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"   Photo: Love Streams Agnes B. productions  If Paris Fashion Week had you craving a visit to the City of Light, a touch of French fashion and cinema are available for the price of a subway ride: The iconic French designer agn\u00E8s b. will appear at the New York Film Festival tonight for a live director&amp;#039;s conversation about her film directorial debut, My Name is Hmmm\u2026. The designer is known for her casually chic clothing, particularly her cardigans and signature striped T-shirts (\u00E0 la Jean Seberg in Jean-Luc Godard&amp;#039;s Breathless). Her interest in the arts extends beyond fashion: agn\u00E8s b has her own gallery in Paris, specializing in photography, and she created her own film production company, Love Streams in 1997. Agn\u00E8s&amp;#039; love of cinema, including patronage of several festivals and filmmakers (such as Harmony Korine), culminated in her directing My Name is Hmmm\u2026 The film tells the story of an 11-year-old girl (Lou-Lelia Demerliac) who is molested by her father and runs away from home by hiding in the truck of a kindly Scottish driver (artist Douglas Gordon). Agn\u00E8s b. is a remarkable storyteller, building a low-key and ultimately heartbreaking friendship as the two travel through Bordeaux, even though they don&amp;#039;t speak the same language.   Agn\u00E8s b. was discovered in a Parisian flea market at age 20 by a French ELLE editor who offered her a junior editor&amp;#039;s job, so it was only fitting that ELLE.com chatted with the designer/filmmaker while she engaged in one of her favorite pastimes: haunting a Chelsea flea market, the Garage.  What compelled you to make this film?  I wrote the story 12 years ago and always wanted to make a movie of it. It&amp;#039;s not my own story but I know what I&amp;#039;m talking about. The film and the text are radical. I was surprised by the reception at Venice [Film Festival]. The theaters were full and nobody left! I didn&amp;#039;t expect it for my first film. Many women came up to me afterwards to thank me. They needed to talk about this story.  Did you previously direct any short films?  I did little films, three to five minutes, as exercises in telling stories. That&amp;#039;s how I learned to make films. I&amp;#039;ve been taking photos and drawing since I was 16, so this felt natural for me.  Tell us about working with Harmony Korine.  He&amp;#039;s a good friend of mine. I met him in Venice when he was presenting Julien Donkey-Boy, a movie I liked very much. Then we were produced Mister Lonely, Trash Humpers and this year, Spring Breakers. How did your relationship with ELLE begin?  I was shopping in a flea market and an editor said I was dressed in a very interesting way.  Do you remember what you were wearing?  A mixture of very cheap stuff! Then I showed her, you can put this with this, and that with that. I stayed only two years because I thought it would be better to create clothes instead of choosing clothes. So I worked for Dorothee Bis as a stylist and then an apprentice. I was working 10 hours a day with no vacations but I learned a lot from her.  How would you describe the difference between New York and Paris?  I love that New York has so many different kinds of people. People are quite happy and have good humor. In Paris, they are not always so happy. New Yorkers are also very kind and I love to watch people here.  How does Parisian style differ from New York?  When it comes to French elegance, French taste, I&amp;#039;ve always worked on clothes that were not so much &amp;quot;fashionable.&amp;quot; I prefer the word &amp;quot;clothes&amp;quot; to &amp;quot;fashion.&amp;quot; Style should be within reach of customers with not so much money.  Do you attend shows during Paris Fashion Week?  I never go to shows and never go shopping. I keep away from what others do. I have my own work to do, my own show to organize, my own collection to design. I love to do my work, I enjoy working very much.  You don&amp;#039;t want to be influenced by trends\u2026 I feel freer that way.  Are you working on ideas for your next film?  Not yet. I&amp;#039;m thinking of it, of course. First I&amp;#039;ll take care of this film. Next we go to Hong Kong.  Will you continue designing clothes?  If I don&amp;#039;t design clothes, I&amp;#039;ll have nothing to wear!  Agnes B. will do a free, Live NYFF director&amp;#039;s conversation . My Name is Hmmm\u2026 screens tomorrow at the New York Film Festival.  Photo: Love Streams Agnes B. productions "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/news/a23794/agnes-b-my-name-is-hmmm/>