Katie Holmes & Judith Touitou on French Girl Style, the ’90s & Their A.P.C. Collab | Vogue

When Katie Holmes walks out of the house in a cute outfit, we pay attention. The actor of Dawson’s Creek fame is consistently a top-performing celebrity on Vogue.com, and this week she visited the Vogue closet for The Run-Through With Vogue podcast to talk with host Chloe Malle about her latest endeavor: a collaboration with A.P.C. Together with Judith Touitou, A.P.C.’s artistic director, Katie discussed the new collection and why working on it felt so organic: while she has been wearing the iconic French brand since the 1990s, Judith has admired Katie’s work and style for years.

Director: Catherine Orchard
Director of Photography: Frances Chen
Editor: Michael Suyeda
Producer: Gabriela Marie Safa
Podcast Producer: Alex Jhamb Burns
Associate Producer: Lea Donenberg
Gaffer: Jonathan Alvarado
Assistant Camera: Kirsten Potts
Grip: Riede Dervay
Audio: Lily van Leeuwen
Production Assistant: Quinton Johnson
Set Designer: Elaine Winter
Set Design Assistant: Clara Hawn
Hair Stylist: Creighton Bowman
Makeup Artist: Vincent Oquendo
Hair & Makeup Artist: Yuvgene Wright-Mason
Production Coordinator: Ava Kashar
Production Manager: Natasha Soto-Albors
Line Producer: Romeeka Powell
Senior Director, Production Management: Jessica Schier
Assistant Editor: Justin Symonds
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Erica DeLeo
Post Production Supervisor: Alexa Deutsch
Associate Director, Post Production: Nicholas Ascanio
Director, Content Production: Rahel Gebreyes
Senior Director, Programming: Linda Gittleson
VP, Global Audio: Suzie Lechtenberg
VP, Video Programming: Thespena Guatieri

00:00 – Intro
01:12 – A.P.C. / Katie Holmes Collaboration
06:04 – Katie’s favorite pieces
06:36 – The quilt
09:00 – How A.P.C. designs clothing
11:15 – Katie on the ’90’s
12:05 – Katie’s accessories influences
13:20 – Katie’s shoe approach
15:05 – Do photographers change the way Katie dresses?
16:35 – Judith’s dream day in NYC
17:48 – Katie’s dream Paris day
19:45 – “French Girl Style”
22:34 – Katie’s favorite place in France
23:25 – French sensuality
25:18 – The one piece that embodies the collection

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I don’t know that the the the very low low lowrise jeans need to be Revisited it’s definitely back and it’s at your own risk is it really back come on Vogue we have two amazing guests Judi TWU is the artistic director of the iconic French brand appac APC Katie Holmes needs little introduction you know her from many incredible projects most recently rare objects a film she directed produced and acted in last year and of course we all fell in love with her on Dawson’s Creek they are joining me today in the Vogue closet and we’re so excited to hear about this collection and Katie was just telling Judit about how she wish she brought her kitten which I was curious about my kitten loves fashion what does that mean she loves a garment bag she loves hopping in a garment bag does she like get in shoes yeah sometimes she’ll hide in a little boot or something my dog has very good taste with shoes he only eats my nicest shoes of course yeah yeah attention you two collaborated on apc’s latest collection it’s a capsule collection and I’m curious how that came to be because to me APC is such an iconic French brand and Katie to me you’re such an iconic American woman where did that marriage happen how did you two meet we met in New York and I’ve been going to the APC store on West Forest and on Mercer Street for many years and I was first introduced to APC on a film set touch with fire okay and um the Wardrobe designer the costumes were um limiting because it was mostly like t-shirts and jeans okay because of the circumstances of the characters and she taught me how important those details are because when you when you’re kind of limited in that way how do you reveal something about the characters just through the the little details anyway so that kind of transcended into me just going to APC very often and um what was the first thing you ever purchased at the store jeans okay yeah and then I remember was it Vanessa Bruno that Vanessa seal maybe see yes um who did the collab yeah yeah and then how did you two how did the collaboration the idea to design something together come about in my office I kept receiving those press Clips where where we saw uh you know Street styles picture from ktie very often wearing ABC and I we found her so stylish you know sometimes we sit down and we’re like oh who should we collaborate with who would be fun to work with and uh I was like you know in America there’s this one girl she has such great style and I think she knows who we are cuz she’s wearing our stuff wow so I reached out to KY in the beginning as in a blind de I think like you know hi Kitty I’m Judi would you like to do something together so then I think the next step was uh she was coming to Paris and John brought her to our