It’s always a delight to meet a designer behind a favorite brand, and they are as beautiful and thoughtful as their clothes are. Every time I see Rose Colcord, the founder of classic and cult-favorite Cou Cou Intimates, I act like a complete parrot, doltishly memorizing her closet. Memorize no more, Colcord stopped by to share her favorites.
NICOLAIA RIPS: How would you describe your current routines? Are you superstitious?
ROSE COLCORD: I wish I was more chilled but I’m literally like a newborn. I need routine: A beginning to my day that orients me and an end that lets me digest and reflect. My day is basically: get woken up by my vibrating wrist-band alarm (obsessed), go on a run, end the final sprint with “Daisies” live at Coachella weekend one, cool down to “Start Me Up” by the Rolling Stones while I walk the block as if all my goals have already come true. Set one, maybe two, MAYBE three things I want to do that day. Cold shower, get ready, walk to the studio. Creative work in the morning, meetings in the afternoon. Home, phone off by 7 p.m., evening with my daughter. Cold shower to wash away the day. Put my daughter to sleep. Read until I knock TF out.
Are you traveling this summer? What’s your philosophy on dealing with the heatwave?
I just got back home to London from Paris. I travel quite a bit for work so honestly I’m excited to be home for a bit, an English summer is hard to beat. Everyone’s so happy because it’s so grim and grey the rest of the year. But I’m spending August in the south of France, between Biarritz and Île de Ré with friends and my daughter Iris!! So I’m excited about that. I literally wear the same five things on rotation, so summer packing is just my uniform/daily essentials.
My packing list:
A few antique slip dresses
Two to three handfuls of Cou Cou undies
3–4 pairs of ballet flats and Mary Janes (yes, all of them are coming)
Cou Cou tanks, tees and dresses
501’s
My journal and commonplace book
A Pointelle cardi to throw on for chilly night
My book (currently War and Peace - a light summer read!)
Azelaic acid
Artichoke tea bags
My Thistles sunnies
My philosophy on dealing with the heatwave is to embrace naturism at every opportunity and cold showers before bed.
How do you dress for the summer months? What’s currently in rotation?
I’ve been having so much fun getting dressed this summer!! I’m finally feeling more comfortable in my body since having my daughter. My uniform is either a vintage slip, a Cou Cou slip (favs right now are The Iris Slip or The Fleur Dress) or our pointelle slip skirt with a Cou Cou top (right now, The Rina Tee and The Muse Tank). Shoes are just a rotation of my Chanel flats and Mary Janes.
What’s on your reading list?
I’ve been on a memoir spree for the last year. There’s something so special about reading the arc of someone’s life and how they came to understand it. Memoirs are my self-help. As James Baldwin said: “You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read.” I just finished “The Cost of Living” which I loved. Also A Woman’s Story and The Years by Annie Ernaux—j’adored. But choosing what’s next for the rest of summer, I was craving a novel. Anna Karenina is one of my favourite books ever, so I took the plunge and went for a super light and easy summer read: War and Peace. I took it off the shelf unsure if I was ready for it. Honestly Tolstoy seems intimidating, but my dad told me (I don’t know if it’s true), that in Russia at the time you couldn’t really publish philosophy, so writers wove it into novels and tried to make them as readable as possible. He is just such a beautiful writer, holding up a mirror to all the beauty and ugliness of being human. Plus the chapters are short, so it’s actually quite digestible.
What’s your work process like?
I fluctuate between extremely disciplined and quite scattered. There’s no in-between. But fundamentally, it rests on the belief that if I’m clear on where I’m going and ruthless on the priorities, anything is possible. I think you don’t really need to know the “how” as long as you know the “what” and “why.” It’s so easy to move through the day as if it’s a thousand serious moves, but I try to approach work with a sense of ease and joy. I don’t really believe in solid plans. Just a clear goal and the determination and spirit to get there.
Design I think of as literally just staying in touch with what I want, what the girls want and a sense of duty to create it. But also discipline. Discipline to create less, better. And discipline to do simple, beautifully.
What’s something you never leave home without?
My Hydrojug and lanolin nipple cream (motherhood’s greatest beauty discovery).
Do you have any moments where you surprised yourself?
This last weekend I was in Paris for a Cou Cou shoot. It was also my first weekend away from my daughter since she was born. On the Eurostar home I started to write an essay in my personal journal for Substack (laptop dead), which I intended to be about my commonplace book and the annotation shorthands I use while reading. But instead (perhaps because I was literally writing it in my journal), it turned into this diary entry that just flowed out of me. What surprised me I guess, was the reminder that when we give ourselves space to reflect (“a room of one’s own,” as it were) how naturally we reconnect with our inner life. I went back and forth on whether to share it, as it was so personal and I’m quiet by nature. But I thought: if one person might resonate, that’s reason enough.
How do you ground yourself?
I’m such a cerebral person, so when I’m up there in my mind, anxious and tangled, I just need to get back into my body. Whether that’s a really long walk alone in nature or a run. Just being away from everyone else so I can hear my own thoughts. Then, once I’m back in my body, sitting down with my journal in peace and quiet. I read somewhere that “the quality of your writing reflects the quality of your mind” and I feel that’s so true. When I write my state of mind becomes so clear. Once a week I try to do a long session with my journal that’s almost my version of a prayer: what I’m thankful for, what’s going well, and what I need guidance or clarity on.
What does it mean to be intimate?
To be intimate, for me, means to be vulnerable. The courage to be like… so vulnerable and weird. The image that comes to mind is reading with my Nana—a whole afternoon together, the only words spoken being “cuppa tea?” There’s something so intimate about being in loving presence without all the chatter.
What advice would you give your future self?
Literally anything is possible. Just trust yourself. Energy is contagious, so be intentional with who you surround yourself with. Be as disciplined as possible about not being busy - busy is the enemy of creativity. And don’t take it all so bloody seriously! Have fun and get on with it!
Give me your sun, moon, and rising in divas. Jane Birkin sun…
I’m an Aries. That’s all I know. Though in moments of complete crash out, I’ll hit up everyone I know for their astrologer, their clairvoyant, their reflexologist who resets your vagus nerve and is apparently the reason for Charlotte Tilbury’s success. In a moment of crash out, I believe in EVERYTHING.
So fascinating to read about how you approach your business and creativity processes! Will pick up War and Peace as my next read! What your father told you about it really piqued my curiosity