Meet Louise Chen

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“Half-Taiwanese, half-French and currently based in Paris, Louise broke out as a promoter when she founded Girls Girls Girls Night at Social Club in 2012, inviting acts like Kelela, Mykki Blanco, Sampha, Jackmaster, Moxie, Ikonika, and Lil Silva, bringing together live performers and club culture. She now runs a night under the pun “Chentertainment.” Parallel to her promoter job, Louise has always written about music and travel in magazines like Modzik, I Heart Magazine, Snatch Magazine, and Les Inrocuptibles. She currently has a monthly spot on Radio Nova talking about music and hosts soul and house DJs at Nuits Fauves in Paris.”

♫ LISTEN TO LOUISE'S PLAYLIST | ⌨ LAST GOOGLE SEARCH

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ON HER MORNING ROUTINE

I stretch for a few minutes and go straight to making myself either tea or coffee. Every other day I go spinning or to yoga as soon as I wake. There's nothing like starting the day with a good sweat.

ON ONE OF HER FAVORITE BOOKS

I discovered Haruki Murakami not very long ago when I read the 1Q84 trilogy but I became obsessed with his writing instantly. I went on to read a few of his other books straight after. This Norwegian Wood is actually my friend Cara Strickers' book. She lent it to me last April when I went to LA. I was on a bit of an existential quest, I wanted to read and write more so she lent me her copy and told me I could take it away with me. I didn't get to tell her but I think it's really special when you can part with your book like that.

On the best part of her job

The best part of my job is that I get to live with music. If I'm not working on making music, I'm digging for new tracks or listening to a mix or podcast or an online radio or even just deejaying at home just for kicks! That's by far the best advantage. After that, I also really enjoy traveling and meeting new people all the time, other DJs, record shop owners, record label owners, managers and nightlife characters.

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“E.T. is my favourite movie of ALL TIME. It’s the first one I watched when I was a 2 year old. I had travelled to Taipei with my Mum to see my family and had fallen really sick on the plane. I was bedridden for a week so my Dad would go to the video rental shop and bring back Disney movies. It was in English with Chinese subtitles, I didn’t understand the language but somehow I fell in love with the story. I loved it so much that when I had to travel back to Europe my Dad went back to the rental shop and begged them to let me have it. It was totally illegal for the rental shop to sell the videotape but my Dad convinced them and to this day I still have the VHS at home. Ever since, the soundtrack alone can make me weep like a baby. I found this E.T. Soundtrack picture disc in Taipei at Species Records - felt like my story had gone full circle!”

— On one of her favorite movie + the soundtrack

On Being a Party Promoter

The first thing I have to do is always to try and imagine the vibe I want to bring and curate the line up of the party. Then I have to find and negotiate with a club, reach out to the artists' agents and hope they are available and interested to play my party and finally comes the promoting part where I have to find a way to reach people with the info, sell tickets and lure friends into the club hah! And on the night of the party I have to act as a host. To be honest, I don't think promoting is very glamorous; you have to be a good planner and a good communicator in some respect, but it's not very sexy. Most people don't even know who promotes/organises parties, promoters operate in the background. It's really the DJs and the clubbers that have to be at the forefront of the party, in my opinion.

On Home Decor

My priority is, once again, comfort and practicality. I'm not a big fan of bright colours when it comes to home decor, I like my walls white and a lot of natural light. I guess I like my home to really feel like a home, like a place that's lived in. It has to be warm, cozy and welcoming so my boyfriend and I have invested in the most comfortable sofa ever and the rest is from Ikea or Habitat. As much as I wish I was the kind of person that drives out of town to find cool Scandinavian vintage furniture, I'm just too lazy! I bought a vintage table on ebay and it didn't turn out to be like I'd imagined it. I got used to it in the end but it's definitely kept me from buying furniture online ever again. As for details, I'm not into hanging stuff on the wall but I have accumulated a lot of souvenirs, books, magazines, records and small objects that I lay around so it's a little messy and cluttered but it's an 'organised mess' to me.

ON Shopping and personal style

If I have to be really honest with myself I am pretty normcore when it comes to fashion. Essentially, I like being comfortable. I'm a 90s kid so I love that Mariah Carey circa "One Sweet Day" look: Levi's high waisted jeans and the perfect white t shirt. If I'm not wearing jeans, the rest of the time I dress like an old man: mensy trousers, wooly sweaters, brogues, moccasins or Nike and a long coat. I used to love buying stuff online at Topshop but in the last year and a half the quality has gone down so much. Luckily this coincided with Christophe Lemaire dropping collaborations with Uniqlo and eventually developing the UUUU line. Once in awhile I'll splurge and get designer pieces by Paco Rabanne, Sonia Rykiel, Pallas (the best tailored suits for women EVER), Dries Van Noten and Marni or Prada shoes.

ON Her Beauty Routine

My beauty routine starts with drinking lots of water and tea! All my life my Taiwanese family has told me to stay hydrated. As for beauty products, I like to use a full line of products for a while so I was all about Dermalogica for the last couple of years. I ran out and since then have been using organic Almond face wash by Weleda, Grown Alchemist face oil, the new Shiseido Ultimune Serum and the Glow Serum too. In Europe the climate dries up my skin pretty badly so I have to drink lots and find the perfect blend of face cream. Especially in the winter. When I go back to Asia or any tropical climate my hair and my skin totally change and thrive.