archive we have huge archive in where do you keep it it’s under our store that is in R Royal so really very Central and it’s a huge space with a thousand of I don’t know it’s a Dre tell me it like because I love APC so much I I it was it was I I felt kind of Star Struck like oh my God I’m seeing this piece from this time and um it was just beautiful and it was also it was APC pieces and also some other um brands that were inspirational pieces everything was so cool um which is APC so it just made sense and so I just I I absolutely loved it so I was just taking lots of pictures and um what I really value so much about working with um APC is is the um safety and the uh Freedom that they offer and just like you feel so good to I mean the whole energy of our collaboration was whatever you feel like let’s just start there and so there wasn’t any pressure at all and I feel like it’s taught me such a great lesson in in creating and and creating with others and um was it the first time you’ve done a fashion collaboration or you done that something in the past um I’ve worked in fashion um but never I’ve never come into someone else’s space and um that can be very intimidating and you you made me feel like all of my ideas were worth um investigating and I think like that’s wonderful like and so that every phone call i’ be like yeah great I think I’m going to get another call did you do it over Zoom was it all over calls or Whatsapp or how were you guys communicating we did a few zooms we did a lot of FedEx exchanges it was really nice I think to that that archive was the the beginning the starting point of the collab and every time we do what we call interaction just to enhance the fact that it’s a like a ping pong of ideas you know it’s an exchange it’s quite challenging because we ask someone okay if you were to do your favorite wardrobe in let’s say 20 pieces what would that be it might sound like a simple question but in fact it’s not so it’s a lot of of dialogue and I think ktie really impressed me because her choices was always very clear and she had like this very smart and uh thoughtful idea of what a woman today should wear to feel confident and beautiful but being herself all the time Katy what was what are two favorite pieces from the collection for you I love the quilt because um oh yes I want to talk about that uh that yes I like our color scheme I was looking at a lot of Agnes varda movies and one of my favorite movies is one sings and the other doesn’t and I feel like the color palette in that film is so vibrant and I also just love that film and so the oranges and the pinks and the Reds they just are powerful mhm uh for Wom to wear and so I feel really proud of our colors and and it’s you know it’s more than just this time of year you know it’s just those colors are good I want to hear about the quilt because I loved in the lookbook you’re wearing it as a strapless dress and it reminded me of ASAP Rocky’s quilt that he wore to the mech Gala in 2021 I mean I I think quilts are there’s always a big quilt moment but they’ll probably be calling yes here it is where did the idea to quote come from it’s inspired by one that your mom made right mhm well you can start with your yeah I mean at ABC it’s been I think more than 10 years that we we upcycle the leftover of our production so it’s there’s always Fabrics that are not you know we order too much Fabrics all the time we collaborate with this incredible family Factory in in India where they hand quilt so uh we have a a longtime friend Jessica Ogden who design quilts from our leftover fabrics and uh this program has a lot of success because it’s I think quilts are very emotional yeah so when Katy saw the quilts uh I mean she she she asked me oh could could we have one of my mom quilts in the collection and was of course because it’s it happens to be something we know how to do and we have a great makers she sent me a few pieces from her mom I picked my favorite and we try to reproduce it with fabrics and that’s it is your mom still quilting oh yes okay yeah is there one quilt that you had in mind or is this a constant stream of quilts that she is making she makes a lot of quilts um and I think she had just sent me a few and I was that’s when I got the idea that’s uh it was more timing okay but she’s done all different kinds everything from you know quilts that has all different kinds of shoes on it and like holiday ones and beautiful okay well I like the design of this quilt I like all of the different circles um and I like this fabric a lot it’s liberty it’s liberty yeah I love this blue and I remember when I was uh working in London that the LI I would go to the Liberty store oh my God all the time it’s so wonderful it’s wonderful thank Jud um your husband je started APC in 198 7 so long time ago now yeah and I feel like for me it’s become this sort of classic of a Chic French woman who’s on the go who to me now I’m I have two young kids and I have my APC cross body