Eva Chen On Lucky’s Future And Mixing Pregnancy With Heels

by Paige Reddinger

Lucky EIC Eva Chen, who’s now six months pregnant,  was perched front row at Isabel Marant at the Palais de Tokyo. She’d touched down in Paris two hours earlier and was already hitting the ground running. We checked in with Chen to see how she’s holding up and to get the dish on the new shopping format for Lucky. Plus, find out what her baby’s wardrobe (already) looks like…

Hi, Eva! When did you get to Paris?
Just a couple of hours ago and I didn’t sleep at all on my flight. I had a somewhat inconsiderate passenger sitting right next to me, who woke me up every 10 minutes to go to the bathroom. I was thinking, “I’m six months pregnant and you’re the one getting up to go to the bathroom every five minutes!?” So I basically got zero hours of sleep.

You’re a trooper!
I know. Everyone is like, “Enjoy the pregnancy!” and I’m like, “How am I supposed to enjoy the pregnancy?!”

We spotted Miroslava Duma the other day, who’s also pregnant. Have you swapped fashion week stories as moms-to-be yet?
Actually, Miroslava, Yasmin [Sewell], and I are all due within days of each other.

Cute! How do you think the rest of the week will be for you?
I think it will be OK. Before I left, my dad basically begged me not to wear heels.  He said, “The cobblestones are dangerous! I can see you wearing them in these pictures on Instagram.” I think it’s hard when your Dad “Asian-guilts” you. So I pretty much packed only flats. But this week is going to be very busy: we’re starting to buy for our new e-commerce platform.

How’s that going? Are you doing the buying?
It’s great! We have a lot of traction already. I don’t pretend to be a buyer; we have a great buyer we are working with out of L.A. right now.  By next spring, we’ll do a soft launch of the site. By fall, it will be in full swing.

What kinds of brands will the e-comm platform carry?
It’ll speak to the spirit of the magazine. You’ll see everything: Marc by Marc Jacobs, Kenzo, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Isabel Marant, Carven, The Row…We also want to introduce new brands to our readers. Lucky has always been the magazine that’s really helped people discover new brands, like a tiny brand from Sweden or Denmark or Hong Kong that you’ve never heard of.  So the site will have that sense of discovery. There are some brands that we’ll be carrying that I hadn’t heard of before. That’s saying a lot, because I shop like a maniac!

So it’ll be a high/low mix?
Yes, there will be backpacks and baseball caps and cool Y-3 for Adidas sneakers, next to a $2,000 handbag. That’s how I roll, and that’s how everyone I know rolls. I think we’ll be the first site to really live and breathe that spirit.

Speaking of sneakers, we saw those baby New Balances on Instagram. Have you collected a lot of baby clothes already?
I have to be honest: the baby has, like, 40 pairs of shoes already. It’s kind of a problem, because all of my mom friends are telling me that shoes are the least practical things for a baby. But I’m sorry, baby Doc Martins? Sorry I’m not sorry. I can’t not buy those for my baby! I keep telling all the designers to make more baby clothes. I told Carol [Lim] and Humberto [Leon] that they have to expand their kid’s section of Kenzo. I’m really excited. There’s baby Marc Jacobs, baby Proenza Schouler…My husband isn’t too excited about it, though. He already thinks the baby is spoiled!

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