By turns an actress, filmmaker, humanitarian, and mother, Angelina Jolie is as multifaceted as she is magnetic, captivating her audiences for four decades. As founder of the new Atelier Jolie concept store in New York, the 48-year-old is also increasingly active in the sustainable fashion space, and in recent years has increasingly turned her attention to the importance of craft in fashion—something that has made Japan, with its rich history of makers, a key destination. To celebrate her appreciation for Japanese craft, and to allow the actress a deeper insight into the country, Vogue Japan invited Jolie on a curated trip to Tokyo, Osaka and beyond to immerse herself in the unique blend of tradition and innovation that defines Japanese culture.
In a conversation with Tiffany Godoy, Vogue Japan’s Head of Editorial Content, the two spoke candidly about Jolie’s experiences in Japan, her extensive charity work, an ongoing uneasiness with celebrity, and the importance of finding solace in community. “Being given the time to learn about the culture and the craft and history within Japan was very special,” she says.
Transcending Cultural Boundaries
As part of the trip, Jolie visited a wide variety of Japanese artisans and makers, some of whom are carrying a centuries-old legacy. “I don't want to pretend to know or understand Japanese culture, but I will say I’ve always felt that there’s a grace and an intention that seems to come from things that are made in Japan,” she says.
The Japanese term mottainai, which roughly translates to don’t waste, and speaks to the nature of respecting and working with what you have, was something she found particularly charming. “I think that says just about everything,” she smiles. “And it just naturally developed within Japanese society. It’s not a movement, it’s a part of this country that things are valued.” Though the language barrier could have proven difficult, Jolie found her time with the artisans in Japan to be enlightening in a way that transcended words. “It’s true when they say ‘you learn more in an hour of play than in a year of conversation’,” she says.
Sustainability as Punk
For Jolie, who has identified as a punk since she was a teen, sustainability goes hand in hand with rebellion. “Punk is the antithesis of jumping onto popular trends, following influencers, or being told by big companies what’s in style,” she says. “It’s about questioning why we’re pushed into overconsumption, or why we feel incomplete without certain things.” To step away from that manipulation that keeps us “trapped in the consumption cycle that companies desire,” as she puts it, “I believe we all need to step back from these thoughts and media and reflect on who we were before all that.”
Stepping away from the relentless cycle of consumption is also key to Atelier Jolie, which she opened in Manhattan last year. Functioning as a collaborative place for creatives and tailors, with a focus on vintage fabrics and deadstock, Jolie considers the space a radical departure from standard fashion retail. “I’m not trying to be a fashion house or a fashion designer. I really wanted to make a place where anybody could come and discover their own creativity and give them the tools to work with,” she says.
She refers to Atelier Jolie not just as a store, but as a home. “The hope is that many great artists who’ve been around a long time will come in and be a part of the home, and then new young artists will discover the home and they will influence each other.” she says. The thoughtfully constructed sashiko clothing from Sasaki Yohinten, for instance, is now available at the store, “I’m hoping that the Atelier, and work like this, traveling and meeting other artists, can restore my relationship with creativity in a way that makes me happier and live as an artist and enjoy it.”
“Some people are just born a little bit on fire”
When it comes to speaking about her own strengths as an artist, Jolie is characteristically self-deprecating. “It’s probably my weakness too, but my strength is that I’m emotional. I am deeply human, and flawed,” she says. “I feel that I want to connect to other people. And that can bring forward chaos, but it can also bring forward very authentic connections.”
That inner emotionality and intensity makes her restless—and always has. “I don’t sleep well, I’m not one of those people. I never settle. But, you know, I think some of us are kind of born that way. I've been trying to calm down since I was like five years old, and it's just not happening,” she smiles. “Some people are just born a little bit on fire.”
As a star who has spent much of her career under the unrelenting intensity of the Hollywood spotlight, Jolie has had to draw boundaries between the personal and the public to avoid feeling suffocated. “I kind of keep it separate. And I haven’t really found a way to have a relationship with fame—other than when I direct. I think I’ve been avoiding it, because I’ve been avoiding Hollywood since I was young,” she laughs.
Finding Community
Jolie has continued with her charity work for over two decades —undertaking over sixty field missions to displaced people worldwide as Special Envoy for the United Nations, a post she stepped down from in 2022 to focus on working directly with local and refugee-led organizations. “The more you become aware of in the world”, she says, “the more it sits on your soul in a very, very heavy way. Because you discover the pain, the inhumanity, the cruelty. And it’s very real, and there’s a lot of injustice. As you get older, you see how many times, especially nowadays, a lot that has been fought for is sliding back”.
For Jolie, part of the answer to this lies in building community, and connecting with like-minded people. “There is no easy fix. And so you just try to find ways to contribute something positive, or not even positive, you find ways to be in community with other good people,” she says. Her New York Atelier includes a partnership with a refugee-led organization, Eat Offbeat, and she has supported a locally-led development program in her son’s Maddox’s name in Cambodia for the last twenty years. Overall, she believes that more international support in conflict situations should go directly to local people.
Where does the fashion industry, with all of its challenges and contradictions, fit into the picture going forwards? “It’s important to acknowledge where we are pushing certain ideas onto young people, and tell them things they have to need in order to be good enough. Someone might be thrilled with a $3 T-shirt, and I’m happy for them that they can have that option, but it’s important to question how it was made for that, and who got hurt in order for that to happen,” she says.
After spending time with craftspeople in Japan who make and tend to things in a much slower and more considered way, Jolie believes fashion can learn a lot. “I think that’s probably the part of sustainability that is least understood, which should be that we have less, and what we do have is very special. It’s not about something of a high monetary value, but forging a relationship to something that’s been created or found,” she says, adding that a sustainable approach to life through self-expression can be transformative. “A return to self-expression is very important, and to respecting culture and craft,” she says. “That’s the beautiful thing about being alive and being human.”
Styling: Yoko Miyake Hair: Massimo Serini Makeup: Yuka Washizu using GUERLAIN for Angelina, Chacha for Bee Keepers Manicure: Naoko Takano Prop Styling: Takashi Imayoshi Tailor: Azuna Saito Production: HK Production Text: Rieko Shibasaki Adaptation: Ashley Ogawa Clarke Styling Assistant: Miyabi Nara Special thanks to Naoko Aono and Re;PLACE KOISHIKAWA
