Carine Roitfeld

What’s New
A
Carine
Roitfeld:
Fashion’s
Most Powerful
Woman Talks
To Look
Carine (left)
with Look’s
Gemma Calvert
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CREDIT
Mates with Karl
Lagerfeld, baby
talk with Beyoncé
and giggles with
Cara Delevingne –
we meet fashion
fabulous Carine
Roitfeld, the ex
French Vogue
editor who talks
from the heart…
rendez-vous with Carine
Roitfeld – French Vogue’s
former editor-in-chief,
founder of new fashion rag CR
Fashion Book, and bona fide
style super-guru – brings a host of perks.
First up, we’re in Paris, a stone’s throw
from the Eiffel Tower and Carine’s
extraordinarily chic (we imagine)
apartment. In the Café De L’Esplanade
(a place so swanky it has valet parking),
Carine is conversing in fast French with
Fabien Constant, the director of her
new documentary Mademoiselle C.
She glances her kohl-smudged eyes
in our direction. “Sorry,” she says, her
thick French accent turning Rs into Ws.
“We’re discussing the dress code for a
party… It’s very important.” And it is.
After modelling at 18, Carine began
styling for the then little-known
photographer Mario Testino, then
joined French Elle, consulted for Tom
Ford and enjoyed a decade at French
Vogue. Fashion, for Carine, is everything.
But there’s one niggle when meeting a
woman who’s like that with Karl Lagerfeld
– what to wear? “A lot of people stress,”
admits Carine, once the dress code
is nailed and we’re sipping green tea.
“They say, ‘She’s going to judge the way
I’m dressed.’ And it is true, I’m going
to look, but not judge. I just like to take
ideas. I always have my eyes open and
someone well dressed is not so inspiring.
Bad looks are more inspiring than good.”
So with Carine Roitfeld you can never
fashion fail. Hurrah! Her own look, a
blend of rock chic meets Parisienne, has
made her a style icon. Her uniform is
pencil skirts (she’s wearing Nina Ricci
today) and killer heels (“I love Manolo
Blahniks”). But in Mademoiselle C,
Carine jets to Cannes, New York and
Florida on fairytale-esque shoots for her
first issue of CR and at times is casually
dressed, which worries her. “Some will
say, ‘Oh, we thought she was an icon,
always with heels and skirts.’ So maybe
some are going to be disappointed.
I hope not because the real me is OK
sometimes in flat shoes and jeans.”
The first issue was themed on new
beginnings, inspired by the pregnancy
of Carine’s daughter Julia, 31 – one of
her two children with her partner of
30 years, fashion label owner Christian
Restoin (they’ve never married) – and
then the birth of her granddaughter,
Romy Nicole. Anyone who saw
fearsome American Vogue editor
Anna Wintour in The September Issue
shouldn’t expect similar on-film ferocity
from Carine. Born in Paris to a Russian
father and Parisienne mum, she isn’t
shy about showing her emotions, and
in one scene tears up when
talking about her late mum,
Nicole. “Ah, yes,” Carine
pauses. “I’m fearless in
fashion but I’m romantic and
I hurt too. I’m controlled
most of the time, so to let
go [by letting every bit of
herself be filmed], maybe
it’s good therapy.”
Was therapy needed after
leaving French Vogue in 2011?
“I don’t have any Vogue blues
because the day after I left
I was starting my new project,”
explains Carine. “I don’t
regret anything. Jonathan
Newhouse [her old boss]
was very good. He let me
do everything I wanted but
now I have no boss, less
Carine and US
money, no beautiful office.
Vogue editor
It’s harder, but it’s a freedom. Anna Wintour
Sometimes you think you’re
free but you’re not.”
It’s impossible to believe Carine is
you think he’s very tough, but
58. Her body is sculpted with regular
he’s a loving person, too.”
ballet sessions and in Mademoiselle C
Carine’s celebrity contacts extend
she does the actual splits. When we tell far and wide. At the Met Ball this year
her we’re impressed, Carine seems
in New York, she was on a table with
offended. “No, no, no! I’m better now
Beyoncé, Madonna, Rooney Mara,
than the film, that was almost one
Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.
“I was talking to Kim about names
for her daughter and Beyoncé was
showing me a picture of her baby. It’s
funny to exchange pictures of a baby
with Beyoncé, no?” Er, hell yeah!
