A French icon’s timeless glamour

She smokes, drinks, isn’t into Botox and still looks hot at 69. CARINE ROITFELD tells Rosie Green how she does it

With her signature look – smoky eyes, sky-high stilettos and pencil skirts – Carine Roitfeld, the former editor of Vogue Paris, is instantly recognisable to her beauty and fashion fans. A longtime collaborator of the late Karl Lagerfeld and muse of Tom Ford, Roitfeld is also a proud mother and grandmother – and at 69, she’s as sexy and stylish as ever. Here the renegade – who took up smoking five years ago, recently got her first tattoo and whose one concession to age is to drop her heel height from 11cm to 9cm – shares her style and beauty secrets.

1 FINGERS ARE YOUR BEST BEAUTY TOOL

When I was working with Tom Ford on a fashion show he said, ‘I want all the girls to have the “Carine” eye.’ It’s a look I started at Vogue Paris – wet, glittery and smoky. The effect is worn-in, not perfect, like you just didn’t remove it from the night before, and it’s created using your fingers – I always apply eyeshadow that way.

I’m currently creating my own eye make-up line so everyone can get the look. There are five products and they will last and last. You won’t need a brush to apply them or to be a make-up specialist. There will be no liner – I cannot do liner. As for mascara? Chanel mascara (right, €40, brownthomas.com) is my favourite.

2

CASUAL ISN’T CHIC When I first arrived at Vogue everyone dressed down in jeans. So I did the opposite – I created a grown-up look: tight jacket, tight sweater, knee-length skirt and high heels.

3 I ALWAYS CUT MY OWN HAIR

They say go lighter as you get older, and

I did have a blonde moment, but now it’s dark again. I’m shy so I wear my hair over my face and I also cut it myself as I don’t like it to look too perfect. People don’t believe me, but I do a lot myself and I’m not fussy about products – I’ll use the hotel shampoo. However, if I need texture I’ll spray on Sam McKnight’s Lazy Girl Dry Shampoo as it doesn’t look white on my hair. I do hate washing my hair so for that I go to the salon.

4 GETTING INKED IS COOL

I got my first tattoo last year and just a week ago I got more tattoos on my fingers. They are the initials of people I love. The children were really frightened about it, but the tattoos are very delicate.

HOLD THE SHOWER I hate them and prefer baths. I add Epsom salts to the water – which are not expensive – And I also use a body brush on my skin.

POLISHED NAILS? I LIKE THEM BUFFED

I get my nails done at a place near me. I don’t like to spend too long in the salon so I get them buffed instead of polished. I’m fortunate that I like my feet and they still look good even after so many years of wearing high heels.

6BOXING ROCKS

I’m lucky my body hasn’t changed very much – I have good DNA. I fit into the clothes I wore 20 years ago – I have a white Galliano dress John gave me long ago and I can still wear it now. I’ve been dancing and boxing for 15 years. I have back problems and they both help with that. I look petite, but I’m very strong. The exercise is good physically and psychologically, too. I like the noise when I hit the punchbag. It’s good when you love your teacher – mine is like a life coach.

8 BOTOX? NO. FACIAL MASSAGE? DEFINITELY 9ON I’M BIG SMALL PORTIONS 10 SCENT SHOULD BE YOUR SIGNATURE

I have no wrinkles so I don’t do Botox. I see Hervé Herau for my skin every two months. He’s my facialist and does massage. He lives in my building – I’m too lazy to go further. He has his own range of around 15 or 16 products and I just use them. People say you have to change brands, but I never do. I was bad with my skin in the sun. I didn’t use protection as I hated the feeling of the cream on my skin, so now I have to have peels to get rid of the damage.

I don’t eat much

– I have a small stomach. But I eat a lot of different foods. I’m not gluten free, I’ll have cheese, meat and eggs. I like coffee. I drink wine and smoke. I don’t like cooking.

I like the idea of a having a perfume you stick to and wear for a long time. One you get given at birthdays and Christmas. It becomes like your second skin.

It’s on your clothes, on your sheets. People recognise you by it. Everyone follows me by the scent of my perfume. In French we call it the sillage – the trail. At Vogue everyone knew where I’d been – in the office, in the lift – by my fragrance. Back then, I’d mix

Yves Saint Laurent’s Opium and Serge Lutens’ Fleurs d’Oranger.

I’ve always been faithful to patchouli. When I was young I could only afford to get it in the Indian stores, but now I’ve made my own perfume called Forgive Me [left, €230 for 90ml, carineroitfeld.com], which has patchouli, of course, and white flowers. It’s sophisticated, classic; not too sweet or strong. My daughter is the face of it. She’s very beautiful and feminine.