Rachele Regini’s ideas of home, reflective of before and now.

Dior’s Cultural and Creative Advisor Rachele Regini photographed in her apartment in Paris wearing the house’s subtle and soft-as-lingerie collection for spring.

Rachele Regini wears Dior throughout.

Where do you call home right now in your life? Why do you live there? And when did that last change? 

I have lived in so many different places that I have a flexible definition of home. Right now home is both Rome, where I have a flat where I live alone, but also my parents’ home, where we spend the holidays together. I also consider Paris home – I have a flat that I really love there. My definition of home is ever-changing and many places are home to me. I have learnt to make a nest for myself everywhere, where I can feel protected and at ease. 

Which room do you spend most time in? 

In Paris I am either always in the kitchen, where the only table of the house is, or on my India Mahdavi yellow couch which made my home my favourite place in Paris. It completely changed my perception of the flat, it just makes me so happy when I see it. Yellow is contagious.  

Where was home for you as a child? 

Home was the flat in Rome where I grew up. My parents renovated the flat often, expanding the flat, changing furniture. I think by the time I moved out when I was 16 I had called every room in the flat ‘my’ room. That actually helped me to not have such a fixed definition of home and to adapt easily to things changing around me. 

Can you describe in detail, including the postcode, the first place you lived when you moved away from the home where you grew up?

I first moved out when I was 16/17 to study in London. I finished high school there, I did the International Baccalaureate at Southbank International School. My mum’s friends David and Evelyn Chipperfield so kindly offered me the opportunity to live with them and their kids until I turned 18 in order to be able to attend the school. It was a life-changing experience for me and I will never thank them enough for being so kind and generous. It was so nice to be around them and their three kids, who were around the same age as me, having a sense of family even at a time when I was away from home. 

After over a year, my parents bought a flat in Chelsea – that was the first place that I had to myself. I am very attached to that flat; some of my favourite memories are tied to that place. I remember the first thing I did was put up posters by Guerrilla Girls all over the living room and buy a huge cactus and a record player. It also turned out to be a place where nearly all my friends came to stay: friends visiting from Rome, friends needing an in-between place to stay when switching rentals, friends of friends of friends staying for the weekend! I love to have a place that many people can call home – the more the memories the better. 

Can you remember the first time you felt homesick?

The first few months in London were hard, but my friends really helped me. Being at an international school with kids coming from all over the world was very helpful because we all had the same feeling of being homesick. The friends I had in school became my family – they still are. 

Do you ever get homesick now? 

No, I don’t think I do any more, I travel quite a lot, so my luggage can feel like a home sometimes.

Are you any good at DIY?  

I am very bad at fixing stuff! My brother does all my repairs, but only if he is in a good mood! 

What’s on your bedside table?  

On my bedside table in all my flats are a lamp, foot cream (which I don’t use as often as I should), rescue remedy, several chargers, four to six books depending on what I'm working on. 

What’s the furthest you’ve ever travelled from home?

South Korea was quite far – I loved it there.

Do you have a special place you go to escape from the world?

My music teacher’s studio in Rome. It’s surrounded by a garden and filled with all the instruments you can think of. There is no signal and no wifi there. It is my very secret heaven.

What most strongly triggers a sense of being home for you? 

Some people are home. My friends from my London school days, friends that I grew up with in Rome… I still make time to see them and spend time with them, so we are very much still a family.

Where do you see home being for you in 20 years’ time? 

I think I will move back to Rome eventually, but not without making a few more stops in between. 

When travelling, what does it take to make you feel at home? 

Home to me is anywhere where I feel comfortable, at ease, welcome. I can feel that anywhere if there are people that I can be myself with. 

How does the physical environment of your home influence your emotional well-being?

I am most calm and happy when I am surrounded by objects that I love, or that make me happy because they remind me of a moment in time, or a moment with someone I love. Ideally your home can be a place where all these memories live.