Angelina Jolie is launching a new business. “Atelier Jolie” is a fashion brand, but it’s also the result of Jolie’s decades of humanitarian work. In a new interview, Jolie discussed her business, the role that her children have played in it, and how it’s served as a therapeutic space for her personal health and recovery.
Jolie sat down with Vogue and discussed the launch of Atelier Jolie, which opens this November. “I find it slightly funny that we are involved in fashion—I don’t think any one of us is overly ‘fashionable,’ ” said Jolie when discussing her kids and her family’s new business. “But because we live in our clothes, it is so much a part of who we are, and something that’s important to explore, especially for young people.” The concept of her new project wanted to address complex ideas like self-presentation and identity.
Jolie revealed that her children have been greatly influential in developing pieces for the brand, all made from sustainable materials and utilizing deadstock. Pax and Zahara have been one of her biggest collaborators, helping design and conceive the clothing items.
Jolie also grew vulnerable over the course of the interview, discussing the difficult headspace she’s inhabited over the past 10 years, which have seen her working less on acting projects and dealing with her divorce from Brad Pitt. “I feel a bit down these days. I don’t feel like I’ve been myself for a decade, in a way, which I don’t want to get into,” she said.
Jolie made it clear that her work with Atelier Jolie, surrounded by her family and by collaborators she trusts, has been pivotal for her health and a positive headspace. “I think part of this has also been therapeutic for me—to work in a creative space with people you trust and to rediscover yourself,” she said. “I’m hoping to change many aspects of my life. And this is the forward-facing one.”