Daily Front Row

2012 February 14

Friends With Benefits

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Hannah Ware, Giles Matthey, Shane Gabier, and Chris Peters
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(NEW YORK) Boss star Hannah Ware and her boyfriend Giles Matthey, just minutes ago cast in True Blood, are among the buzziest actors in Young Hollywood. Same goes for Creatures of the Wind designers Shane Gabier and Chris Peters in the fashion world. Funnily enough, they’re friends! The Daily caught up with this fearless foursome at Tipsy Parson to talk Fashion Fund, live/work relationships, and their intriguing Chicago connection. 
BY EDDIE ROCHE

Where did you all meet?
Chris: At the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund party in October. Hannah was our date, and we’ve become friends with her and Giles more quickly than anyone else I can think of in recent years! 

Have you watched The Fashion Fund docu-series on Hulu?
Chris: I can’t watch full episodes, just little pieces. It covers everything from June to November, so you never know what’s going to come up!
Hannah: Surely you guys always sound really well-spoken and polite.
Shane: There are definitely some moments where I wished they hadn’t been filming.
Chris: The whole process was really amazing, not just in terms of the opportunity. We made so many great relationships, at times it felt like summer camp!
Hannah: Your Fall show was really quite special. Your clothes are so romantic, and whimsical...
Shane: It’s been our favorite collection yet. It’s also the first season we’ve had a casting director and our own producer. Before, we were doing everything ourselves!
Chris: We’ve already brainstormed our next season. 
Shane: We motivate each other—nothing ever comes from only one brain.
Hannah: Giles and I do the same thing. We help each other film our auditions out of our apartment in Brooklyn. He’s quite handy with the video camera.
Giles: We understand each other emotionally, and share the same understanding of acting, which is really helpful when working with each other on roles.
Chris: It’s so hard to find someone with the same perspective.
Hannah: When did you start designing?
Chris: When we started dating!
Hannah: And when did that evolve into Creatures of the Wind?
Shane: Well, we came up with the name really early, but our first collection was Fall 2008.
Giles: Where’s the name from?
Shane: The song “Wild is the Wind.” I knew the Nina Simone version first. Cat Power and David Bowie have covered it too, but it was first recorded in 1957 by Johnny Mathis.
Chris: We liked its transformative quality—each version is so different.
Shane: Which is how the clothes should be, too.
Hannah: You can use that song as the first dance at your wedding!
Chris: Where did you and Giles meet?
Hannah: We’re both British, but we met at the Lee Strasberg Institute here in New York, nearly three years ago. We were friends first.

Let’s play Two Truths and a Lie! Giles, you’re first.
Giles: Okay, two truths and one lie about Hannah….She studied architecture at university. She went to school in Brixton. She a very big gymnast.
Hannah: Those are all lies. You don’t know me very well, do you!
Shane: My turn? When Chris was really young, he had a bowl haircut and wore glasses. He wanted to be a goat herder.
Chris: I didn’t want to herd goats—I wanted to be one.
Giles: You know, my name means the herder of small goats! It really does.

Hannah, your character on Boss is a bit…unconventional.
Hannah: I play a recovering drug addict who recently became a priest. She happens to be the estranged daughter of Kelsey Grammer’s character, who is the mayor of Chicago. That’s how the first season began…but by the end, she’s in jail. It’s a very long story, really.

When do you begin shooting your second season?
Hannah: March 19. We film in Chicago for five months. The cast and crew are great, and I like the city. I was thrilled to find out that Chris and Shane lived there.
Giles, your big break happened—what, last week?
Giles: It’s been two weeks, at least! I’m very, very fortunate and happy to be a part of such a popular show. The pedigree of acting, throughout the entire True Blood cast, is really impressive. The fantasy element is so appealing. I love playing
a fairy!

How did you research that?
Giles: I just use my imagination. It’s like any role, really.

Hannah: His type of fairy is
telepathic...
Giles: And he can shoot light from his hands!

Is Fashion Week a break from the grind?
Hannah: It’s great—I’ve always been an avid fan of fashion. I religiously study things like Vogue and The Daily. I absolutely love going to the shows.
Giles: I saw Rag & Bone, Peter Som, and Tommy Hilfiger—there was a tweedy trouser with purple edging at Tommy that I just loved. Very English.

How are you dealing with the paparazzi?
Hannah: We’re not famous, so we don’t get too much of it! I do walk red carpets at events like the Globes. Everyone adopts a very strange persona, and nobody looks you in the eye! The actors and actresses are doing these incredible poses, like they’re in character. I’ve never been able to do the red carpet without feeling like an idiot. Giles does a bit better.
Giles: Not much!

What were the oddest jobs you ever had?
Hannah: I modeled maternity wear. They had to make me look much older than I was at the time. They stuffed a fake baby up my dress!
Giles: I taught soccer to Madonna’s son, Rocco.
Hannah: And before he got this part on True Blood, he was spending a lot of time at the
dog run.
Giles: I love dogs. A lot of the time, interacting with them is so much more interesting than interacting with humans!