How to be faithful to an idea (part 1).

Fidelity. To yourself. To another. And/or to an idea.

In a three-way conversation last week, fashion illustrator + author Garance Dore, former model Caroline de Maigret, and designer Isabel Marant had an interesting moment around the notion of fidelity, or loyalty. (Yes, I’ve got a wide range of voices on my iTunes podcast list, and I encourage you to do the same.)

Garance said, it can be “difficult to be faithful to a brand.”  (Stay with me here, even if fashion isn’t your thing.)

In her line of work, she’s often asked about favorites. Most recently, someone asked, if you had one designer that you would wear for the rest of your life, "and you can only wear one,” who would it be? I found her reply fascinating. 

"It would be Isabel because I know she’s going to keep doing something that looks like me, and it’s not going to change all the [time]….No, it’s a certain language, and then you explore it and you bring something new every season…and I can understand it."

She loves the clothes, yes, but she loves even more Isabel's faithfulness to an idea, and the discipline and creativity which she brings to it.

And that got me thinking a lot about the quality of an idea that can sustain you over the long haul.

How do you find that kind of idea? and how do you cultivate the discipline and fidelity required as a creator, no matter what line of work you are in?

Isabel talks about the push + pull of staying true to a vision: "When you’re designing, I think it's difficult sometimes to stick to your path because there’s many beautiful things in fashion, that’s why I love fashion. There are things that are not my style that I really love. And sometimes you can be tempted to go into something that is not you. That is very difficult, because otherwise, you kind of feel that you always do the same thing."

For each, the idea of being faithful (to a brand, or to a vision) had nothing to do with being on trend, but about the high bar of being true to oneself and one’s idea. It’s about confidence, conviction, and also intimacy and loyalty. And the result is compelling.

I love the way the phrase “faithful to an idea” (I’m swapping out brand for idea) asks us to see ourselves in relationship with our ideas. Ideas can demand consistency, devotion, depth, and commitment, without something guaranteed in return.

Ask yourself this week, what idea do you want to be faithful to in your work? Share with me here.

Something that could nourish and sustain you, intellectually and creatively. Yes our work has a commercial dimension. We want a financial return on our time and effort. But to stick with it over time, it’s helpful to have an idea to which you want to be faithful.

So how do you make that happen?

This is where we’ll pick up next week.