bag that’s what I have every weekend that’s what I’m sort of carrying with me all the time and I’m wondering like are there trends that you pay attention to with that are coming and going as you’re designing or is it very much just this is the classic Chic French woman’s Staples that they need to get through their day in a way that makes them feel good and look good it’s more like uh we try to propose a wardrobe walking in the streets you’re always influenced by Trends so yes there will always be a trench coat cuz it’s not possible for any woman to not have a trench coat for instance but nowadays I think we would wear them longer than before and maybe after the big oversized moment we’re going to go back through to a little bit more fitted but it’s more like yes always re interpreting um I hate the word Basics MH but I would say the essentials for a woman’s life or a man’s life and um to go back to ktie I think that’s where she was really really clever cuz in my opinion uh her collection you could just have that for every time of your day for any circumstance uh cuz like you can play with there’s this white T-shirt who can be worn with jeans with super lback with Flats but in the same collections you have platform shoes that and if you wear that same white T-shirt but underneath the black suit then it becomes super Chic so I guess our brand is more about how to style it which I hope in my opinion there’s no recipe it’s a we’ve always thought of um our clothes uh in a way like people should just wear them the way they want you know like you can do anything with it Katie do you have any of the original pieces you got from ABC like ’90s items that you’re still mixing into your wardrobe today I have uh a great like chocolate brown leather jacket that’s I guess a trench yeah oh do you remember that yeah I do and I have a lot of the repurpose jeans okay do you we’re in a moment right now where 90s style is resurfacing a lot even early a style are there any Trends from the ’90s that you definitely don’t want to see come back hm deleted they’ve all been deleted like bad cell um but we looked at the early or the late ’90s early 2000s with um you know the camisoles and the scarves and the mini skirts so that’s there’s an influence of that you did design a lot of accessories for this collection which I was excited to see like the bag does feel quite retro to me are there were there influences you had when you were looking at the accessories particularly what I love about the bags at APC in general is the size I feel like the smaller the bag the more organized I feel and I’m not recipient of everyone else’s stuff yeah because I can’t fit it yeah and it just it I feel like it finishes an an outfit and I wanted a bag that was Chic but understated and one that kind of goes with everything yeah so that you don’t I’m not a person that likes to change my bag all the time I it’s I don’t really have a lot of time for that but we also have a bag that’s quilted to kind of go along with the theme of the quilt oh there’s a quilted bag oh how fabulous yeah oh that’s cool did you design nose rings for this collection no okay I don’t think nose rings are really interchangeable oh really I didn’t know that so you you will you tell us about getting your nose pierced a couple years ago it’s not really a story okay all right it’s just I feel like people love it the vogue.com audience loves anything that you are wearing and so they’re very interested in nice from your nose but also your shoes they’re obsessed with anything with like your shoes people want to click on how do you decide like what what’s what’s your shoe approach as we sit with hundreds of shoes behind us oh I often find that I plan an outfit starting with a shoe just because it makes it easier for me to sort of think up but how does the shoe fit into your dressing um I think since the pandemic I’m less likely to Center an outfit around a heel yeah also just living in a city and I like to walk um everywhere um so that makes me uh go towards flats and sneakers so for me shoes I I just like to keep it simple in working on this collection it was like to me I wanted to really honor APC the quintessential French platform or wedge and um because I feel like that is comfortable and to me it’s like a high flat I feel like dressing like a French a French woman is so aspirational and yeah so it it it allows you to literally step into another role and and to into that fantasy of being in Paris I think I share that dream with a lot of American women I think you do so I wanted to put that in the in the story and then I saw these in the archive okay and I just love so cute had a crush I had a crush on these shoes that was the easiest part to just reproduce shoe from 20 years ago Katie as we’ve just said you’re photographed a lot on the street in your street style and people love it does it change the way you get dressed if you’re out just running out for an errand do you think oh I wore that yesterday