I was hustling. It’s like, ‘That [casting is] all the way in Chelsea? No problem! I’ll hop on the L train!’” she says with a laugh. Expecting to walk for Eckhaus Latta this season and poised to attend shows for Sies Marjan and Priscavera, she’ll be on the go all week long, pulling double duty as both show-goer and runway fixture. In fact, the only thing slow about Deterre’s fashion week this season is her approach to what she’s wearing.  

While the thoughtful interiors guru, who is the mastermind behind some of New York’s most well-appointed haunts like downtown’s Primo’s and Mimi’s, is in-demand, she’s still sticking to her conscience and cutting down on the constant and wasteful need to have a new outfit for each show and appearance. Instead, Deterre is recycling her favorite looks from a slew of her favorite designers—Prada, Comme des Garçons, Dries Van Noten, Bottega—throughout the week to create “new narratives” for her beloved pieces. Why give in to the pressure of constant and wasteful wardrobe-rotations, she posits. Tying a chunky Comme des Garçons sweater around her neck and over a thread-bare printed frock from the Japanese designer, the TRR aficionado appraises her look in the mirror. Knotting up the knit unexpectedly is a styling hack the model swears by in the winter and solid proof there are plenty of new ways to affix tried-and-true staples into something fresh and revelatory.

Left: BOTTEGA VENETA Sweater; DRIES VAN NOTEN Shirt; RE/DONE Jeans; PRADA Bag Right: BOTTEGA VENETA Sweater; COMME DES GARÇONS Dress; LAURENCE DACADE Boot; CÉLINE Shoe

BOTTEGA VENETA Sweater; PRADA Coat, Skirt & Bag; LAURENCE DACADE Boots

It may seem like an obvious note, but in the age of Instagram, you have to admit we’ve been almost conditioned to never be photographed twice in the same ensemble. However, as the industry attempts to lower its carbon emissions in the next 10 years, this fashion faux pas is most certainly a must-have—and probably the very way to help you stand out in a crowd this season. Besides, what’s more telling of a fashion insider than subtly wearing archive Prada?

Here, in the first installment of our new series, Less Is More, the knowing model breaks down how to make recycling clothes anything but boring.

Personal Connections Go a Long Way at NYFW

“I try to go to things that have a personal connection to me or it’s a job, and avoid those things where I’m thinking, “Why?” I think personal things mean the most, like supporting designers I have worked with before like Priscavera. For someone like that, I’m going to turn up, like, ‘You’re a New York brand. I’ve known you forever.’” 

Keeping It Local
“I feel like I have more [fashion week rituals] in Paris, just because I am so into my own groove here in New York, but maybe I should start that here. I feel like I would go to the Odeon or maybe Raul’s, or one of those classic New York spots for dinner.”

PRADA Coat, Dress & Sunglasses; TRICOT COMME DES GARÇONS Sweater; CÉLINE Bag

Fashion Week Dressing Can Be Subtle and Impactful

“I think with fashion week and street style, there’s definitely a pressure to turn up. I don’t think that style is something that needs to be flashy or extra or outshine the person next to you. I feel like it is very much an energy thing and how you relate to people. There is this pressure to be a little bit more [elevated] than you usually would be. But I think at the end of the day for me, it is so much about being comfortable. So a heel would definitely never happen unless for a dinner or if I know I am going in a car, maybe standing outside with a couple of cigarettes. But I am not going to walk all the way from the West Side [in a pair]: that’s when the orthopedic shoes come in! I think for the most part, though, my style is comfortable, and maybe one thing can be loud. I try to avoid an Instagrammable brand that has got a lot of hype, or a designer that everybody has.”

JIL SANDER Coat; TRICOT COMME DES GARÇONS Sweater; DRIES VAN NOTEN Shirt; WALES BONNER Pants; PRADA Sunglasses

Prada Is In Heavy Rotation
“I am forever loyal to Prada. I think the past two years have been a little bit disappointing.  Although the last collection, I was into.  For me, the brand holds this additional interest in fashion from when I was very young, I see pieces now and I’m like, “Oh my god, I remember being 13 and that boot came out. Why do I know that?” Before I was even working in fashion or anything, but it really stuck with me. I also love older Comme des Garçons, Jil Sander, Marni, Dries van Noten. And then Celine—I am into the shoes.”

TRICOT COMME DES GARÇONS Sweater; COMME DES GARÇONS Dress; LAURENCE DACADE Boots

Add To Cart
“I bought these amazing Ann Demeulemeester shoes recently. They are so cool. They go up to the knee, supple, leather with a heel. Then I bought some Jil Sander crochet leather sandals with a heel – so not my style but I will totally wear them.” 

With Consignment, Past Is Prologue
“I think we need to be very conscientious and aware of our impact, and I think we can work in this industry in a way that’s a little bit more in tune and aware. We’ve lost touch with the idea that clothes are something that belong to us and travel with us through our lives — it’s not just like… ‘New look, next thing! Keep it fresh, keep the content new!’  The narrative of ‘Somebody else has owned this and loved this, and now I can have it for years and then I will pass it on’ brings life back into these things that were created with intention. Whether it is consignment or vintage, for me, it is the impact and then the story that an item holds into it.”

COMME DES GARÇONS Dress; BOTTEGA VENETA Boots; Camilla’s Own Jacket

A Piece’s Value Doesn’t Come Down To Its Price Tag

“What is the value system anyway? I can spend $600 on a skirt from Prada and have it for however long and love it, but I can also buy a sweater at Uniqlo and literally love it as much. You know what I mean? For me, the value is exactly the same because it is not monetary, it’s personal.”

Lived In Clothes Immediately Feel Right
“Whenever I bought new stuff, usually those items just sit in my closet for a solid four months until I am ready to say, ‘Okay, you belong to me. You have been living amongst my stuff but let me see if I can figure this out.’ Only a few times have I bought something and put it on immediately. But for some reason when something I know is pre-loved or pre-owned, I am like, ‘This works.’ It just really feels like it belongs somehow.”

Fashion Week Dressing Can Be About Breathing New Life Into Your Closet Staples

“New narratives are more relevant than new items. It can change the story in which a piece is existing, so if you are going out at night or you are going to a show, you are building these new stories for these items, rather than putting new items on that don’t even have stories. I mean where is the belonging? I definitely think that less is more—and that can be applied to everyone. It is not about constantly having something new. It is about loving and using. I love lending something to someone, and then they keep it for a little too long and then getting it back and you are like, ‘Oh sh*t!’ And it is like literally getting something new except it is so you.”

Find your own new-to-you uniform with our editors’ picks.