- 4 minutes ago
From mini dinner parties to maxi events for thousands, co-founder and executive creative director Piera Gelardi knows how to make life—and a brand—memorable. Drawing inspiration from everything and everywhere, Piera talks candidly about how her passion for art, style, and experiences has helped put Refinery29 on a global stage, and has made her a women's media force to be reckoned with.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:01Welcome to Unstyled. I'm your host, Christine Barbrick, co-founder and global editor-in-chief
00:06of Refinery29. Each week, I invite a notable person to come in and talk with us as we explore
00:12the funny, inspiring, sometimes heartbreaking tales of life, work, and love, as told through
00:19the things that we wear. Today's guest requires a bit of an R29 history lesson.
00:32Piera Gilardi, Refinery29's executive creative director and one of my co-founders, and I met
00:38while working at City Magazine back in 2001. For those of you that don't remember City, it was a
00:44super cool, pretty indie magazine and was really a place where both Piera and I had the freedom
00:49to find and explore our creative voices, and really our personal styles. In fact, it's where
00:55Piera eventually became photo director and earned the magazine and ASME for Best Photography.
01:01In 2004, Piera and I joined our other two co-founders, Philip and Justin, to create what would eventually
01:07grow into Refinery29 as you know it now. At her core, Piera is really an art director. She sees the
01:14world, not just our company, through a very unique and imaginative lens. Everything from a meal to an
01:20event for thousands to basic outfit planning is conceived as its own art form when you're Piera
01:26Gilardi. Moments that might be overlooked by others are made truly memorable by this lady, and that's why
01:32she's a super dear friend of mine, and she's also here today to tell us why and how she does
01:37it.
01:39Hi, Piera. Hi. That's so nice. So we've been in business together for 11 and a half, a lot, a
01:49lot of
01:50years, 11 and a half years. It'll be 12 years next June. I feel like it would be so interesting
01:56hearing our origin story from your perspective, because the origin story kind of happened before I
02:01entered the picture. We used to work together at City Magazine, which is no longer in existence,
02:08but it was an incredible design and fashion and architecture and kind of an experimental
02:14downtown magazine that you and I really cut our teeth at creatively and had a lot of freedom there,
02:21and I think that's where we both sort of found our creative voices. I mean, I think it was such
02:26an
02:27exciting and interesting time. I was still at City. You had moved on to other pastures, but I was
02:34still there and was very much feeling like my entrepreneurial calling. Urges? Yeah. I mean,
02:41I grew up in an entrepreneurial family, and I think I always kind of had these side projects. Like when
02:45I
02:46was at City, I was trying to launch that zine, Team Rad, Let's Get Awesome, and that had just kind
02:50of
02:50fallen apart a little bit because I didn't have the right partners in place that had diversified skill sets
02:56to bring it to life. And also, you know, we wanted, it was not a zine, actually. It was like
03:02a really
03:02fucking expensive like art book that we wanted to make that. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong
03:07with that, except if you've got no money and you don't know how to get money, that's kind of a
03:10problem. Yes. So that had kind of like fallen. Small obstacle. Small obstacle. The printer quote,
03:17that was our obstacle. So that had kind of dissolved, and it was very disappointing. And
03:23I, you know, and then I was still at City, and I had loved it, but I kind of felt
03:28like that cyclical
03:29magazine. It was kind of starting to peter out a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. It felt like there wasn't
03:35momentum. And personally, I felt like that cycle of like issue after issue was just getting really
03:41boring. So yeah, it started dating Philip, who's now my husband and is our co-founder. And he and
03:49Justin had the idea for the very nascent like stages of, you know, the idea that would become
03:56Refinery29. We were living together, and it was just kind of fun for me to brainstorm with them and,
04:02you know, offer my perspective from the publishing and fashion world. But it was like, to me, it was this
04:09side project, I didn't really necessarily see the potential or think it was going to be some,
04:15you know, big empire in the future. But, you know, it was fun for me to think about something else
04:20to
04:21help develop something else so that they... You know how to get shit done, which I think is really
04:25a rare quality. Thank you. Yeah, I mean, I think in the early days of our business, I just I
04:31saw where
04:31there were needs, and I jumped in and did them, you know, whether that was learning Google Analytics
04:36or learning to code or, you know, photographing things. I feel like that's now like slightly to
04:42my detriment, like I need to unwind that because I need to focus. But I do think it was, you
04:48know,
04:48some that was sort of the role that I played early on. To get back to our story, we had
04:53worked at City
04:54Magazine. And I, as you know, I came in as an intern originally, and you were the executive editor,
05:01taught me so much. You know, we had loved working together. I was always, you know,
05:05you were a mentor to me. So someone who really inspired me and who, you know, was much more
05:09accomplished in your career than I was. So early on, I suggested that Philip and Justin get in
05:15touch with you. And I really, I didn't, this is not what I expected would happen. I thought that
05:21you would say, oh, you know, sounds like a cute idea. Here's an intern or like an assistant that I
05:27used to work with that you guys should talk to. And so I was totally floored when you had drinks
05:32with
05:32them. And you called me up and you said, I, you know, I'm really looking to get into digital. I
05:38think this is an amazing idea. And I want to do it, but I can't tell, you know, how in
05:44it you are.
