The fashion insiders who gave wellness ‘it-girl’ status
Meet three women who gave up fast-paced, glamorous careers in fashion for the more intentional life.
Earlier this year on the eve of Paris couture week, Conde Nast’s global editorial director Anna Wintour hosted a cocktail party to toast the appointment of Claire Thomson-Jonville as head of editorial content at Vogue France.
“This past [autumn] during her interview process in New York I heard many of her meetings were conducted at the gym,” joked Wintour.
She’s not kidding. For not only does Thomson-Jonville’s reputation as a glamorous 5’11 amateur triathlete and Jivamukti Yoga addict precede her; the 40-year-old Glasgow-born stylist’s side gig, pre-Vogue, was hosting spiritual and silent retreats in incredible locations across Europe, as well as weekend urban bootcamps in central Paris.
Her Out of State retreat series was launched in 2023; its target market like-minded creatives similar to Thomson-Jonville, seeking respite from their frenetic and fashionable lives.
She isn’t the only fashion-industry figurehead to dabble in wellness. A growing cohort of entrepreneurs is happily trading in the front-row seats, glamorous travel schedules and Champagne dinners to instead reimagine what a wellness brand can look like. For some it’s been born of necessity: the need for a healthier lifestyle and rejection of fashion’s unrelenting demands. For others: it’s the realisation of a childhood passion.
WISH meets three creatives who have made the switch and are now living proof that self-care has never felt more fashionable.
Monique Foy, founder of Cosmic Dealer
Monique Foy grew up in Sydney’s Mosman, with Balmoral Beach on her doorstep for daily swims, yoga classes held at her school and weekends spent trawling organic supermarkets uncovering the “wackiest new health foods” she could find. Fast forward to 2014 and everything changed.
“I was head of marketing for [couture house] Elie Saab in Paris, regularly working until 2am, developing a severe sugar addiction in the process. Dinner became a packet of biscuits and it was virtually impossible to drag myself out of bed on freezing mornings to get to the gym.” Not that there were any classes on offer at that hour. “I knew I needed to get serious about my wellness, so I started a Mailchimp newsletter called The Light Side of Paris that was aimed at an audience of expats seeking out juice bars and fitness studios because none of that felt visible to me. Creating that and building a subscriber base became a stepping stone to launching my brand, Cosmic Dealer.”
Foy, who qualified and worked as a lawyer before landing her first role in the fashion industry as a marketing analyst with luxury goods group Richemont, moved to Paris in 2010. She established Elie Saab’s marketing department in 2013 before shifting to Alexandre Mattiussi’s Ami Paris as its marketing director. It was the beginning of the brand’s stratospheric rise and feeling the pressure, Foy embarked on a yoga retreat where she discovered ayurveda. “My mind was blown. I asked the teacher if there was one thing I can continue doing at home, what would it be. She said, ‘Clean your tongue with a tongue cleaner to remove harmful bacteria. It will change your life’. I adopted the practice and it became this daily reminder for me of what I’m putting in my body.”
Foy began studying nutrition, where she discovered that bitter foods could reduce sugar cravings and the resulting hunger pangs. “I replaced chocolate with ceremonial-grade 100 per cent cacao and that was a game-changer for me. I realised the rituals I had relied on to get me through the day were laden with caffeine and sugar, so I wanted to reimagine this and create functional products.
The result is Cosmic Dealer’s range of raw cacao and nut-butter bites; herbal teas and drinking chocolate blends (only available in the UK and Europe for now); as well as a tongue cleaner tool, $38; natural mouth wash, $25, and incense ($38 for a pack of 30) that launches into Mecca Apothecary this month. “Wellness is a harder sell than fashion,” says Foy. “It’s about prevention while fashion is about immediate transformation: a new outfit gives you a new lease on life. I’d love to say you’re going to see an immediate benefit when using our products, but they’re gateway goods. However, thankfully people are more educated now and have realised there are long-term benefits to taking care of yourself earlier. I think of Cosmic Dealer as preventive products. They’re about how not to get sick.”
