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"    Photo: Laila Bahman/BFAnyc.com   Chris Benz has long been a darling of the fashion world, thanks to his quirky-cool collections and his high-low training: Before starting his own line, the Seattle native worked for both Marc Jacobs and J.Crew. Although his clothes have always topped our wish lists, they haven&amp;#039;t always been accessible. This is something Benz hopes to change\u2014first with his affordable designs for eBay&amp;#039;s Holiday Collective and next with his new pieces for Anthropologie&amp;#039;s December Made in Kind collections, which hit select stores and anthropologie.com today. We spoke with the pink-haired designer at Anthropologie&amp;#039;s flagship store in Soho last night.   ELLE: Did you ever expect to see your clothes in the Anthropologie windows? Chris Benz: I didn&amp;#039;t really, but it&amp;#039;s funny. For years, I&amp;#039;ve been hearing from girls all over the country who want my clothes, but they can&amp;#039;t afford them\u2014or they can&amp;#039;t buy them because they live really far from a retailer. One of the amazing things about seeing my collection here is that it&amp;#039;s available for girls all over the country! I grew up in Seattle, so I understand being somewhere where you see fashion and love it, but then what&amp;#039;s available in the store near you might be different than what&amp;#039;s in the magazines. ELLE: Did your earlier experience designing for J. Crew make it easier to work with Anthropologie? CB: Yes, but it also made it harder. I think in fashion, experience with the mass market is a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, you understand what girls really like, what makes women feel sexy and pretty, and what they&amp;#039;ll buy from a chain store. But on the flip side, you&amp;#039;re sometimes nervous about doing certain colors and shapes\u2014even if you love them and they look great on the runway\u2014because you know they&amp;#039;re not the most popular thing with, like, everyone in the world. ELLE: Besides the price point, how is this line different from your main one? CB: This collection stands on its own! It&amp;#039;s based on the comfort and ease of jeans and a T-shirt, and this fabric was designed so you can travel with it, and roll it up in your bag. It has a casual ease to it. We did some long skirts, and I see them with a pair of Converse, a T-shirt, and a piece of statement jewelry. I think that vibe is so cool for girls. ELLE: To you, what&amp;#039;s the biggest misconception about looking good? CB: That, like, &amp;quot;glamorous&amp;quot; doesn&amp;#039;t necessarily mean pretty! &amp;quot;Pretty&amp;quot; is more comfortable. It has an ease to it, and I find that much more beautiful. ELLE: You&amp;#039;ve become kind of famous for your bubblegum-colored hair. Would you recommend that our readers go pink? CB: Absolutely! Hell, yes! I think the ELLE girl is really adventurous, and she loves fashion. And I think you can try a tiny bit of pink on the tips of your hair to test it out. But I promise, pretty soon, you&amp;#039;ll start thinking about doing a slow fade into a full head of pink hair. You&amp;#039;ll just go for it! ELLE: What&amp;#039;s your holiday movie pick? CB: I&amp;#039;m really excited to see Les Mis\u00E9rables! Did you see that extended trailer online, where they actually sing and they actually have their orchestra on the film set? I was like, &amp;quot;This is amazing. Nobody ever tells you how the movie gets made!&amp;quot; I watched that trailer over and over, and when Hugh Jackman looks into the camera and starts singing I&amp;#039;m like, &amp;quot;Hugh, you are everything.&amp;quot; ELLE: Like all the good movies\u2014or at least Twilight and The Hunger Games\u2014Les Mis\u00E9rables has a pretty intense love triangle. Are you Team Cosette or Team Eponine? CB: I&amp;#039;m team Cosette, because Amanda Seyfried plays her in the movie, and I love Amanda Seyfried. I&amp;#039;ve loved her since Mean Girls; I still quote her character all the time. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m a mouse, duh!&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/fashion/shopping/news/a17295/chris-benz-interview-anthropologie-collection/>