05:44I only want to do it if we can work together and we can like make magic together again. And
05:49it was
05:49like, for me, that was like such a light bulb moment because I hadn't seen the potential, I think,
05:55because I was in it and I was just doing what needed to be done to help them to establish
06:00it.
06:00But I didn't, I didn't see the potential. And I also didn't have the mindset to say, oh, I want
06:06to,
06:07I want to make this official. I'm putting my, I'm putting my time into this, like, what's this
06:11arrangement look like? So it was actually when you joined and you got pen to paper saying like what
06:16the arrangement was for you that I then, you know, you encouraged me to like do the same because I
06:21was
06:21just donating my time to it, you know, as like a friend, girlfriend, creative spirit, just excited
06:29about new stuff.
06:31One of the things I wanted to ask you is, is obviously self-expression. Just feeling at home
06:37in your personal style is something that you and I really inspired us in the beginning when we first
06:42started crafting what the voice and vision of Refinery29 would be. And it was really exciting
06:49for us at that time because street style was really starting to become a thing. And that was really all
06:54grounded in just people wearing what they wanted to wear.
06:56What was one of the most sort of significant things that happened when you were growing up
07:00that really kind of just clarified for you, you know, who you were or like how you wanted to
07:06express yourself through the things you wore?
07:08Yeah. I mean, when I, when I started dressing myself, I was a very expressive dresser. I had a
07:13lot of fun with what I wore.
07:15I had a lot of flair, mixing and matching things. I got really, I was really into color and weird
07:20textures like vinyl, sparkly vinyl and sequins and, um, you know, fishnet and, and all this stuff.
07:28And I, um, I had a, I had so much fun with my dressing and my, um, junior year of
07:35high school,
07:35I went to RISD art camp. I met people from all over the place, you know, all these other teenagers
07:41that love art and fashion and were creative and dressed crazy. And I was people, Oh my God,
07:48my people. I was so, I mean, I'm still friends with a lot of people that I met there. I
07:53felt so
07:53good about who I was and, and I saw this future for myself. Strangely there. I also met this girl
08:00who I fell in love with. We ended up dating. She went to a high school near mine. She had
08:07never
08:07dated a girl before and she was like, not really cool with it. And she didn't really,
08:11she didn't tell her parents. She didn't really tell her friends except for her two, um, gay
08:17best friends. Um, so I was kind of like a secret and she, I think because she was so uncomfortable
08:24with the fact that she was dating a girl and she didn't want to tell anyone about it. And I
08:29think
08:29she wasn't ready to confront who she was probably either. Yeah. She also started to like,
08:34because she wouldn't really introduce me to her friends as who I was. She started to like really
08:39criticize what I would wear. And she wanted me to wear her clothes and be more like her.
08:45She kind of, she dressed kind of raver, like a polo raver, like big JNCOs and like, you know,
08:50big polo shirts and stuff. It was this really weird moment where I started wearing things that really
08:55didn't feel like me. And, and at times like she would convince me to wear her clothes. So, you know,
09:01and that just felt so bizarre. And I remember somewhere towards the end of our relationship,
09:06her convincing me to wear this outfit of hers. And I went out and I ran into people that I
09:12knew.
09:13I felt so icky and felt so bad about myself that I like was letting someone kind of dictate what
09:21I
09:21should wear and, and that they were making me feel so bad about myself that I was like,
09:26not inhabiting my identity that I was following your gut. Yeah. I wasn't following my gut and it
09:31felt so awful. And I, you know, I realized like, I never, I'm never going to do that again. I'm
09:36never going to let anyone make me feel bad about what I wear and how I express myself. And that's
09:41just not, that's not cool. You shouldn't do that. So now I'm wearing fringe and stripes and rivets.