Sofia Sanchez de Betak, founder of The Journey Within
Sofia Sanchez de Betak was up to her eyeballs in the Paris fashion scene when the pandemic dramatically altered her trajectory.
The Argentinian It-girl, who is married to Alex de Betak – the fashion show producer responsible for some of the industry’s biggest runway productions – was working as a style consultant and design collaborator creating capsule collections for Mango, Roger Vivier and Max & Co. (among others). But the covid virus changed all that.
“Not very original!” she sighs. “I quickly realised I wanted my life to be about my daughter, nature, helping others and family,” she says. “Not work. We also had a horrific, devastating loss in our family, which made healing the only way we could get through it. My priorities shifted completely. Any second I have to spend away from my daughter has to be truly meaningful to me.”
The family moved to Mallorca and the 39-year-old began to privately curate retreats for friends and family in beautiful settings. Their transformative power inspired last year’s formal launch of her retreat venture, The Journey Within. “The journey of self-exploration and personal growth can be daunting and overwhelming, so I assembled a team of extraordinary healers and drew on my background in travel, design and events to tie it together,” she explains.
Navigating the wellness industry after working in the fashion space for so long has resulted in an enjoyable respite.
“Producing a retreat is nothing compared with a fashion shoot,” she sighs. “However, fashion was an incredible school. I’d regularly deal with the most demanding and high-maintenance creatives in the industry. Co-ordinating a session with a sound healer or a shaman is a walk in the park compared with that. I love how driven and detail-obsessed fashion people are, but that was also what drove me mad before. The speed and non-stop nature with which everything had to be done; I can’t cope with that intensity. And I don’t want to.”
Although she holds no formal qualifications, Sanchez de Betak says she has studied a variety of healing practices and her retreats offer plant medicine ceremonies, breathwork, yoga, meditation, sound baths, hiking, massages and hammam sessions – all led by experts in their field.
She insists it isn’t overwhelming, offering some achievable and realistic personal tips for those starting out on their personal wellness journey.
“Write a journal, touch plants every day – try working on a vegetable garden – practise yoga and develop a habit of going to bed early,” she says.
Yasmin Sewell, energy worker and founder and chief executive of Vyrao
Wellness means different things to different people, but for Sydney-born/London-based Yasmin Sewell it’s about nourishing one’s energetic, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. “I was born a little psychic and could always see colours, feel energy and all sorts of magic. ‘Wellness’ was always at the forefront of my fashion career. It has made me intuitive and guided all my decisions.”
Sewell’s 25 years in fashion started with a four-year stint as buying director for Browns, followed by fashion director roles for Moda Operandi and Style.com; creative leadership positions with Liberty and Farfetch; and co-founding the “French-girl-vibe” label Etre Cecile. “Fashion was continuously inspiring for me because it was all about new energy, change and evolution,” says Sewell who uncovered talents Christopher Kane and Roksanda in their early careers. “New designers, new ideas, new movements, culture. Hate’s a strong word, but I also struggled with the waste, the egotism, the pace and sometimes, the old-school thinkers.”
Friends of Sewell confirm the 49-year-old has preached wellbeing since childhood, undertaking studies in reiki, Integrative Quantum Medicine™, ayurveda and flower remedies since her early twenties. So when she first launched Vyrao in the UK in September 2021 (Australia followed in 2022) with a set of five “high-vibration” scents, few were surprised. The range now encompasses eight scents as well as incense and candles, securing investment partners L Catterton (the LVMH-backed private equity firm), Estée Lauder and Manzanita Capital along the way.
“I never really imagined Vyrao would be part of the ‘beauty’ industry’,” admits Sewell when reflecting on where the brand is now sitting. “But it’s very different to fashion. From growing the brand, to how the retailers collaborate with you, the capital needs, the production timelines …”
That said, the endeavour has proven her most fulfilling chapter to date. “Vyrao is the most creative thing I’ve ever done. We’ve just launched Mamajuju, our [scent] for grounding and awareness. And there’s so much more to come. Really, we’ve only just begun.”
This story is from the March issue of WISH.
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