Claudia Schiffer’s Cotswolds Home Is Filled With Ceramics, Chocolate, and Lots of Chanel

Vogue

Take a look inside her English countryside retreat.  Director: Posy Dixon Director Of Photography: Arthur Loveday Editor: Michael Suyeda Producers: Gigi Chavarria, Sarah Al Slaity, Qieara Lesesne Creative Production Coordinator: Anisa Kennar Associate Producer: Lea Donenberg Assistant Camera: Sonia Rodriguez Serrano Audio: Jermaine Monero Gaffer: Laurent Arnaud Spark: Ed Irvine Hair Stylist: Stephen Beaver Makeup Artist: Georgi Sandev Stylist: Lucie McCullin Prop Stylist: Benningen Lloyd Production Coordinator: Ava Kashar Production Manager: Natasha Soto-Albors Line Producer: Romeeka Powell Senior Director, Production Management: Jessica Schier Assistant Editor: Fynn Lithgow Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant Supervising Editor: Erica DeLeo Post Production Supervisor: Alexa Deutsch Associate Director, Video Talent: Meredith Judkins Director of Content, Production: Rahel Gebreyes Senior Director, Programming: Linda Gittleson VP, Digital Video English: Thespena Guatieri

Transcript

00:00 Well, I would always say "Hallo, Hallo Karl" and then he would say "Hallo Claudia".

00:07 He would always call me Claudia.

00:09 Hi Vogue, it's Claudia Schiffer here.

00:14 Welcome to my home in the beautiful English countryside.

00:18 I can't wait to show you around some of my favourite things.

00:20 Okay, let's go.

00:21 This is the house we live in and work in, me and my husband Matthew, our three children.

00:34 And then we've got also a German Shepherd Rollo and a cat called Chip.

00:39 What's so special here are these very big glass windows.

00:43 They have this most amazing view.

00:45 We're in the middle of nowhere pretty much, countryside all around.

00:48 And you can see like a fox going by every day.

00:52 So my taste to interior design is a mixture of Scandinavian, mid-century, 50s, 60s, 70s

00:59 furniture.

01:00 Everything has to do with something.

01:01 It's not just randomly put together.

01:03 For example, I buy art not because it's an investment, but because I fall in love with

01:08 it.

01:09 It's the same with the furniture.

01:10 I sort of buy it because I like it and then I work out the space for it afterwards.

01:13 Actually one of the things I love to do often when the kids have been in bed, I sort of

01:16 move, start moving furniture around.

01:19 It's one of my passions.

01:22 So I have a large collection in my archives of all kinds of things that I've been given

01:28 during my career in the 90s.

01:30 Karl Lagerfeld has been always very generous.

01:33 At Rue Cambon he had an atelier where he did all his creations and designs.

01:38 For example, this bag, it was just a black canvas bag and he had the idea last minute

01:44 to paint over it.

01:45 And I was like, "Oh my God, this is amazing."

01:48 And then when the fitting was finished he said, "Oh, you know what, Claudia, you can

01:51 have one."

01:52 Karl Lagerfeld was sort of my magic dust.

01:53 I was a very shy girl and he transformed me from this shy girl into a supermodel.

01:58 And I remember when I first met him, he somehow thought there was something special about

02:02 me and said, "You know what?

02:04 I'd like you immediately to start tomorrow.

02:05 You've got to go to Deauville and we're going to shoot the Chanel campaign."

02:09 And as the day went on, I warmed up a little bit more.

02:12 We then spoke German together and realized that we had a lot of things in common and

02:15 lots of energy and we both didn't drink.

02:17 We didn't do anything naughty.

02:18 At three o'clock in the morning we were still up and running and full of energy and everyone

02:23 else was getting very tired.

02:24 And he said to me, "Yeah, you're just like me.

02:27 Very German, teutonic and disciplined."

02:29 It was that sort of bonding moment that started our long relationship together.

02:34 And then this is quite fun as well.

02:35 He had my picture put on a Chanel belt that I wore in one of the fashion shows.

02:40 And this is a bag, such a great trip that we took in the Amalfi Coast and it was in

02:46 one of the campaigns.

02:47 And I love it because it's just so unusual for Chanel.

02:51 So fun.

02:55 So this is one of my favorite paintings.

02:58 It's by Ed Ruscha, who's an American painter.

03:01 It's called Point Blank.

03:02 It's a reference to a film from 1967.

03:06 So I don't have any advisors for the art.

03:08 I go into an art exhibition or art fair and I see something and I immediately feel a connection

03:13 to it.

03:14 I can't stop thinking about it and if I can afford it, then I would then buy it.

03:19 Well, anything from Ed Ruscha is really special to me because it reminds me of the time when

03:24 I first met my husband in Los Angeles.

