Gabriela Hearst: Redefining Luxury Without the Hype

0:00It's late. Your team has a launch to plan while your customer inbox fills up. No worries. In one prompt, Klaviyo builds the whole campaign. The emails, the texts, WhatsApp, all in your voice. Never without your okay. Plus, Klaviyo spots the revenue you're leaving on the table and answers those customer questions so your team can get some rest. Go to klaviyo.com slash best friends. You stick to your calling, no matter what the storms are, and you stick to it, you're going to make it. But when you make it, don't believe the hype. Because the moment you believe the hype is over.

0:40The last time I saw today's guest, she was butt naked in a sauna, being beaten with eucalyptus leaves by a man named Igor. My friend Gabriela Hurst also happens to be a legend in the design world. She's dressed everyone from Laura Dern to Jodie Foster to Zoe Kravitz. She even designed a dress for me last minute at the Met Gala. What I love about Gabby is how purpose-driven she is. She's been called the most climate-conscious designer in fashion. She produced the first ever carbon-neutral runway show and created one of the first luxury lines made for 100 % recycled cotton. Something that really traces back to how she grew up on her family's cattle ranch in Uruguay, where sustainability was just a way of life.

1:23So I had to ask her how she's biohacking her body to keep up with everything she does. In this conversation, we talk about how far she'll go for sustainability, how a chance encounter in an elevator with a design legend changed her life, and her advice for anyone chasing a creative dream. I'm Maria Sharapova, and this is Pretty Tough.

1:53in preparation of the interview today I was like my first thought is what am I going to wear because I'm sitting across from Gabriella Hurst and usually in this position I think I need to wear your power suit because it's like a body armor I'm protected and I'm like why do I need protection today I know you so well so today I wore your jeans and your sweater and I feel like this is something that I'd come to your house and wear and have a tea or a glass of wine. We're already starting like this. Emotional. Okay, we're going to go back to... No, I'm going to say, I love you so much. You're so sweet.

2:30And everything you wear looks amazing on you. Thank you. You need no armor. Thank you. You're very kind. So I want to go back to when we first met. It was 2021 and it was one of these very last minute invites that I received to the Met Gala. I think it's like two weeks before the Met Gala begins and someone for sure dropped out and my invitation comes in the mail. I'm like, I don't have anything to wear. And I was working with a stylist named Edward at the time and he said, I know who will do this last minute. And he immediately connected with you and your team. and they said, we will make a dress.

3:11So in two weeks, you make a dress, and the night before the Met Gala is the first time that I come in for the fitting. It's like 6, 7 p.m., and who shows up to the fitting? It's you, which I have to say is so unusual for anyone in your role, especially in the fashion world. The Met Gala is the event of the year for so many people in your industry, so to see you there and being hands-on, And I think I'd love for you to talk about why being hands-on is so important. I think being hands-on is something I learned from my parents from working in a ranch. And you only get respect from your team if you work as hard as they do.

3:57And that's the difference, the care, right, and the detail. I was speaking about your dress yesterday because we were talking about a sleeve. and it's like, remember Maria's dress, the sleeve. Big, fluffy, beautiful, pleated. Yeah, and it had different layers and different fabrics, the sleeve. And so, yeah, I actually was speaking about this dress. It was in my mind just that it looked amazing. Yeah, it was such a strong moment because, like, seeing you in that fitting room and being so hands-on in the process just made me realize that, wow, this is someone that is, like, just loves what she does, loves what she cares about.

4:37I usually love to start these interviews with a quote. And there's one that really struck me. And you say, no matter what you make, I want it to live in our client's wardrobe for the rest of their life. And hopefully their children will want to wear it too. And that's kind of the mere opposite of fast fashion, of what we see today. Why does that quality mean so much to you? Because clothes was hard to make. Right. Clothes was always a hand-me-down. I still, my mom, you know, we grew up in a rural environment and, but when the gauchos clean up, which is like the South American cowboys, they clean up good.