someone’s going to see that again no I try to not look bad if I may say um it’s the thing getting to know Katie a little bit more than in the beginning you have a self-confidence that makes you so stylish I think that’s the I guess that’s the best recipe to to look good we always talk about and I understand if you are sick of talking about this but the moment when uh in 2019 you hailed a cab in the Kate braw it and it sold out hundreds of times and people were just obsessed with that is there ever moment like that where you’re like oh I didn’t realize that would sort of live in infamy like that have you reworn it or does that feel like then that has to be archived because it had such a major moment No I gave it to a friend okay I was like I’m not going to wear this again I can’t yeah it’s true it’s so weird so I was like it never really fit me that well anyway so will you be wearing the ABC quilt on the streets of New York absolutely oh good I’m exced definitely I think I think a little wrapped with like maybe a cowboy boot oh I love that subtle just very subtle and you know um minimal minimal minimal um I’m not quite sure where I would go in it but I’m sure maybe a coffee for a picnic a picnic Judi how what’s a dream day in New York City or in Paris for each of you as visitors to the other one you mean a dream day together well what’s your dream day in New York well that was yesterday I guess just yesterday was a dream day we had a a walk through our collection with the New York Press so I have a lot of people I love here that came and say hi I don’t know it was such a beautiful day in New York yesterday everybody was out and in this like crazy style which for us I mean you talking about French style as something really nice and I I I concur but also for me U coming to New York and seeing all those people in different styles and quite eccentric um it’s a highlight what’s the craziest saw yesterday all those guys with very feminine stuff I love it I really do I feel like it there’s a new moment for um feminity for everyone it’s very soothing as a woman to see that Katie what’s your dream Paris day when you’re visiting Paris and do you dress differently in Paris I bought this when I was in Paris a couple years ago this skirt okay because I is it ABC yeah I wanted I would I I wanted to look foran um my perfect day in Paris yeah um I’ve had some funny moments in Paris in one moment I went from feeling at the top of the world to really not um and it was had to do with the Metro because it was you know when you figure it out and the first time I did it I didn’t know how those things work yeah we laughed so hard cuz I was like you know you’re kind of afraid cuz you’re like oh my God what if it gets me they have a different Turn Style at the French Metro exactly so and it was only when somebody behind actually stuck the ticket all the way in cuz I kept going in and out anyway and then I was like okay but we we made it to like the first stop and I was like okay okay cool got this we’re on the next one and and then it just doesn’t go to the next stop and I was like uhoh I don’t know what the announcement was and whatever it all we figured it out but it was it’s so funny or it’s not funny it’s so interesting when you’re in a city where you don’t know the language yeah my best day in Paris would be I mean we had a great time doing the photo shoot and it was the first time I did a photo shoot in Paris and we were outside and outside the store everyone was so proud and it was a celebration of you know we’ve been working on this for like a year and a half or so so coming and also it was very easy you was very smooth and that makes such a difference and that’s been the whole process it’s like very smooth lovely and how are you learning French you said you’re trying I mean I tried classes during the pandemic and I got very was too much I must say it’s not the easiest language to learn but already if you watch our French movies there you go it’s a start it’s a start so we do have have this phenomenon in the US where people are obsessed with French girl style and Katie was talking about that a little bit and I’m just curious Judi what does French French girl style mean to you a French woman style that makes it so aspirational to so many women if I’m being really honest my deep thought about that is like trying not to do too much so you start piling up clothes and then getting to the IDE essential I think we value um simplicity so there’s no recipe for that unfortunately Katie what how would you describe French style and is there ever a time you’re thinking about it for example and you said when you’re in Paris yeah I I feel like to add to what you’re saying it’s that Simplicity but it because it embodies the way of living you know when you go to Paris um it feels more deliberate and sometimes I feel there’s so much stuff all the time um here and so I think it’s it’s intentional and it’s deliberate and it’s power and I think it’s the