Shulman: I shed a skin after quitting Vogue

STEPPING down after 25 years as editor of British Vogue was liberating, says Alexandra Shulman.

But 60-year-old Miss Shulman, pictured, says that the sudden change in her life made her look a great deal older. ‘The sense of liberation [since leaving] trumps fear by – I can’t even quantify it – so much,’ she said.

‘I don’t feel fearful. But I have to say, at the same time my body came out in God knows what.

‘All round my eyes, I looked like a very, very old, 190-year-old woman. My skin had gone all, kind of, flaky and red around my eyes.

‘So although I was feeling this wonderful sense of liberation, obviously something terrible was happening in my body. I was shedding a skin.’

Miss Shulman, who was awarded a CBE last month for services to fashion journalism, said on the Happy Place podcast: ‘I do probably feel more relaxed [since leaving Vogue]…There were many, many days at work where I was like, “Must remember to breathe”, literally… I think I feel happier.

‘I have more time to actually do things that I’m doing, rather than overseeing what other people do.’