5:22And so my mother would have a very small closet, but it was, the things were made to measure to her because there were not nice shops to have. And so it was very few pieces, but very beautiful. And some of them I inherited, and some of them are part of my GH first collection, the Garilla Hearst collection that I first did. I did a thalier that she used to have with my dad's initials on it. And so it's this preciousness about clothes that we just have to remind that in so many cultures, it was always a hand-me-down. But what's the business case for that? Quality. and longevity yeah yeah and it's carrying it with you throughout your life it's a different path it's a uh a slower path I feel like it's a mentality like I grew up not having you know access to a lot of clothes and um and just many things didn't fit me because I was so tall and lanky and like all my trousers were very short and I didn't think about like you know fashion in any way other than I just needed to get dressed.

6:33But I remember moving to the United States and my mom saying, it is so much more valuable buying a cashmere sweater than something that has sparkles or pink on it. And I think that was like, in a way, her, you know, her lesson about teaching me like good quality stands the time. I remember you and I had this conversation last year, perhaps, where I questioned you on an item from your collection. Yes, exactly. The hunter jacket. Exactly. What is it called? It's called the hunter jacket. And it was my favorite jacket at the collection that you showed in Paris, which I saw in person. And I thought, when this collection comes out, I have my eyes on this jacket.

7:16And it comes out and I see the price tag. And I'm like, I think it was like$6 ,000 or$7 ,000. And I thought, wow, how many times am I going to wear this jacket? Is it really worth it? What is it made of? Why is it that expensive? And you spend the next several minutes explaining the quality and the material. And you just completely like changed my mind on why I should pay that amount for something that I will wear over and over again. But to end that story, the next day I came back to my hotel room and I found that jacket that you sweetly sent. And that says so much about your generosity. but what was it about that material that makes it and the quality of that piece that yeah so i choose all the materials and pinpoint them and that i i usually don't use cotton uh for just because it absorbs too much water and uses a lot of herbicides and pesticides when it's not organic um so i tend to use linen but this cotton it's the cashmere of cotton It's made in Barbados in small batches.

8:26And it's the most incredible structure of the cotton. And so it is a very expensive cotton. You know, I think it's around 100 plus, 180 something dollars the meter compared to what a regular cotton would be. So it's very special. But that's what you need for longevity is quality. For example, I learned about quality from a utilitarian perspective because in the ranch we're in the middle of nowhere. The town is two hours away. So you need to have things of quality so they last and they can meet the force of the elements. So for me, quality is part. It's not like a snuff thing. It's a part of actually longevity.

9:12And going back to the quality and details of the pieces you create, in 2024, you did a custom gown for Lily Gladstone that had these tiny little silver stars arranged perfectly to match certain constellations. And seeing you there with your own hands and thinking about the importance of that piece, what does it mean to you to work with someone that also has a vision? right and an idea and then come together and collaborate on a piece like that. Well, Lily Gladstone is such a magnificent person, really, really deep, very regal. She knows what she represents, how many she represents, and also all the ones that have disappeared that she doesn't represent.

10:04and she carries herself with such depth and warmth at the same time. She was really fantastic to collaborate. And so we did a constellation of how would you see the sky from the middle of America where her tribes were. And it was a combination. We worked along with Taomi metals as well. Where do those inspirations come about? Is it from people? Is it from art? Is it from, I know you have many friends in different industries that expose you to different arts and materials, but like where does all of this to keep recreating collections several times a year, where do you get inspired from? I am the biggest inspiration is mostly women, women, stories of women, incredible women that history hasn't paid them the respects that it needs to pay them.

11:06And so I love women. And I think that's the part that that motivates me as well. And so most of my vibration comes from women and the flight and the imagination and everything that women have done to get to the point where we are now and we still have to continue. Is there a conscious effort of knowing and placing your pieces on individuals that you admire and where you want to see your pieces being worn? Yes, there is for sure a conscious. I was very focused on who were the women that we were dressing. When we started, I knew I wanted people that if they had a limelight, they used it for the goods of others.

11:59So that was a very appealing characteristic for me to go. And one of the first people that we dressed that I really admire and she passed away, Cecile Richards, a great woman, great activist for women's rights. How do you, like from which point of view do you look at other female designers? is it um because like i yeah i kind of compare it like when i was an athlete and in my industry you are most of the people you face across the net are your rivals yeah um do you see camaraderies do you see them as rivals does it just depend on who it is and which fashion house they represent or yeah i'd love your your view on that first um there's not that many female designers.