Carine also loves new models and
designers. Ever since spotting Brit
designer JW Anderson four years ago,
she’s supported him. “I try to help
young designers and there are a lot
in London,” says Carine. “Young
designers are helped in London
more than the other cities, especially
year ago!” It’s another achievement
through London Fashion Week.”
to add to the year’s list, which includes
Carine, who will be at LFW
being the face of a MAC line and
catching up with pals Tom Ford
collaborating with Karl Lagerfeld
and Christopher Kane, says Cara
on his book, The Little Black Jacket.
Delevingne is one of her favourite
Karl inhabits a special place in Carine’s models of the moment. “She’s smart
heart. “He’s at the top of my Christmas and makes you laugh. Karl Lagerfeld
list,” she says. “It’s very difficult to find
loves to be seated by her at parties.”
a present for Karl Lagerfeld because he
At the start of her Vogue tenure,
can have everything. Last Christmas
Lara Stone also caught Carine’s eye
I bought him a grey cashmere scarf and and she says although others dubbed
I’ve seen him wearing it. It makes me
her fat, Carine found Mrs Walliams’
happy to make him happy.” In the film, curves “interesting”, so gave her a
the Chanel chief wheels Romy around
Vogue cover, then more. “I made her
in her pushchair – and even more
a star,” she says, triumphantly. “I like
bizarre is the bit where he talks about
a challenge using girls that people
breastfeeding. We give Carine a verbal
don’t think are beautiful. Take Saskia
high-five for peeling back Karl’s
De Brauw [a Dutch model] who has
human side. She says, “People don’t
very short hair. People said ‘she looks
know this, but Karl loves people. He
like a lesbian, we don’t like her’. Now
always has his black glasses on and
she’s a big model. I don’t care about
Curves
are interesting.
Fashion
needs more
diversity
More over the page 
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What’s New
Carine’s New-Season High-Street Fashion Picks
“this style is good
for me because the
strap around the
ankle gives me
better legs. i will put
them with black
sheer tights with
a line behind. the
shoes are quite
strong so the other
part of the look has
to be discreet.”
“this is going to
be big this season.
the ruffled bit is
very much a thing
of the moment. i’d
wear this dress over
a shirt, maybe in a
camouflage print.”
j c
jacket
Mango
�99.99
“it’sabig
“it’s
a big
reference
for one of
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myit
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i’d mix it
i’dmixit
with a
witha
checkered
shirt and
shirtand
doc
martins.”
s o s
shoes
Office
�60
“it’s from one of my
favourite shops this
season. so if you
cannot go to
givenchy you can go
to mango! it’s a bit
grungy so i’d mix it
with a check shirt
and dr martens.”
c u c
clutch
Asos
�45
s o s
shoes
“a touch of red is always a little
craziness. the clutch is good for
attitude
Shop– if you don’t know what to
do with
�XXyour hands, hold your clutch.”
Kurt Geiger
�120
Dress
ss
Zara
�34.99
“i like them – they are almost ugly. pink leopard
print is not easy to wear, but if you’re wearing
all black these will give the outfit a twist.”
words: gemma calvert photos: eyevine, rex features, infphoto.com, getty images, photoshot
the shape of the body, if she’s got
a big nose, if she’s older. Fashion
needs more diversity.”
Carine became famous for her
erotic-chic photoshoots and her
favourite catwalk show is Victoria’s
Secret (“It’s not vulgar, I love the
more curvy girls”) but insists sexy
isn’t about flashing flesh. “To be
sexy isn’t about being uncovered,”
she says. “It’s better to go to bed
in a silk dress than be totally naked.”
One woman we imagine wears
silk to bed is Kate Middleton, who
Carine credits for boosting British
fashion. “She supports British
designers – even her dress for the
wedding was McQueen. She’s a cool
princess and I love this name [of
her son], George. It’s the name
of my uncle. It’s very chic.”
Ask Carine who is the most chic
woman of all time, and there’s no
hesitation. “Liz Taylor,” she says. “She
had beauty, glamour, generosity and
she twice married Richard Burton,
who I think is the most sexy person
in the world.” Liz also co-founded
Aids research charity AmfAR, which
Carine supports, and was one of the
first stars to fight for Aids sufferers.
“I want to be the same as her,” says
Carine. “I want to be fearless and to
defend what I believe in.” Mais oui,
Carine, it seems you want what you
already have in abundance.
■ Mademoiselle C is in cinemas from
20 September and available on DVD
and to download from 28 October.
FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES
FROW with Anna
Dello Russo at last
year’s New York
Fashion Week,
and below with
Milla Jovovich
Partying with
Kate Moss
With Karl Lagerfeld and
Kirsten Dunst in Cannes
Meeting Sharon
Stone at an AmfAR
fundraiser
Cara Delevingne
is one of Carine’s
favourite models
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