In Conversation
Aleksandra Olenska shares her insights from the worlds of fashion and art, as well as her best travel tips.
Aleksandra Olenska is at home in most parts of the world, a familiar name in many creative industries, most notably fashion (and now also art). After obtaining her MA in Fashion Design from Central St. Matins School of Art (where she studied under the influential Louise Wilson), she stayed in London for a few years, producing items for artists like Kylie Minogue and Björk, while having her work appear in magazines such as Vogue, W, and Harper’s Bazaar.
Following her move to Paris, she began working with creative direction for Vanessa Bruno, but has also consulted for Chanel, Celine, Tom Ford, and the Kering Group. She has worked on magazines and books with top art photographers such as Todd Hido, Deborah Turbeville, and Lina Scheynius all over the world.
Throughout her career, she has always worked in the intersection of art and fashion, and recently, has ventured more into the field of art. Following surgery and applying for a Polish passport (post Brexit), while tracing her Polish grandmothers’ story, she began painting in 2023:
“My practice highlights my family’s stories of migration, displacement and memory through experiences of war and conflict. I create paintings that employ gestural, intuitive mark-making, to evoke conversations between past, present and future histories. Recent world events – including Brexit and the war in Ukraine – have made me consider the fragility of nature, civilizations, and the risk of history repeating itself.
As a self-taught artist, I’ve been developing my visual language, creating work where environmental concerns, social & cultural worlds merge with personal upbringing & an emotional landscape. The subconscious is transferred through energetic strokes - blurring boundaries between inner dialogue & global reality in an era of Anthropocene.
I’m currently experimenting with memory infused materials and pigment making, using materials gathered from land with personal meaning, such as resin, earth and crystals. I’m also working on a new body of large-scale works, and hope to show my work this year, and pursuit a career as an artist.”
We asked Aleksandra to share some of her favourite spots in the places where she feels most at home.
I know you’re no fan of the cold. Where do you prefer to spend your winters?
The tropics in their forever warmth and lusciousness. In winter you can often find me painting in my studio in Panama City, I adore Panama – with its mind-blowing biodiversity – adorable sloths and giant turquoise butterflies, combined with rich culture, deep fried plantains and the most incredible cloud filled big skies for miles around, against jungle backdrops, and boats queuing for the canal.
Sunsets from the remote and indigenously owned St Blass islands in Panama are the most beautiful I’ve ever seen, whilst the city boasts a great international restaurant scene and cycle paths for miles by the coast. I love Intimo for a modern take on Panamanian cuisine, Diablo Rosso gallery in the old town – Casco Viejo – for emerging talent, and always seek out opera performances from Panamanian tenor Jùan Pomares.
What’s your favourite destination in the world?
It varies depending on mood, but probably Italy or Japan. In Italy (especially Tuscany). I feel utterly at home – I’m very European, and adore the nuances of the regions, not to mention the food, of Italy.
What has (so far) been your best hotel experience?
It’s a cliché maybe, but honestly my best recurring experience has been at the Chateau Marmont in L.A. They have always treated me with such warmth and kindness, and I feel completely at home in their slightly unkempt 1920s interiors, with the ghosts of Hollywood legends. (Customer service is critical to my experience at a hotel and whether I’d return somewhere.)
La Reserve Ramatuelle in the South of France is also lovely - elegant and discrete, with pine-tinged air, the gentle sound of frogs croaking, and nearby stream gurgling.
Tell me about a book that you’ve read recently.
This summer in Ibiza I read The Twilight of Democracy by Anne Applebaum. Perhaps not traditional beach reading – but an excellent, well researched and thought-provoking book, combining personal stories with factual details. I’m concerned about issues of freedom of speech and a post truth society which the book discusses. I find that painting helps me to feel a sense of calm and reality that is becoming eroded in this internet age.
I also recently re-read Ramachandran’s The Telltale Brain, which is one of my favourite books of all time. The neuroscientist has a distinctly human approach to exploring and understanding the brain!
