The idea of community and sisterhood seems to really be resonating right now in the fashion industry, which is interesting because most people tend to think of fashion folks as very catty and exclusive.

Lili Sumner: "Yeah, definitely. The image that’s always portrayed in film and stuff is us hating each other. I’ve never really felt that kind of bitchy cattiness working, but I have a really close group of girlfriends who I work with all the time, which is really nice. I’ve met a lot of my good friends from doing Saint Laurent, for some reason — I guess Hedi [Slimane] has good taste in people — and then we end up doing a lot of other jobs together as well. We stay together during Fashion Week and that kind of stuff."



Who’s in your girl gang?

LS: "Grace Hartzel, Lida Fox, and Kiki Willems. Those girls are the main ones, but I have a lot of friends in the industry. And boys as well — like boy models from Saint Laurent, because we do the shows together, so, not just a girl thing, you know?"



How would you would define the word “beauty?"

LS: "I guess 'beauty' to me is about charm and funniness and things like that. I don’t really find physical beauty that interesting for very long if there’s nothing beneath it."



Who in your life has most influenced how you think about beauty and about style?

LS: "When I was younger, it was probably my sisters — I’ve got three older sisters. There were a lot of women around. And they’re all about ten years older than me, so I saw what they were reading and what they were looking at — all the magazines and stuff that they had. So I guess that influenced me when I was quite young. And then I found my own taste."