Galore Girl: Mandi Lennard of Mandi’s Basement

Name a few ones to watch in 2013.

Claire Barrow, Maarten Van Der Horst, Nitty Scott, Ryan Lo, and Shaun Samson.

Proudest moment with Mandi’s Basement?

One London Fashion Week I organized 8 on-schedule shows, 2 off-schedule shows, 4 presentations, and 6 parties. Four of the shows were back to back on the schedule. We collaborated with Nike and called it The Block. Womenswear Daily called me up for a quote and all I could say was: “Never again”.

I assume your job is high stress. What keeps you going? What keeps the stress down?

For 10 years, I was helping a lot of young designers, many of which have become very successful, but it was so full on, 24/7. The biggest challenge was to try and look fab at all the parties when you’ve had no sleep – priorities! For the past 3 years, I’ve focused on more consultancy projects which I love – they have a beginning, a middle and an end, so you have something concrete to be proud of, but my biggest buzz, is that once I finish a project, it keeps on giving. Hi-resonance, me?! I’m using a far more focused skillset now, which kind of feels more grown-up and proper. I do yoga two or three times a week next door to my flat in Shoreditch at Body Studio.

So many Barbie collabs! Which one is your favorite? Out of all of them, which do you imagine you’d like and play with the most as a kid?

I wasn’t into dolls as a kid. I was more bothered about my teddy bear and using the Sodastream. I guess my proudest moment was being in Tokyo when the Comme des Garçons Barbie came out and seeing it sell out within the first day. Rei Kawakubo was super clear about what she wanted so it was actually one of the easiest collaborations. One of the hardest was Roksanda Ilincic, as she insisted on covering the back of the outfit in Swarovski crystal as well as the front; we had proper couture seamstresses produce them, and it was painstaking – but truly beautiful. We got Gareth Pugh to dress Ken, and it was really hard trying to recreate the eye make up and get that right. When they arrived in colette in Paris, Mattel had left the loafer shoes Ken normally wears on him by mistake, which I managed to remove before they went on sale, but I had a good laugh winding Gareth up about it.

Favorite LOVE magazine cover?

Kate Grand [LOVE's Editor-in-Chief] is my biggest inspiration, from when I first met her when I did the PR for Dazed & Confused, and she was Fashion Editor. Every issue of LOVE is a rollercoaster, and the latest issue is even more personal to her than usual, looking at the pivotal intimacy between photographer and muse, which led her to Antonio Lopez who inspired the covers, a tribute to his famous bath shots. So you caught me buzzing about the latest covers, and I’m sure I’ll be just the same with the next issue.

Who are your top 5 women who rock?

Barbara Hepworth, Flora Purim, Katie Grand, Lulu Kennedy, and Zaha Hadid

If you could raid your fashion icon’s closet, who would it be and what would you take?

Zaha Hadid for Comme des Garçons, Lulu Kennedy for her Claire Barrow painted leather jacket, and Katie Grand for the sheer spectacle; she has archived every piece of clothing and accessories since she was fifteen.

Your blog is SO GOOD and visual and entertaining and FUN. What post of yours makes you the happiest? What other blogs/Tumblrs do you love?

I love the spontaneity and how what I’m feeling is reflected in it. Imagery is important and I fiddle around with posts like an art director. If there’s a great hip hop track I want to post, but the YouTube holding image isn’t so good, it’s frustrating. I know what I’m into and I just stick to the indulgence of that – fast food iconography, McDonalds, artists such as Kostas Seremetis, Neck Face, and Maurizio Cattelan, and old Naughty By Nature, Black Moon and Masta Ace videos. I recently found a pizza Tumblr that got me really excited and spent about an hour picking out gifs to post – they even had a rotating Bart Simpson character made of pizza. I’m obsessed by logos too. So I post a lot of Zevs and the latest fake Tees coming through, such as a satanic Chanel one which is actually Chanel No. 666. I was a pretty bored kid, so I can keep myself amused for hours, scouring my favourite websites such as: Juxtapoz, Beautifuldecay, Arrestedmotion, PSFK, 12ozProphet, TheWorldsBestEver, Complex, Designboom, Nahright – my latest obsession is Rapperzoninstagram – it’s hilarious. I’m always rewarded with stuff I want to feature on my blogs.

Favorite Twitter accounts to follow?

Noah Callahan-Bever (@N_C_B), Editor-in-Chief of Complex is basically god. What he has done with Complex, his music knowledge and handle on modern cultural phenomena, blows my mind. He’s such a natural and makes what Complex does, look so easy. I love how people you looked up to for years Tweet and you know it’s them, so I get a huge buzz out of following people such as: Artist Richard Prince (@RichardPrince4), DJ Red Alert (@KoolDJRedAlert), LL Cool J (@llcoolj), and Writer William Gibson @GreatDismal

Any hidden talents?

I can type incredibly fast with long nail extensions.

Which city has the best style?

London. You can be who you want to be here. There’s always incredible talent bubbling under. It’s very open-minded, and there are no rules.

Current obsession:

Old Chanel store fittings, fixtures, displays, and factice bottles. It’s my most regular search on eBay.

Your personal style = AMAZING. Describe it for us in 5 words.

Nike, Hermès, Chanel, LV, logos.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A stylist. I was inspired by Judy Blame shoots in i-D Magazine.