Do you have a museum you often return to? Which one and why?
So many. I recently revisited the Musée Bourdelle near Montparnasse in Paris for the excellent Rodin/Bourdelle exhibition. It’s the sculptor’s old workshops, studios and garden with these magnificent disproportionally huge bronze horse sculptures in the shadow of the ugly Tour Montparnasse. I dream of having such a huge atelier in Paris one day!
In the summer, a stroll around the Rodin Museum with its lovely garden, where they hold Dior Couture shows is a must.
The Musée de la Chasse et la Nature in the Marais in Paris has amazing curation, mixing pearl inlay rifles, and tiny masks for hunting birds with contemporary sculptures and unexpected corners at every turn.
I’ve also explored the recently renovated Hotel de la Marine, down the road from my apartment which is very chic and well curated. I’ll be returning!
And in London – The splendour of The Wallace collection. I love how they juxtapose temporary contemporary pieces in with their historic collections. Also, the sumptuous silk wallpaper is amazing. Last time I was there, they had a ballet performance in the main room upstairs – what a backdrop!
And a wander around the National Gallery in London to see some old favourites is always a pleasure!
What’s your favourite spot for dinner in Paris?
I live in the Japanese area by Palais Royale, and love Kunitoraya – it’s like being in Japan which is somewhere I long to go back to, and am currently exploring Japanese sap lacquer. I took sushi from Kunitoraya to my 85-year-old neighbour who wanted to try this Japanese delicacy for the first time – she proceeded to serve them with champagne and a jar of home-made fois gras!
Also, I like the tiny Italian Cibus, on rue Moliere, drinking great Sicilian red wine and having a hearty plate of pasta.
And in London?
Fish at my favourite Scotts or J.Sheekeys. St John Bread and Wine is another delicious classic.
Fashion is an industry in fluxus – and I hope it’s time for brands and individuals alike to focus on individual style and considerate purchases, rather than relentless trends and spends.
Which shop would you recommend to someone planning a trip to Paris?
Le Bon Marché, of course.
How would you best sum up the state of fashion in 2025?
It’s an industry in fluxus – and I hope it’s time for fashion brands and individuals alike to focus on individual style and considerate purchases, rather than relentless trends and spends. Fabulous hires including Matthieu Blazy from Bottega to Chanel, and Proenza at Loewe should prove interesting, as long as the focus isn’t on exhausting growth and product for the sake of product. We can all slow down!
Mostly though, I love celebration of artists and artisans at brands such as Hermès, and the increasing cultural integration of luxury fashion houses, such as Fendi (who funded the renovation of the Trevi Fountain in Rome) and Chanel, with their Metiers d’Art and the restoration of the Grand Palais in Paris.
Chanel’s M19 complex in Pantin hosts incredible exhibitions, such as the recent Lesage expo, highlighting exquisite craftmanship and celebrating creativity and community – with stunning archival pieces, workshops, a local garden, and connections with artists from nearby POUSH studios.
And what is currently happening in the world of contemporary art that’s interesting according to you?
I adore the endlessly fascinating work of Paris based Bianca Biondi, who is nominated for the Marcel Duchamp Award this year. Her magical universe celebrates weird nature, with crystalline instillations, modern tapestries and plants capturing a moment between fecundity and decay.
I also love what Joël Riff and his friendly team is doing at La Verrière at Hermès in Belgium – thoughtfully bringing together artists, musicians, poets, with carefully curated exhibitions and programming.
Meanwhile in the UK, Pilar Corrias always has strong exhibitions, I loved Mary Ramsden’s colourful abstract works inspired by her local British landscape. The exuberant vessels and community spirit of the Studio Lenca exhibition at the Carl Freedman gallery in Margate UK was also joyful – his colourful work celebrates his El Salvadorian identity and considers ideas of belonging. I also enjoy gallery director Rob Diamant’s podcast Talk Art, that he does with actor Russel Tovey.