LE BOOK Interview with Zita d’Hauteville

It feels like we’re in a moment where fashion, technology, and culture are starting to overlap in exciting new ways. From your perspective, how does that moment feel today, particularly in your daily experience in Paris?

Paris has always been a city of heritage, but what’s fascinating right now is how quietly it’s becoming a city of reinvention. I feel like we’re living in a moment where taste is no longer dictated solely by institutions, but co-created in real time between creators, technology, and communities. In my daily life, I move between very different worlds — from Google to fittings, from AI conversations to fashion week dinners — and what strikes me is that the boundaries have dissolved. Technology is no longer a tool behind the scenes; it’s becoming a creative partner. And fashion, which was once about exclusivity, is now about interpretation and storytelling at scale. There’s something very Parisian about that tension between tradition and innovation. It creates a kind of quiet sophistication — where the future doesn’t feel loud, but inevitable.

You recently held a masterclass on AI at Sciences Po entitled ‘Singularity becomes Career Strategy’. Could you share what you feel your most important insight was; and what were your biggest findings from the students that were part of the program? 

The core idea I wanted to transmit is that in a world where intelligence is becoming commoditized, singularity becomes your real asset. Your taste, your point of view, your ability to connect seemingly unrelated worlds — that’s what will define your value. What impressed me most about the students was their lucidity. They are not naïve about AI — they understand both its power and its ambiguity. But what they struggle with is not access to knowledge, it’s direction. They’ve been taught to optimize, but not always to differentiate. The biggest shift is that careers are no longer linear. The most interesting profiles today are hybrids. And I think the real challenge is helping people move from “What should I do?” to “What can only I do?”

You’ve spoken about a mission to inspire young women to study computer science and STEM, one could argue that in 2026 it’s now more important than ever, but also more confusing than ever before. Where would you advise them to begin and what to focus on in this rapidly evolving moment? 

I would tell them to start with curiosity, not intimidation. You don’t need to become an engineer overnight — but you do need to understand how the systems shaping the world actually work. My advice is to focus on three things: First, technical literacy — even a basic understanding of AI, data, and systems gives you an unfair advantage. Second, taste — because in a world of infinite content, knowing what is good becomes a superpower. And third, self-trust — which is often what women have been conditioned to doubt. What’s confusing today is that everything feels possible. But that’s also the opportunity. The goal is not to fit into tech — it’s to reshape it.

The ‘tech bros’ descended on fashion week season with Zuck, Bezos and Brian Johnson all getting in on the action in their own ways. What do you feel the catalyst for the renewed interest from tech to fashion is? 

Fashion is culture, and culture is influence. Tech has mastered distribution, but it hasn’t always mastered meaning. And I think there’s a growing awareness that owning infrastructure is no longer enough — you need to understand taste, identity, and aspiration. What’s interesting is that tech is moving from a logic of efficiency to a logic of desirability. And fashion, at its core, is about desire. At the same time, fashion is becoming more data-aware, more global, more immediate — so the two industries are naturally converging. But I think we’re still at the beginning. The real question is whether tech will learn to be subtle, which is something fashion has always understood.

As partner manager at YouTube you’ve been developing a completely new vertical. When it comes to luxury and beauty, what kinds of creators or formats are really resonating with audiences?

What resonates today is depth over perfection. The era of overly polished, inaccessible luxury is fading. Audiences are drawn to creators who offer intimacy, expertise, and a point of view. In beauty, we’re seeing a shift toward long-form education — routines, transformations, honest conversations about skin, health, and identity. In luxury, storytelling is becoming more narrative-driven: creators who bring you into their world, rather than just showing you products. There’s also a rise of what I would call “intelligent aspiration” — content that is beautiful, but also thoughtful. People don’t just want to see luxury; they want to understand it, contextualize it, and sometimes even challenge it.

You recently collaborated on a Bulgari campaign with your good friend Alex Rivière. From your perspective, what makes someone the right partner for a luxury brand today?

Authenticity has become overused as a word, but I think what truly matters is coherence. Does the person embody a world that feels aligned with the brand, beyond a single campaign? With Alex, there is a real consistency — in her aesthetic, her values, her way of living. Luxury today is less about visibility and more about credibility. People can sense immediately when something feels transactional. The right partner is someone who doesn’t just wear the brand, but elevates its narrative. Someone who brings a layer of meaning that the brand alone could not create.

For Fall/Winter 2026, many designers seemed to explore ideas of power, protection, and defiant glamour. Ackermann stated about his Tom Ford collection that “It’s about standing straight in life, facing everything that’s happening in this world”. What were some of the moments that stood out to you this season, and why do you think these themes resonated so strongly right now?

What struck me this season was a kind of controlled intensity — silhouettes that protect, fabrics that structure, but always with an undercurrent of sensuality. The Tom Ford show by Ackermann was particularly powerful in that sense. There was this idea of standing firm, almost as a response to a world that feels increasingly unstable. I think fashion is reflecting a collective need for both armor and expression. We want to feel protected, but we also want to remain visible, powerful, and desirable. Defiant glamour feels like a reaction to uncertainty — a way of reclaiming control through aesthetics. It’s not about escaping reality, but about confronting it with elegance. 

As an investor and board member for ALTA, what do you see as the most meaningful or transformative uses for AI within fashion and culture over the next year?    

The most transformative use of AI is not in automation, but in augmentation. It’s about enhancing creativity rather than replacing it.

I see three major shifts: First, hyper-personalization at scale — where fashion becomes more responsive to individual identity. Second, new forms of creative direction — where AI becomes a collaborator in ideation, moodboarding, storytelling. And third, access — lowering the barriers to creating, designing, and distributing. But what matters most is how we use these tools with intention. AI will amplify whatever we bring into it — so the real question is not what AI can do, but what we choose to create with it.

Opinions expressed in this interview are those of Zita d’Hauteville in a personal capacity and do not in any way reflect the positions of Google