Charlotte Rampling is an English actress and one of the most significant stars of 20th century film to stand slightly to the left of the limelight. Eschewing mainstream roles, Charlotte has carved a career in a darker, quirkier side of cinema – playing in European titles such as Visconti’s “The Damned” and François Ozon’s “Swimming Pool”, as well as Woody Allen’s “Stardust Memories”, with her monologue included below.

Rampling discovered Yohji Yamamoto’s clothing in the 1980s, when her first husband used to go to Yohji for all his jackets. She has since adopted Yohji’s garments as her personal code, a fashion identity for outside the glamour of the movies, and in A#2 Charlotte talks with Marine Landrot about Yohji – the Japanese man dressing an English actress living in Paris. Here she is above, photographed by Philippe Quaisse.

“When I discovered Yohji, something strange happened. It was like joining a sect.”

“There were large flat shoes and dungarees that made you walk in a certain way. It seemed very powerful to me. I felt as if I was wearing architecture”.

“He makes a perfect garment then deconstructs it, giving it a personality, an identity.”

“The pure use of natural fabric, the monochrome, the repitition of one colour, over and over, like a mantra.”

“Yohji’s clothes are a hymn to freedom.”

“You do not exhibit your body in Yohji’s clothes. You do not show off. You enjoy the understatement.”

“The Italians breathe inspiration and creativity into their work with passion. They radiate beauty and warmth. They have an ancestral fascination for beauty and continue to worship at it’s altar … Yohji Yamamoto is an Italian behind a Noh mask.”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKTrR260rBI[/youtube]