12:54So I think first and foremost is, yes, first is the empowerment and the knowledge that this is a, because it's historically, after the Second World War, there were a lot of female designers, Schiaparelli, Lambin, Madame Grey, Chanel. And so it was an industry of a lot of, led by a lot of female designers. And I think first it's that support that I respect because it's an intense job that demands constant creativity. Timelines are very, very tough. And you're in that cycle. And you have to have the kids, have the family. It's almost like a mutual respect. I feel like where you do your job. Actually, my favorite designers are female designers.

13:50Who are they? Well, Elsa Schiaparelli. She was a pioneer. She worked with Armenian refugees and got to work with Giacometti and Salvador Dali. I mean, it's amazing. Amazing. Her stuff was amazing. And Chitose Ave from Sakai and the late Vivian Westwood as well. Yeah, because in sport, I think you're so focused on like your own routines and your own wins and your losses. and your team members, that there's a mutual respect between one another. But it's very rare that you almost go about your own business, right? You come to your office, which is the arena. You do your thing. You go to the hotel.

14:34You recover. You do it. And it's this rinse and repeat. And although you admire and respect, because if you didn't have respect, you wouldn't get up and try to be better, right? To be a better player, to be stronger, to be physically fitter, mentally tougher. If you didn't have respect for your opponents, So I imagine it's a similar feeling. Yes. But I also try to be in my, as you say, to be on my own lane. To just, as I purposely don't look at other shows and I ask my team not to do it. Of course, they're going to do it. But because if you have to do their homework, because if you're a visual person, it comes to your brain.

15:14And I work a lot with my subconscious. So a lot of, I don't work from vintage. I really sketch. We do the research. So I work with everything that is there. And so there is no way you don't get influence if you're a visual person and your information is from the eyes. But it's how do you apply that, right? It's a different. That's what makes you you. So after launching Gabriella Hearst, it's 2015. One of your friends says you need a bag. You have everything but a bag. Yes. And you create a sample for yourself. You're carrying it in an elevator and take the story from here. In the elevator, I was only going to do maybe 25 of them.

15:57And I was going to give it to the people that I admired and owned the factory or high profile, but also people I work with. And this gentleman, when I opened the bag, it's called the Nina bag after Nina Simone and it opened in a special way. he says oh I would like one for my wife and he gives me his card and I and I said to him it's a prototype and and um he's heard that before yes he did it was Johnny Ive from Apple so Johnny Ive the guy who made the iPhone at Apple looks at your bag and says this is a good one I need one for my wife are you like that's incredible so I made the bag and made sure to make it because Johnny I've wanted one so imagine it was like a sign right like you have to make they have to make it so I made them but I did not expect the hit that it became in such a short term and I was a little wiser at that time.

17:06You know, I wasn't in my 20s. I was closer to getting to my 40s, my 30s. And so when the demand increased, I did not want to wholesale it. I didn't want to expand it. What's the thought process behind that? Because our company is based in long-term view and sustainability. So I didn't understand the business model of it. I didn't understand that I had to take the double amount of natural resources to make the same amount of money because it would be wholesaling at every single store. So you'd lose a lot of profit. And then the other thing, so it's not from the environmental perspective, it did not make sense.

17:48And then from the perspective of maybe you want the brand to become very well known really fast, but that doesn't sit with the long-term view. So it just didn't sit with our core values. And I used the bags to build our retail chain, our retail stores. So I would put the bags in the back. So when, because I would see that all stores have these, the bags in the front. And I liked the bags in the back. So our first store, which is in Madison, the bags are in the back. So you would have to walk through the whole store to get to the bag. And Steph was... I gotta say, it's slightly annoying sometimes.

18:27Yeah. Because I'm like, I want to see the, I want that back. They're there. You can see them. You can grab them. But you have to walk. That's like a duty-free airport shop. Yes. Maybe it's a little supermarket, but it works.

18:42It works. I mean, it works for duty-free. Maybe they're inspired by you. I want to talk about the way you treat your body and the way that you treat your mind. because it was really one of the most impressive aspects of like how you hold, you know, your mind and your body accountable for just the vigor of your industry. I remember when you were at Chloe for several years in your hotel room in Paris, you had a suite that was just full of biohacking equipment. I mean, one time I came in there and you had these recovery boots. I think there may have been an oxygen mask in the works. No, I didn't have an oxygen mask.

