Isamaya Ffrench: Studio Iron, Mongolian Deel and The Power of Craft
An Excellent Fit
In this episode, beauty visionary Isamaya Ffrench joins hosts Kay Barron and Alice Casely-Hayford to discuss her transition from the makeup
Key takeaways
- Isamaya Ffrench has worked with major icons including Rihanna, Madonna, and Rosalia.
- Her new venture, Studio Iron, acts as an interdisciplinary gallery to bridge the gap between fashion, art, and design.
- She utilizes a personal style rule of defining three words for your identity and hitting at least two in every outfit.
- Her aesthetic is heavily influenced by her background in competitive highboard diving and her mother's technical knitting skills.
- She emphasizes the importance of 'possession' or being in a flow state when pursuing authentic creative projects.
Main topics
- Beauty industry career evolution
- Founding Studio Iron
- Personal style philosophy
Notable quotes
My life is just, it's all about function, really.
Conclusion
A profound look at how a multidisciplinary creative can leverage indus
Transcript preview
Speaker 1 (0:00) Welcome to An Excellent Fit, a podcast on style, culture and the stories we tell through what we wear. Because getting dressed is never just about the clothes. An Excellent Fit, Season 2, brought to you by ShopMai. I'm Kay Barron. And I'm Alice Casely-Hayford. Speaker 3 (0:16) So today we are joined by the incredible Isamaya French. I am so excited for this one. I'm very excited. We're thrilled to have her. But what have you decided to wear for this episode? Speaker 1 (0:27) Well, because I am obsessed with her Instagram and her look, Speaker 3 (0:32) I Speaker 1 (0:34) actually cannot kind of visualize what she's going to turn up wearing today. But I do feel I wanted to like have one kind of hit of colour. But I've gone with head to toe charcoal grey. Yeah. Which, you know, I mean, last season I wore one lick of colour. Exactly. So I'm trying, I mean, not that grey counts, but still a little bit. It's Speaker 3 (0:53) getting Speaker 1 (0:53) there, yeah. These trousers are the most flattering, like tailored trousers I have. And they're by House of Dagmar. Speaker 3 (1:00) So I've gone Speaker 1 (1:00) Swedes actually, because in the top is by Totem. Speaker 3 (1:04) Delightful. And Speaker 1 (1:04) I like the fact that it is the pull a neck, but... halter neck but I have to just kind of make sure I'm tensing my arms at all times. You look fab don't Speaker 3 (1:12) you Speaker 1 (1:12) Murray? Thank you. Lifting weights before I got here. And then I've got totem earrings in. Speaker 3 (1:16) Gorgeous. Speaker 1 (1:17) Silver which I don't usually wear but then I've gone for a hit of colour on my feet with bright red suede Alexander Berman and I've had these for years and years and I love them. I wore them to a wedding a couple of years ago and I had to borrow my friend's Birkenstocks. midway through because they're not they're not a dancing shoe no Speaker 3 (1:38) they're a perfect podcast shoe as you would say they're really pretty you Speaker 1 (1:41) are wearing I mean we've said this before you have the best dresses this is like one of my favorite dresses my favorite Speaker 3 (1:47) dress in my wardrobe this is JW Anderson it has seen me through two pregnancies and I just love how it's simple on top and then quite playful on the bottom which is like truly characteristic yeah exactly exactly me and Jonathan Anderson both doing playful at the bottom serious on top. And then finished off with some Le Monde Beryl shoes. You know, these are my favourite pair as well. Again, they're very understated and elegant, but then with a playful twist with the sparkle. So they're a bit Cinderella-y. And then I know that Isamaya loves amazing jewellery. So I whacked on this massive Chapova Luena necklace that just makes it a bit grungier. You Speaker 1 (2:26) can wear anything with that necklace and it kind of comes alive. Exactly. Yeah, that's a really, really good buy. Thank you. Should we meet her? I can't wait Speaker 3 (2:34) to. Speaker 2 (2:35) Let's Speaker 3 (2:35) do Speaker 2 (2:35) it. Hi, I'm Uzumir French and welcome to an excellent fit. Speaker 3 (2:39) Today we are joined by Isamaya French, the beauty visionary who has spent over a decade at the forefront of the industry as a makeup artist, creative director and total innovator. Isamaya's work has appeared in major fashion publications and on the most famous faces from Rihanna and Madonna to Charli XCX and Rosalia. Isamaya launched her namesake brand in 2022. founded in the belief that it enables people to be confident, expressive and completely yourself. An ethos that feels particularly aligned with an excellent fit. Speaker 1 (3:13) How Speaker 3 (3:13) are you doing? Speaker 1 (3:14) I'm very well, thank you for having me. Thank you for joining us. Thank Speaker 3 (3:17) you so much, we are so excited to have you. Speaker 