Gabriela Hearst Talks Nuclear Fusion and Puma Women with WSJ Magazine February 2023

Photography of Gabriela Hearst by Marion Berrin for WSJ. Magazine.

Designer with a conscience Gabriela Hearst stops by WSJ Magazine to talk nuclear fusion via Zoom.

Creative director of Chloé since December, 2020 and also designer in charge of her own eponymous luxury label, environmentalist Gabriela Hearst is passionate about nuclear fusion energy, a potentially game-changing power source that doesn’t emit carbon.

“Fusion is the main source of energy in the universe,” Hearst says in interviews, referring to the process of stellar nucleosynthesis, by which protons fuse at the core of all stars, emitting heat and light. “We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for fusion, because we are made out of dead stars.”

“You know when you’re ready to do something, it’s like, I’ll clean the toilets, I’ll do anything. I want to be part of this—I believe in it so much,” she told WSJ’s Amanda Randone. “I can talk about it, bring it to new people, use my cheekbones, whatever.”

Prior to connecting with WSJ, the designer and mother of three children was in Egypt in mid-November 2022 for the COP27 climate conference. The annual UN Climate Change conference taking place in Sharm El-Sheikh put Hearst on a panel speaking about fusion.

“I think we live in this siloed world: in fashion, we focus on our industry, in [the] fusion energy [world], they focus on fusion,” Hearst explained in interviews about the conference. “Cross-pollination is really important. The issue is bigger than our industry—I want to put whatever I have to offer into something I believe in. ”

Hearst is affiliated with an organization promoting ITER Tokamak, which will be the largest and most powerful fusion device in the world.

December 2022 Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough

On December 5th, 2022, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California for the first time forced atoms of hydrogen to fuse together in the same kind of energy producing reaction that fires the sun. It lasted less than a billionth of a second, but it happened — after six decades of research and development and countless failures.

The National Ignition Facility, or NIF, was built for $3.5 billion to ignite self-sustaining fusion and is part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. KIM BUDIL is the 13th director in the history of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

The National Ignition Facility, or NIF, was built for $3.5 billion to ignite self-sustaining fusion. They tried nearly 200 times over 13 years to ignite the atomic 'engine' with no success. And then it happened.

Read more about physicist Kim Budil who is in charge of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. She  also serves as president of Lawrence Livermore National Security (LLNS), LLC. Budil leads a workforce of approximately 7,400 employees and manages an annual operating budget of approximately $2.7 billion.

Gabriela Hearst’s PUMA Status

Puma seems to be Gabriela Hearst’s middle name. The designer famously walked into her Chloé interview with a 92-page proposal, filled in part with sustainability plans. We’re nearly two years out now since since her first collection for Chloé was presented, during which the luxury house became the first of its kind to achieve B Corp certification. Part of B Corp designation involves having community-related priorities that extend beyond the primacy of financial returns for investors.

The B-Corp designation makes teams accountable for maintaining and reaching new social and environmental performance standards that may lessen short-term profits and stock valuations.

Hearst often speaks to future-world concerns about her twin daughters, now age 14, and her son, now age 7. One daughter recently explained that she wanted to be Sappho for Halloween, and the designer asked “Who is Sappho?” In this case, mom got an education from youth about how there wouldn’t be poetry if it wasn’t for Sappho. There wouldn’t be lyricists, singers, songwriters.

Hearst lives with her husband, John Augustine Hearst (grandson of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst) and their children in Manhattan. Asked to use one phrase to describe herself, the response is “maniac with a purpose.” Hearst believes that we’re all crazy but some hide the reality better than others.

Her daughters are “very driven, high-performance females” mini pumas like her big puma status. Asked about her seven-hyear-old son, the designer jokes “I never know if he’s going to be a criminal or a CEO. It can go both ways. He’s so funny. He’s 7.”

Photography of Gabriela Hearst’s favorite things by Marion Berrin for WSJ. Magazine.

After sharing favorite objects and notebooks with WSJ, Hearst concludes her interview saying “I don’t believe too much in organized religion but I do believe in spirituality. My God is love: I live for this force, I serve this force, I create from this force. That’s my driver.” As for an object — jewelry or a wearable piece, Hearst is quick to cite her “Cartier Crash watch in the middle [which] could be the coolest watch on the planet. They didn’t make many. It’s not too in-your-face, but at the same time it’s quite artistic.”