09:47And if people don't like it, go fuck yourself. Exactly. You lead one of the, one of the biggest
09:53teams in the company. You know, our company is now like, I can't even believe it. It's eclipsed
09:57like 400 people. It's incredible all over the world. It is nuts. We did that. We did that. We built
10:03that city. We did build that city. It's a great city at that. But how do you inspire that feeling,
10:08you know, without it feeling like pushy or setting a certain expectation that people should express
10:13themselves, but how do you actually, how do you share that kind of opportunity with people on the
10:18team? How do they feel inspired by that? And how do they express it? I think part of it is
10:22setting an
10:22example and pushing myself to express myself and, and continue to grow and evolve my style and really
10:29look for a lot of interesting outside references. I try and encourage my team to do the same by doing
10:35things like we do a monthly meeting where everyone brings inspiration and visual inspiration that
10:41they're excited about. It's always amazing because we often see so much similarity in terms of the
10:46things that we're excited about. I think that's so important to give the space to explore and to
10:52look for new ideas and references. It's really, to me, my role is pushing people forward and giving
10:59them the space to be creative. So I think just having that dialogue and trying to bring inspiration
11:04into the environment, I think it's so, so much more interesting in how you actually create something
11:10new is to like truly remix it and truly mash up references from different places. And I get a lot
11:16of inspiration from art and podcasts and all these different places that can trigger different types
11:20of ideas. You know, you help the team to get kind of re-inspired as well. But what are some,
11:26what are some
11:27tips that normal people or people that aren't creative directors can, can kind of like, can, or can rub
11:32off on them? I think, you know, I mean, I think museums and French films are great if you love
11:38those
11:39things, but some people feel totally alienated by those things and they don't, you know, they make
11:43you, they make some people feel like an outsider or like those are untouchable and too highbrow.
11:50I think, I think inspiration comes in all shapes and forms. So be, I think being receptive to what
11:57actually gets your brain going, inspiration finding shouldn't be a slog. It should be
12:02fun. And that's what. So following like what actually feels good. Yeah. Just like that you
12:06look forward to, it doesn't feel like work. Your inspiration should feel good. It should be
12:10something that you really enjoy. I think another way to get creatively unstuck is also recognizing
12:14the people that make you feel creative. Everyone is creative. And not creative. Yeah. That make you feel
12:21stuck. Yeah. Figuring out, you know, like sometimes for me, there's like two junior people on my team
12:27who I just have a great dynamic with. I feel really comfortable with them. They make me laugh.
12:33So sometimes if I feel stuck, I just ask if we can talk for 10 minutes and we just kind
12:38of have a back
12:39and forth and then that unsticks me. I think laughing, that's another thing that we learned in our city
12:44days is, you know, I try when I'm leading a brainstorm, I try to be really like say something
12:51really stupid to start or something absurd, more stupid, but absurd. Because I think that once you
12:58laugh, it kind of opens up your brain. You're not like, I mean, when you think about a block, it's
13:02like a hard ball that's like blocking the flow of things. So barricade. Yeah. Laughter can like
13:09shatter that and open up the synapses to come up with interesting ideas. So it's finding things that
13:16bring joy and laughter and enjoyment because so often when we're blocked, it's like we're forcing
13:23ourselves to, to think about something where like, that's not when you get into a flow. That's not when
13:29you kind of find the answer. In my opinion, I love like depth and meaning. I love things that are,
13:35you know, I'm very visual and I love beauty, but I'm, what I'm really obsessed with is like depth
13:41and meaning and, and doing things that are, that might delight the eye and the senses on one level,
13:49but then you realize there's this other deeper level to it. So it's been an interesting process
13:54as we've grown the company from literally, you know, coding, coding stories and making collage
14:01images and photographing things like ourselves to having this team, you know, this amazing team
14:07creating content, but it's such a different creative process from doing something yourself to
14:13learning how to educate people about the way that you think so that they can think similarly,
14:20but do things in their own style. And there's so much beauty in people bringing their own style
14:25and their own creativity to the table. So it's, it has been an interesting shift in how I exert my
14:33vision to learn how to do it on that much bigger scale and how to bring that inspiration and that
14:40education into the environment. I mean, I love it when someone sends me something and they're like,
14:44oh my God, this is so amazing. And I'm like, I had nothing to do with it. I didn't even
14:47know that
14:48thing was happening. And they're like, how is that possible? It's so you, it looks like you're,
14:52it's so like your vision. And I'm like, well, that's, that's a big compliment because that means
14:58that I've like taken my vision and like taken it up here, but that people are doing things that like
15:04make me so proud. And that actually, when I look at like that video, I'm like, oh, I don't even
15:10know
15:10how I would have actually done that, but they did it and they brought so much creativity to it. So
15:15it's, it's a, yeah, it's like, it's like being the conductor of the orchestra versus the
15:22violin player, the theremin player.