confidence of being simple and trusting what you’re wearing is enough um you don’t have to put everything on you don’t have to um follow some sort of trend it’s just easier and there’s not I never feel like when I look at a French woman that she has 30 of the same sweaters or 20 you know I it feels very she has a specific closet and that’s it yeah she wouldn’t have that it’s amazing but she would probably have one great pair of black pumps yeah I think we we are lucky we live in a country where we have an Heritage for a really great um French intellectual like uh Simon the b or margarit duras who really worked on the empowerment of women yeah and I think even if it’s not conscious growing up in this country reading those books that are mandatory at school they make us believe in our power and so this means you don’t have to to use too many tools yeah to just be yourself and Katie you were saying that your perfect day in Paris was the day you spent shooting the the the lookbook but are there any parks you like to go to when you visit or a restaurant you always love or a crep I don’t know getting a crep at a crep stand I really love The Gardens of Versailles M I think what is wonderful is because you can walk everywhere um I I really like wandering and and coming upon things the last time I was there I found a beautiful chocolate store and it it’s been around for so long and you just I forget the name of it it’s right by the Picasso Museum okay but just the smells and just this the sensuality that exists in Paris you feel like you’re in Swans in love it’s wonderful it’s the mood it’s not necessarily when I go to Paris oh I have to go there I have to go there it’s it’s it’s a mood it’s just wow I’m here and then did to be to walk the streets where margarite D Ro sped and and and you know like these wonderful female writers it’s um yeah that’s also very empowering and inspiring yeah Judith there was a great quote that Jean said a few years ago about describing sensuality doesn’t have to be about you know a garter belt that a a little sock being exposed can be just as evocative how would you describe the sensuality of APC and also of of the way French people dress and put themselves together in the morning uh well to me that sensuality is just um when you achieve being super authentic about who you are so it’s choosing the clothes that fits you best or reflect the most easily your personality cuz if you’re going to seduce someone it’s going to be through who you are not what you wear the APC clothes are made for making you look good yeah uh but whatever that would be it would be a dress or it can be a t-shirt like for me the best item from our collaboration with ktie is her white tea I think in this t-shirt you look like just fabulous because of the proportion of the sleeve because of the Fabrics that that is a little bit thicker for me there’s nothing as sexy as a white tea but it’s just because with a white tea you you can express yourself truly there’s nothing that’s more attractive than being honest and um I feel that ktie has that incredible quality and I think that’s why people admire her style so much is because she’s always herself and will you describe the collection just a couple of pieces that you feel like really embody The Collection or Katie what’s one piece if you for PE for listeners who can’t see it what’s one piece that you would want to describe to them well um I love uh jeans mhm um that is I do have a collection of jeans um how many jeans do you have I don’t know but I have a lot of APC jeans okay because not only do I feel cool mhm they fit really well when we were talking about making jeans um well this whole collection has a more 70s vibe and so it was like the high-waisted wide leg for a couple reasons it goes with that kind of era and but it also is very flattering and and I think fun for the summer I love a high-waisted Jean with a with a tank top it’s just easy natural I think the that is the thing APC is natural you get to be a girl you get to be a woman you get to be all different parts of yourself all at the same time and you’re not hidden by the clothes the clothes just support who you are and so I feel like this collection is a ND to another era but it’s also very present right now and I love our shirts that are but what would you call that that have the scoop neck and a peasant blouse peasant blouse a peasant blouse I just think that that’s we worked on the link so it doesn’t write up when you’re picking up a child or picking up your purse or whatever peasant bosses always make me think someone you know it’s very artistic it’s creative and very French and also very sexy because it’s it’s easy and it’s natural I you added the Pearl buttons and that oh that’s pretty that detail is why a French woman is Sexy And if a man doesn’t know about the about that button next yes you know what I mean cuz that’s taste well thank you both so much thank you and that’s it for the run through of Vogue bye [Music]