Don’t fret about the wrinkles
Ioften leave people’s ages out of interviews when I write them up – the opposite of how I was trained, but it doesn’t always seem relevant. If they’re 21 and just made their first billion à la Kylie Jenner, then yes. Otherwise… but Daphne Selfe, who put in such an engaging turn at Stella Live as my interviewee, bills herself as The World’s Oldest Model.
In that world, it’s not hard to see why 90 is a talking point. She’ll be 91 in July. When she began modelling in 1949 it was lowly paid, poorly regarded and more a route to finding a “good” husband. Like most models then, she did her own make-up and hair. When photographers got a bit frisky, she stared them down with steely blue cat’s eyes. That usually worked. If not, she could spear them with her cheekbones.
She stopped working while she brought up her children but was rediscovered when she was asked, aged 70, to make a cameo appearance for Red or Dead, an anarchic London label. Since then, she’s worked regularly.
She has never stopped being interested in fashion: the floor-length rainbow silk Roksanda dress she wore out-peacocked us all. It takes enviable quantities of confidence and poise to carry off a giant scarf.
No lumpen beige for her – not just sartorially, but in her outlook. “You have to maintain a positive attitude and not blame things on your age. Acceptance is a gift. I absolutely adore working with young people and I’m lucky in my job that I get to.” I believe her. Of course, there’s the other stuff – the daily exercise, the posture, the gardening, the walking and the regular sallies into Zara. But the big picture is her personality.
Alyson Walsh, another Stella Live panellist (her Instagram is @thatsnotmyage) said the best piece of advice she was ever given was to focus on the silhouette, not the wrinkles. So true, but there’s also a metaphor there: see the positive big picture, not the irksome little screw-ups.