A slice of cool-girl wanderlust
Chantal Brocca co-founded Studio Asanawa, which is an ethical luxury lingerie boutique based in Dubai. The fashion-enthusiast is also a stylist, creative, director, cultural writer, researcher, critic, and a sustainable fashion activist.
Chantal also run’s a blog called ‘immaterials’ which she uses a medium to reveal cracks in our society and the fashion system. We interviewed her for our January issue where we talked about her travels, inspiration, and what feels like home.
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What draws you to each destination you travel to?
I’m drawn to places that hide a wealth of culture and odd places underneath all the clubs, fancy new restaurants and ‘it’ destinations. I’m really a wanderer at heart and explore on my own for hours, so ideally it would have to be a very walkable city – the kind with a lot of history, littered with old buildings and hidden gems you come across only if you allow yourself to get lost.
The ones whose charm comes from preservation and who make it a point not to eradicate any surviving greenery for the sake of constant construction. Europe is always in my heart – it has all of this and more. I’ve come across the most interesting places and people there.
Which country have you visited and felt like you could live there?
France all the way – but that’s cheating a bit as I know it so well since my family would go there every summer and winter. If we’re talking places I’ve scarcely been to, I’d say Thailand – specifically Bangkok. That city is on fire! I stayed alone in a hostel and wandered all over, looking for interesting locations and vintage markets. I remember hopping on the back of a food delivery bike with nowhere to hold on to and speeding on the highway towards the outer rims of the city because I’d heard from a local I’d find a lot of really cool Japanese vintage.
Your images are very cool, what inspires you?
Curiosity. Life and adventure are inspiring, because you are always learning, always meeting new people and finding yourself curious about things you’d never think you’d look at before. It’s all those spontaneous moments. I see a whole string of stories beyond what my eyes tell me I’m looking at.
What place in the world do you feel most at home?
That’s a hard one. As a third culture kid I never had a city that truly embodied who I was. I feel more like an amalgamation of bits and pieces from so many places, and so I’ve gotten to a point where I’m able to feel at home wherever I go. I just sort of settle.
Media: Emirates Woman Magazine