15:32You are married to our, one of our other co-founders, Philip Vamborius.
15:37You want to know about her sex life?
15:39No, I wasn't going to actually ask about your sex life, but you know, I'm sure he'd love that.
15:43Oh, he would love it.
15:44He would. But you know, what's been exciting is to really see Philip's style evolve. There's kind
15:49of this image of, you know, startup people and like the kind of things that they wear. And it's
15:56really been exciting to see Justin and Philip each kind of finding their groove. Just yesterday,
15:59I saw Philip wearing a pair of polka dot sneakers with a little, with a little kind of like red
16:05kickback thing in the back. It was really adorable. And it reminded me of you. What's it like to,
16:10to be married and to live with somebody that you work with every day?
16:13I mean, I love it. I grew up in a family business. So for me, like work and life have
16:18always been mashed up. I am really passionate about what I do. And Philip's really passionate
16:23about what he does. And we're building the company together. So we find it, I find it exciting. I feel
16:29like it connects us and bonds us. And I, it's been amazing for me to see him grow so much
16:34in his
16:35leadership and to see, you know, what he's contributed. And I, and it's also amazing for me to see him,
16:41see me and like, admire me for my leadership and my creativity. And I don't know, there's something
16:48really beautiful about that. I feel like I know him so fully because I see him in these different
16:54aspects of life. And I also love that I see, you know, Philip, you know, dances at home and is
17:00like
17:00a goofball that, you know, maybe people at the office don't always see. Also how he sees my style.
17:06Like, he's not like a traditional dude that just like, likes it when I wear like really short skirts.
17:11Yesterday when I was wearing this, like high, these like high waist denim, like riveted jeans
17:16with this denim jacket, he was like, he just like stopped what he was doing. And he was like,
17:21you look amazing. He's like, that is the look. I even think when we started the company,
17:28I felt as, as I grew as a manager and a leader that I didn't really have any, really many
17:37role
17:37models out in the world for the type of leader that I would like to be. Most of my role
17:43models
17:43were right in front of me, were, you know, the different, you know, all the amazing women that
17:47we work with, yourself included. You know, I, I knew that the vision that I had for myself was
17:53a leader that, you know, had, was imaginative and, and curious and, and kind and, and all these things.
18:01But I didn't really see a lot of examples of that. I kind of saw a leadership style that played
18:06off of
18:06more traditionally male attributes. And so I think that's been interesting over time to figure out how
18:12to build my own unique leadership style. And starting to see many more women that are setting
18:20an example for unique leadership styles that feel more, more feminine. So I think that's,
18:26that's been, that's really exciting. And I feel like the world has only, you know, seen yay big
18:31of what, what can happen when women are, you know, reach their potential and are, are taking those
18:38opportunities and starting to, to grow in a big way. I love that. Thank you. Thanks, P.
18:45Creativity. Creativity. Yeah. Expression. Yeah. That's my jam. I love it. Well, and I love you
18:52too, P. I love you. Okay. Thank you so much for being a guest on Unstyled. I hope you'll come
18:56back
18:57again soon. I would love to. That would be my absolute pleasure and delight. I hope you're inspired
19:02after hearing Piera Gilardi's story. For even more Unstyled extras, check out Refinery29 or my Instagram
19:08at Christine Barbrick. You can also join the conversation using the hashtag Unstyled across your social
19:13media. And of course, we'd be super grateful if you'd please subscribe to Unstyled on iTunes
19:18and rate us while you're there. You can head to refinery29.com to find this episode and more
19:24and make sure to sign up for our exclusive Unstyled newsletter delivered straight to your inbox every
19:29week. Our show today was produced and edited by Elisa Kreisinger with production assistance from
19:35Rebecca Easley for Refinery29. Copy and research support provided by Lila Brilsen. Our theme music
19:41today is by the artist Koff. Hannes Brown produced our episode music and we recorded Unstyled with
19:47Paul Ruist. We'll see you back here next Monday for our last episode, a conversation with Dr.
19:52Samantha Boardman on the psychology of style. We'll even have a bonus episode with R29's very own
19:58Connie Wang.