19:24I was like, this lady, this lady's doing more for her recovery than I ever was. You know what? What was it? I knew the flights and I knew how intense. And at the time, it was only Virgil and myself. They were traveling by coast like that. Virgil Abloh. Yeah. So I thought it was very important to keep a healthy life for my children. I have small children. But I didn't have children. Maybe I wasn't bringing it. Maybe I was like, hello. I think he's still me. Well, you sometimes, no, it wasn't the oxygen mask. You were having a glass of wine while you were in recovery. I drink margaritas. That's my thing.

20:07You're also like one of the very few people I've met that is obsessed by the Russian sauna treatment. Oh, yeah. And I'm hardcore. You are so hardcore. And I think the last time we saw each other was I left you butt naked in the sauna, being beaten by eucalyptus leaves. But I want you to... By Igor. Igor. Shout out to Igor. He's the best. Yes, exactly. Tell me about this treatment. I want to hear it in your words, what it is and why you do it weekly. From everything I do to make sure that the nervous system is calm, which is very hard to do, especially living in New York, living an intense life.

20:53But you have better ideas if your brain is calm. That's also to be in a meditative state, to not be so much in fight or flight. Um, so from everything I do and I meditate daily, 20 minutes is enough or 10 minutes, whatever I can, I exercise daily, um, 30 minutes, whatever it is, I try to, to do body, mind, spirit. And from everything, the Banya is the thing that I can go in and I've tested it many times, not feeling great, not feeling in the most. Exhausted. Exhausted. The brain. you know the pathways in the brain are going not in the right direction you're not being the most positive person i go into the vanya in the and the change from it's like for me it's like a spiritual um experience it's like the heat and it's a lot of native american and it's not just warm it is brutally hot no and he like and he like trained me so he's like every time it's like you where are we now?

22:00You know, it's like 185 Fahrenheit. He's like, your stamina is not that good. Yeah, he's like, oh, I need, and then I do three rounds. So I do the intense hot, and then I do the cold plunge. So you get in the sauna. Yeah, he beats you up with eucalyptus. Right, not just, yeah. Yeah, he does. The eucalyptus leaves. It sounds like very pleasurable, but. In a way, it is, because you know how it feels afterwards. Yeah. And then he does the full round and then you go to a cold plunge. Then he throws ice on me. That's the other thing. I said, can you crush them? Because I used to grab all this. You ask for it.

22:38I know it. And then after the hot and the cold, I feel that the most relaxed. I mean, the most relaxed. You lie down with a towel. You close your eyes. I mean, I can go there right now thinking of that. Is there another thing in your routine that you focus on for your mind or your body that is like a necessity for you? Meditation has become it. And exercise has become it. First of all, I want to add the fact that I can impress you with something that I do with my body. It's already like I am like a more. It's not even the like, it's not the fact that you do these things. It's the discipline with which you do it.

23:22Because everyone can dabble in and out of, oh, I'll try this and I'll try that for my body. But you literally every single week and you meditate every day. Some people try meditation and they go on and off. You know that that's a commitment you have to make in order to see a difference. I just know it's good. And I want to enjoy life and be able to create. So ultimately you want to be as healthy as you can as a vessel to really be able to communicate properly. It's one of the things that I deeply miss about the sport that I did for so many years is like that feeling. And I don't know if it's because I'm a woman, but at the end of the day, when you give yourself like 110 percent and at the end of the day, physically, and you come home and you come to your hotel room or you come to your house after training and you just lay down on the sofa or your bed and you feel like you gave everything you have and like nobody's watching but you are so proud and you are so deeply in tune with just giving everything and letting it all go and you're like I did it you know I did I did what I can my body hurts I'm in pain but I'm so proud of this like that there's no better feeling and I and the trophies are great too but exactly but it does build a confidence in you right like the silent confidence of achieving those things and they don't have to be major things I want to be able to be i'm actually designing a ring that it has this sign of positive to just make sure that i'm training my brain constantly because we i get so bombarded by so many things right now it's like our life is becoming smaller and smaller in in the way of how fast is going so i i want to be always i want to wear it here reminding myself positive positive positive constant focus on that Focus on that.

