IN THE STUDIO WITH LAUREN KENNEDY MALPAS

Stylist and creative director, Lauren Kennedy Malpas has an enviable personal style that's hard to imitate. Often papped at fashion weeks, she has a daring, eclectic, colourful and often whimsical sense of style that seeps into her work. Her aesthetic also translates into her interior style, which easily looks like it belongs on a colourful, rambling alleyway in Milan rather than the more muted shades of Paris' streets, but this is what makes it so interesting. I photographed her home a while ago and have been itching to get inside, snoop around and take some snaps of her studio in the 10th arrondissement, since she moved in a year ago. Of course Paris has played a huge part in where she is today. She studied law in Adelaide (she's half Australian, half English) and upon graduation she had planned to install herself in London. But after spending some time travelling to Fez, Florence, Granada and finally Barcelona, she started having second thoughts. While sitting in her hotel room in Gaudi's native city, a voice started to speak to her in her head: "Goooo to Paris.' Suddenly, as she explains, all the weight was lifted and her Parisian dream began. And it was a party that she organised and set-designed a few years ago in the French capital that helped launched her career. Today she styles for the likes of Please Magazine, Coca Cola, Chanel and Zoe Jordan.

Best career advice you ever received?

You can do it.

What would you do if you weren’t an art director/fashion stylist?

I’m very lucky to do what I love. But with everything going on in the world, I find myself often conflicted. I’ll never return to law, but I’ve been brainstorming on creative ways to give back.

What were the biggest decorating challenges?

The owner is an architect so he made it very easy. I have an obsession with shelves and it seems the owner does too, he built an entire wall length of them ! It's very distracting, I'm constantly rearranging them, adding things, it's like a rotating gallery for me.

How would you describe your interior style?

Organised jumble of colour, humour and beauty, mixed with a maximalist’s eye for details and hints of bad taste.

Favourite piece(s) of furniture/treasures?

Pair of Picasso-inspired William Bernstein painted goblets, patchwork tapestry pouf and plaster replica of some famous sculpture I found at the flea markets that I use as a pot plant.

Favourite places/shops to buy interiors from ?

All flea markets, but I also love the interior magazines and prints at OFR, and when I'm in Lisbon, I find excuses to get back to a vintage glassware shop, Depósito da Marinha Grande.

What styles inspire you?

Everything Italian. Their fearlessness and celebration of rich colour palettes and prints, and how it all somehow magically works together: Gio Ponti, Roberto Baciocchi, Dimore Studio...

What do you like most about the area you live in, in Paris?

I'm a city-girl-wannabe-country. The 10th is perfect because it's central but has a village feel to it.

Favourite sources for inspiration?

Work by interior designers like Kelly Wearstler but also finding inspiration through ephemeral spaces by set designers like Sarah Edwards (Molly Goddard's Mum who does all of the installations for her collections at Dover Street Market) & Polly Philp's editorial sets.

Favourite three social media mavens?

@apartamentomagazine @sophiepinet @danthawley @zanzaneyewear @ad_spain

Last good book you read?

Cat’s Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut. One of the few books I actually managed to finish.

What’s in your magazine pile?

Holiday, Vogue Italia, Luncheon, ODDA, Please, Self-Service.

What’s on your nightstand?

Aoyama candle by Astier de Villatte and crystal lamp for calm, Decléor Body Serum for tired legs after a shoot, and the same book for about a year.

Who is your favourite designer and why?

Miuccia Prada. She’s on her own cool Italian planet. She fits so much personality into each collection yet it’s still so sleek. I love Prada's campaigns and outside collaborations with artists like Christophe Chemin, not to mention the brand's kinship with Wes Anderson <3

What’s your morning routine?

As there’s no pattern to my work schedule, my routine goes in waves. On a good day, I try to fit 15 minutes of yoga and a sit down breakfast with my husband. On those rushed mornings, I’m running out the door with a coffee.

Go-to alcoholic beverage?

Pisco sour !

Tea or coffee?

Is this a trick question ?

Handbag essentials?

Dior Addict Lipstick and Lucas Papaw lip balm.

What do you do to relax?

Whenever my body's about to crash, I get a home massage by this woman with magic hands called Natalie.

Paris favourites:

Favourite Café: La Fontaine de Belleville

Favourite shop: Love to spend a lazy Sunday out at the St Ouen flea markets, even just to window shop.

You can follow Lauren's adventures in style on Instagram here.