An Interview With Elie Tahari

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E.T.: Well, I look at my collection, and I give it a description. My wife and I can choose a description. It has to be modern. It has to be clean. It has to be sexy. It has to be sophisticated. Those are the words we use to describe what goes on the line and what doesn’t go on the line. So, you know, I don’t manage always to achieve it—in shoes, handbags, and menswear—but eventually I’m going to get there. And once we get there, and this—how [do] you call it—formula happens, and it works, it’s going to be an explosion! An international explosion! You know, there was an explosion in luxury goods. There was an explosion in the lower price points, like Zara. . . . But there was nothing happening in between that can be the entry price into luxury brands. And I thought, "Once we bring all the ingredients together, it’s going to be an explosion."

L.G.: You discovered a part of the market that was not being served?

E.T.: Right.
 
L.G.: And you’re still kind of alone? You're the leader in this part of the market, and you don't have a lot of competition?

E.T.: Absolutely, there is no competition. And, you know, sometimes I wish there were more competition. Because the more people are competing, the more it’s interesting for the consumer to shop. And, you know, the fact of the matter, my wife is a big shopper, she'll tell you that.
 
L.G.: You allow her to wear other than Elie Tahari clothes?
 
E.T.: She does! And I encourage her because that’s the only way for me to learn. One of the ways, anyway, is through her shopping. And I see what shoes she buys, what handbags she buys, what she wears.
 
L.G.: Your wife, Rory [the couple married in 2000], is the creative director here. And she came out of television production. You came out of electrical engineering. Neither of you, I guess, has had a formal fashion education. And a lot of topflight people don’t—Tommy Hilfiger, Diane von Furstenberg, Giorgio Armani. These are people who don’t have formal fashion training. So what’s the role of fashion education for somebody coming into this business?
 
E.T.: I think it’s in the gut. It’s street smarts. It’s go with your feelings, go with your instincts, you know. It’s common sense. It’s nothing to do with the schools. If you believe in it, and you do it, and you feel it, and you follow what you feel—it happens. I don’t care what business you’re in.
 
L.G.: To what do you attribute your eye and your design sense? I mean, did that come from your parents?
 
E.T.: No, I didn’t even know the difference between polyester and wool when I started in this business. Somebody had to explain to me. I remember who it was too.
 
L.G.: Who told you the difference?
 
E.T.: My patternmaker. He was showing me fabric, and one was more expensive than the other, and I said, "They both feel good. Why is one three or four times the price? Explain to me."
 
L.G.: And here you were, the son of a fabric-store guy, and you didn’t know the difference between polyester and wool?
 
E.T.: I didn’t know any of it. . . . The wool is more expensive. But I wanted to know price and delivery. I think if you love what you do, your eye develops.
 
L.G.: And you had this idea of designing clothes for, as you put it, "real women as opposed to runway models."
 
E.T.: I’m very proud of it, the fact that when I do a fitting, I do it on people who work in the company, not from an agency that is specializing in models for fittings. You know, I want the clothes to fit different consumers. And the mistakes often a lot of designers make, they fit on a certain body, and it’s got to be perfect on that body. So it’s perfect on one body, but it’s not going to be perfect on other bodies. So you have to sort of [have] common sense. You have to sort of weigh which way to mix.

L.G.: What are you wearing right now?

E.T.: Um, my shoes—I don’t know if it’s Puma or something. My jeans are Levi’s. And it’s our shirt—and the jacket over there too, ours. The shirt is a classic. I mean, it’s got a touch of detail, but it’s a classic shirt. A cotton shirt.
 
L.G.: What’s it go for?
 
E.T.: About $240.
 
L.G.: What’s the most expensive item that you sell now?
 
E.T.: It’s a fur coat, $16,000. And some of our handbags go up to $4,000 sometimes.

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