Michelle Papillion, 32, is founder and owner of Papillion, an airy whitewashed contemporary gallery in Los Angeles s Leimert Park. She s known for her exceptional eye and style, and in just four years she s grown her gallery into a major force on both coasts. Here, she talks about how she defines power dressing in the art world (and below the interview, we show you how to get her look):
There s an idea of what a female art dealer dresses like. Did you see **Amy Poehler’**s Old Navy commercial? She s making fun of being an art dealer, and they had it down. It was funny, but pretty true. I always joke with my friends that I want to be the sexiest art dealer in the world. It s a running joke because the style of dress stereotyped with a dealer is not my personal style. I actually care a great deal about how I m being presented in a visual way, but I m an extension of my business. I care about how the business looks.
By Day
My go-to outfit is a pair of comfy, floral-print Uniqlo jeans—nicer than a standard jean, and gallery-appropriate—with a basic cotton white button-down or a simple azla+tesh tee or a printed pullover, and my guilty pleasure: a pair of platform silver Birkenstocks I got at Topshop. I wore them every day all summer, but now it’s flats or short boots or sneakers. I wear no jewelry except for one gold bangle, and sunglasses—day or night—they
re my favorite.
By Night
Many young gallery owners are very hands-on. We
re small businesses, so we tend to be working right alongside everyone in our office. But it
s not uncommon that I
ll have multiple wardrobe changes in a day. In the closet at my office there
s always the essentials: a nice black heel, a nice cocktail dress, a floor-length black dress, and then a makeup bag, a curling iron, and we have a handheld steamer. Usually by the end of the day I need to change into something more elegant for nighttime events, where I
m interacting with people who could become potential clients. That tends to translate into a short dress, which I prefer to wear with tights and a chunky heel, or flats (and by flats, anything but a ballet slipper or loafer . . . no bueno!). If it’s chilly out, I’ll bring my favorite motorcycle jacket, which is 3.1 Phillip Lim black and gold leather. If it’s a really dressy affair I always wear a silk dress and a simple, strappy Prada heel that’s comfortable but chic.
The Next Look
One of my favorite new brands is Maki Oh. When I went to the showroom, I tried on a pair of high-waisted, wide-leg trousers that were made for the FLOTUS. I’m hoping to stop by the showroom again soon to order a pantsuit from the designer. I’ve got curves and the Maki Oh line seems to work best for women with these shapes, plus she has really exciting color and prints. I am also very interested in Azede Jean-Pierre—her dresses are like wearing paintings!—and Cushnie Et Ochs. I love the way they pair color with simple design.
Defining Personal Style at Work
When I was starting out in my professional career, there were people who had opinions about how I was dressing. There were some art world people who thought I should dress more like gallery girls and thought I should keep my hair pulled back, keep it in a bun at the top, and dress more Club Monaco–ish or something. I don’t really know. Others thought I dressed too androgynously. And some people thought I dressed too sexy at my own openings. But you do have to take into account that there are dynamics of dressing when you
re a woman in any industry. I try to make myself approachable but also smart, very serious, and commanding a certain level of respect and power. Every person will find their way of balancing out those things. So eventually I threw caution to the wind and decided to express my own personal style, to make it more polished, and do more of it. I always had my own eye, but until then I never followed fashion.
When I made the choice to step it up, I became super-interested in fashion in a deeper way. It was about following collections, but also finding great, young independent brands. That s where I m going now—I have staples from Saint Laurent and Chanel, but I m into these young, fresh designers who are new and kind of like where I m at in my art career. When you are wearing clothing from new designers, people have never seen it before. I m constantly being asked about it. There s interest in it. And me being a dealer in a gallery dealing with emerging contemporary art, I m always promoting or showing something new. It s great for me to do the same thing when I m walking out.
Finds + Lahssan asymmetric cotton-gabardine trench coat, $945; net-a-porter.com; Kendall Conrad rounded bangle thick, $130; kendallconraddesign.com; Azede Jean-Pierre white silk linen swarm dress, $1,010; modaoperandi.com; Saint Laurent Babies Chelsea boot, $1,195; barneys.com