03:26 We had met Ed Ruscha ourselves there and we went to his studio and looked at the way he

03:32 painted.

03:33 And so that's sort of a connection to me now so that when I look at that painting, I think

03:37 of that story back then.

03:41 So we're here in the kitchen, the most important room in the house, where we spend most of

03:44 our time as a family.

03:46 And even when friends are coming, everyone is always in this kitchen.

03:49 I do not cook, but I'm very good at presenting.

03:52 It's very important for me that everything is in beautiful bowls and flowers and vases

03:56 and the candle is always burning.

03:58 It just makes me feel really good.

03:59 Another object of my affection, this beautiful butterfly vase.

04:03 I collected ceramics from this Portuguese company for years until one day I called them

04:09 up and said, "I'd love to know more about you and perhaps we can do something together."

04:13 And so I created this collection with all the butterflies.

04:16 I love the idea of transformation and a butterfly symbolizes that for me.

04:21 And so we're lucky we have a wonderful view outside.

04:27 This is where we have our breakfast and lunches and dinners.

04:34 Here I've got another object of affection, which is my secret stash of chocolates.

04:41 I actually did not like English chocolate when I first moved to England.

04:46 I was obsessed with German chocolate and then one day someone brought this as a present

04:50 and it's the best chocolate in the whole world, I think.

04:54 It's got really soft liquidy caramel inside.

04:58 I'm obsessed.

04:59 German chocolate is still good.

05:00 This is just a little bit better.

05:08 Very good.

05:09 Don't open.

05:14 This is the dining room where we have dinner parties or meetings and while you eat you

05:21 can enjoy the great view.

05:24 And now I'm going to show you something in this dining room close to my heart.

05:27 Follow me.

05:29 This is my collection of tortoises.

05:32 Wherever I go around the world I always look for one that I can bring home.

05:36 When I met my husband I said that I loved tortoises and I never had one and next thing

05:41 I know there's a real tortoise showed up at my house.

05:44 Tortoise also represents love and protection.

05:47 So it's sort of the symbol of the relationship of me and my husband and something to protect

05:51 the family.

05:54 And this is a very special object of affection.

05:57 It's Chip the cat.

05:58 Chip is in the film of my husband called Argyle.

06:02 Chip was sharing his trailer with Matthew and became a bit of a star so he's now sort

06:07 of like a Nepal kitty.

06:09 He's even written his own memoirs now.

06:11 He's got his own Chip Instagram.

06:14 You know it's quite rare I spend time with him nowadays because he's so busy.

06:17 This is one of his tantrums.

06:19 It's a new thing since he's become a star.

06:25 So cats aside there's something else I really wanted to show you.

06:28 This is my jewelry box.

06:30 My favorite rings from Solange.

06:32 They're all gifts from my husband.

06:35 And my nickname is Cloudies because as in Claudia, cloudy but actually like cloudy as

06:41 in clouds in English.

06:43 And so there's one here with the scenery with a cloud and another ring as a cloud which

06:47 is me.

06:48 And then a lot of animals.

06:50 The first one was the tortoise obviously.

06:56 Another piece I want to show to you.

06:58 This is an English artist, Damien Hirst.

07:02 And this is a dot painting.

07:03 The reason why I like it so much is the classic dot painting has a white background and this

07:08 one has unusually a dark background.

07:11 Since the piece has like literally every color you can imagine I thought it needed a really

07:16 plain background and that's why I hung it here because there's absolutely nothing else

07:20 besides the plain wooden wall.

07:23 I haven't counted the dogs.

07:26 That's probably one of those things to do when you have nothing to do which I never

07:33 have.

07:40 So we're now in the basement.

07:42 This is not your usual basement.

07:44 It's the place where I work, where my husband works and where we have a cinema room for

07:52 work and for pleasure.

07:54 And now there's something I really want to show to you which is my wedding dress by Valentino,

08:00 my dear friend.

08:01 It was designed in Rome by his Valentino Atelier.

08:04 It took them six months to do.

08:06 So when I told Valentino that I got engaged, first of all he then threw me an engagement

08:12 party which was really sweet of him.

08:14 And so I said to him, well actually I was going to ask you if you could design my wedding

08:17 dress and he said, funny you ask, I already did it.

08:21 And so he had A, B, C, D options of what I would like.

08:26 Off the shoulder, rounded neck, it was all these different options.

08:30 And then I went to Rome with my mom and my two bridesmaids and I put on the dress in

08:35 Rome looking out the window thinking, oh my God, this is la dolce vita.

08:41 It was amazing.

08:47 So goodbye Vogue.

08:49 It's been lovely showing you all my favorite things.

08:51 And now one very last object of affection, Brollo.

08:55 Bye.

08:55 [MUSIC PLAYING]

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