My Blogger Life: Garance Dore On Designing And The Key To French Style

Garance Dore refers to herself as a 'first generation blogger,' as she set up her fashion illustration and street style blog (or should we say empire) back in 2006 before the days of Instagram and bloggers on the front row.

Almost a decade later she is one of the most powerful figures in the industry. Her secret? She is Parisian chic personified.

Garance's latest project is a collaboration with Equipment, where their silk shirts and scarves are covered in her illustrations. We caught up with Garance to find out about designing the collection, her style rules and what we wouldn't know about her from reading her blog...

Grazia Daily: What was the idea behind your collaboration with Equipment?

Garance: "Equipment is one of my favorite brands! We've done many projects together and one day, we talked about collaborating on a design and how fabulous it would be. I knew that with them the quality and price point would be impeccable, and that was important to me!"

Grazia Daily: What do you think is the key to getting the signature French style?

Garance: "It's always simplifying, and not be too afraid of imperfections!"

Grazia Daily: What is the inside of your wardrobe really like?

Garance: "I keep buying the same things, which is actually very French of me! I have lots of white jeans, shirts (most of them from Equipment), and coats. Coats take so much space. But I love them!"

Grazia Daily: What are the 5 things you think everything should own?

Garance: "A white tee shirt, a white men's shirt, a pair of straight jeans, a pair of ballet flats, and a pair of black sunglasses. Add red lipstick ;)

Grazia Daily: What is on the top of your shopping wishlist?

**Garance: "**I want a personalized necklace by Philip Crangi."

Grazia Daily: What would you never blog about?

Garance: "I don't know!!! I don't really have boundaries. Oh yeah I rarely Instagram photos of my famous friends."

Grazia Daily: What do you wear when you’re off duty that would never be on your blog?

Garance: "Sweatpants! I have a secret love affair with beautiful sweatpants."

Grazia Daily: What’s the one main thing you don’t think your followers know about you?

Garance: "They probably know everything there is to know about me : I'm an oversharer! Maybe the only things I stay private about are moments of pain. I usually wait until I've processed them - and hopefully can turn them into fun and educative stories."

Grazia Daily: What has been your biggest pinch-me moment?

**Garance: "**There has been so many but probably the day Pharell emailed me out of the blue just to hang out cause he saw I was in Miami. Pretty unbelievable. He's the best by the way. But we all know that!"

Grazia Daily: Who do you like to follow on Instagram?

**Garance: "**I follow 640 people it's getting pretty crazy and I can't keep up. I even miss my boyfriend's (@chrisnortonnyc) Instagrams! I can't think of a specific one but Dianne Kruger's is pretty cool, feels real. And funny ones like Texts From Your Ex, really funny."

See Garance Dore's style evolution in the gallery below...