25:24Focus on that. And in the relationships with the people you love.

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27:24What is your personal version of winning? How do you identify with winning and success? Being with my friends and family around, it gives me so much pleasure. Like that's really being with women I love and my friends. It's just like it's just like gives me so much satisfaction. and um uh in my professional life is you know i i sketch you know or i have visions of this of these garments or pieces and then not all the time they come exactly like how i envision them actually it's not most of the time they take their journeys and then in their journeys they're like better or worse but when they are exactly like the exact manifestation of what you had in your brain but like the exact to the button to the button like something that was just like something in your brain in your mind and all of a sudden is there in the tangential and that is the addictive what about what about selling seeing people wear it and yeah of course like my self-esteem is a touch to sell-throughs but you asked me like what it is for selling i need to live like selling is my self-esteem is attached to those sell-throughs right but the what i would consider success is is that like really the um that moment and also when um when we do a fashion show a lot of it for me it's a spiritual experience the shows that we do we have small shows and i I know that you can change collective consciousness when they are together.

29:02And when you are able to have that, all that little eight minutes of time that you've worked for half a year to create that, it's like a mandala that disappear. But if in that moment we're like blessed with all the elements at the same time and we provoke a feeling, that's success. provoking a feeling in others by something that they visually saw. So in the 80s, you spent the early days on a ranch. Yeah. Like cleaning shit. Yeah. Walking on shit, herding cattle. Cow manure, I think is a better word. I think shit is just more real. And it's a great fertilizer. It's amazing. It's amazing. Respect for cow manure.

29:54um so i i'm hurting cattle from point a to b this is so foreign to me by the way like the thought of you i mean i met you when you after you've lived in new york for i want to take you to your wife i want you to go thank you i've been invited yeah um but at 17 you tell your parents you convince your parents that you are ready to move on that this ranch life is just i need to see the world a little earlier at 15 i told them i'm not doing this in the summers i want to go to the beach with my friends i rebelled and my dad he was they hated cities my my parents like they really not so my dad um rented a little farm near the beach resort so he brought some sheeps and some horses this is all for me but so he could drink his mate and look at the animals while i was in the beach it was really but how did you convince them i've i've had a real when i'm decided about something it's they know not to mess with your yeah yes yes i think at that age i think that that's what's so impressive is like where did you find the guts to make that decision because it's one thing to think about the world and to be you know curious about what what is out there but to actually say I'm on my way as another another ballgame and it's when I understood if you put something in your mind and you really really want it that was the first experience of people telling me I can't do something which we hear a lot right and me feeling I really want to go do this and put all the work do it and and take a chance and take a chance like when you when you think of and and see young designers um you know struggle to be confident with their decisions and not really know the next path forward like what advice would would you give them i think that's the same advice to i would give to anyone in the creative path which is the advice i was given to you need to to stick with it the creative path is a long path most of the times it's very rare that people meet success fast it's a long long long long one so but if you stick to it you stick to your calling no matter what the storms are and you stick to it you're going to make it but when you make it don't believe the hype because the moment you believe the hype is over you said that I remember you said that in an acceptance speech once.

32:40And now when people ask me for advice, it's one of the things I say is like, don't believe in the hype. Yeah, it's over. The moment you believe, the hype is over. And also the moment they say it, the next moment is when they want to see you come down. It's hard to escape all the noise and all the opinions. And you do want someone to think well of your craft and of your performance. Like, you know, you get up the court and you're like, I mean, I poured my heart out into this. You know, I spent years of training. Like, you know, give me a little bit of something, you know, show me. And when they do, you're like, whoa, I've really got it.

33:21I think the difference is also I have a product, right? Like I make something and you are closer to a performer, to a lead singer, to a rock star or to a performer in the arts in a way. And because it's you, you are it. So there's nothing shilling you. And so it's, yeah, it's extremely brave. It is extremely, extremely brave. And I think it's interesting that you started with a shield armor command. Are the clothes your shield in this example? You know, that's why I find it interesting because when I really thought about Garilla Hearst, I mean, I thought for about it two years. Nobody needs another fashion luxury brand.