1 (3:20) Very excited to have you here. But we asked you to dress in your favourite way today, so can you tell us what you've chosen to wear and why? Of Speaker 2 (3:27) course, well actually this is quite an unusual choice for me. I was talked into not wearing black and a metal band t-shirt for you ladies. So I'm wearing a Samuel Yang head-to-toe lilac number, which is quite out of the ordinary for me, but I'm sort of into it. And some Celine rubber boots because I had to bring something industrial into the room. There Speaker 1 (3:48) has to be some Speaker 2 (3:48) rubber there. There has to be some rubber there. Amazing. So Speaker 1 (3:51) I have to say, I think sometimes we do guess what our guest is going to wear beforehand. I didn't have a clue what it was going to be. So very size, yeah, lady liners. Speaker 2 (4:00) Do Speaker 1 (4:00) you know Speaker 2 (4:00) what? I had to get the bag in as well, actually. I thought, okay. This Speaker 1 (4:03) is our Speaker 2 (4:03) first bag, I Speaker 1 (4:04) think. Oh, is it? Well, I had to go all out Speaker 2 (4:06) for the ladies. So it's my cruder bag. A bit more rubber. Amazing. And some Pancanessi jewellery as well. And I love a bit of Pancanessi. I stack a lot for my jewellery, so. Speaker 1 (4:16) How many piercings have you got? Speaker 2 (4:18) Four and four. And Speaker 1 (4:20) you always wear them full? Speaker 2 (4:21) Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 3 (4:22) And are your fingers always as adorned as they are today? They Speaker 2 (4:25) are, they are, they are. And I've got a few tattoos under the rings as well. So, Speaker 1 (4:30) yeah, it's always a full house. I was thinking about it as we were talking about how you get dressed in the morning. Like this. But I want to say, the way they approach getting dressed, how do you also approach doing your makeup every day? Speaker 2 (4:46) And Speaker 1 (4:46) do they match? I really go through phases. Speaker 2 (4:50) I probably dye my hair more than I sort of change up my makeup look. It's that thing, talking about chefs eating fast food. I mean, the less time I have to spend getting ready in the morning, the better, really. You know, my life is just, it's all about function, really. Speaker 1 (5:04) And Speaker 2 (5:05) it's nice to do something like this today and put on a nice outfit and stuff. But... Speaker 2 (5:12) Yeah, seasonal, right? It's like, oh, we're moving into autumn. Let's bleach an eyebrow and go ginger. You know, it's that kind of thing. Often it sort of feels quite seasonal. Speaker 3 (5:21) So you said then that you would typically be in like a metal band tee and all black. So do you have a daily uniform? Speaker 2 (5:29) I don't really have a daily uniform. I think I tend to gravitate towards things that are very easy. I move around so much for work. My makeup work life is on set and on shoots and backstage and running around. And my old philosophy was I had to be able to run a marathon in whatever I was wearing, which has slightly changed now. I think I've grown up a bit. Speaker 1 (5:50) You can get a cab instead. Speaker 2 (5:52) Yeah, exactly. So every now and again, I treat myself. Speaker 1 (5:57) But yeah, I tend to keep it quite Speaker 2 (6:00) casual, I think, and easygoing most of the time. Speaker 1 (6:04) Based on your Instagram, Speaker 2 (6:05) I wouldn't say that's Speaker 3 (6:06) true. I know. Speaker 2 (6:09) Easygoing. Speaker 1 (6:09) No, I wouldn't say it's that casual. Interesting. But maybe it's because I'm looking at more of the kind of professional shoot, whether you're doing an editorial or something. Speaker 2 (6:21) Yeah, I Speaker 1 (6:21) think I am quite a laid back person at heart. And Speaker 2 (6:25) that tends to kind of come out in what I wear. But obviously, I like to surprise and I like new designers and that kind of thing. Speaker 3 (6:32) But do you think then that's quite, because your work in beauty is so avant-garde, do you think that that then means that the way you dress is kind of the polar opposite to that and you want to... Well, Speaker 2 (6:43) I'm just thinking maybe I do dress in an extreme way and just have no idea. Speaker 1 (6:48) I don't think it's extreme, but I think it's really, it's more interesting. And I think there's a lot of, which we're going to talk about in a bit, but there's a lot of... craft it feels like Speaker 2 (6:57) there's Speaker 1 (6:58) artisans in lots of parts of your life and I feel like you bring that into fashion as well that is totally true actually for you no no sorry now I'm thinking about it no Speaker 2 (7:07) no that's totally true yeah I think you know I feel like it's a very good point and I do feel like in every aspect of my life I do love individuality and craft and one-off things and something that feels like it's got real human touch to it. I think there's sort of two extremes of my personality. One