Roitfeld, who is known for her longtime muse and styling relationships with both Tom Ford and Karl Lagerfeld (and her almost all-black wardrobe, signature pencil skirts fitted within an exhale, punishingly vertiginous heels, just-mussed hair and kohl-rimmed eyes), made the corset a part of her outfits.
“This corset didn’t stop me from getting dressed,” she said. “I didn’t hide it.” Instead, she wore it over fitted clothing, balanced out by a wide-shouldered, oversized coat. From time to time, she had to use a cane. “But still with heels. I’m not going to say it’s all about the look, but you’re not going to give up just because you’ve got a corset. And it wasn’t very pleasant. But I’m okay now. So, to hell with the corset.”
For a woman who has a museum of her most famous outfits, she was happy to throw out the medical corset – although she does love them, especially a signature look from Alaia. So, the answer to this question is simple, and makes for a short column. However, it asks a bigger question about how to make something fashionable, which is, after all, Roitfeld’s expertise.
The Vogue video was filled with so many gems of advice, I thought I should toss in some bonus Roitfeld fashion rules. Because, even though she seems intimidatingly chic, she is actually quite relatable in the video, wearing a ripped Maison Margiela Mickey Mouse T-shirt (given to her by John Galliano, natch) and an oversize, masculine-cut pinstripe jacket with great big shoulder pads. “There’s a very fine line,” she says, “difficult to draw, to combine classic with punk.”
Carine applies the same deliberately uncurated/curated look to her image on social media. Her Instagram (2.9 million followers) is refreshingly rounded. There are the shots from her glamorous red carpet life, outtakes of the famous people she styles for her eponymous magazine, CR Fashion Book, and behind-the-scenes shots on set. There are also lots of off-duty shots in jeans, lots of proud grandmother shots, and joyfully unretouched candid iPhone snaps of her kids, just like anyone else. Roitfeld offers up a multi-faceted image, and knows that the most stylish thing you can do online is to give, at least, the illusion of a real life, lived well, by a real person. Here are some lessons we can learn from her.
DEVELOP A SIGNATURE LOOK
Roitfeld wears only two colours: black and khaki. Khaki mainly in the summer, otherwise mostly all-black. “I loved working in the 90s,” she says of the ultimate era of all-black. “I really like simplicity. I always feel like women and men wear too much. It should be simplify, simplify, simplify.” That, of course, means buying quality, because “when it is perfect,” she says, “you don’t need details.”
When Roitfeld arrived at Vogue Paris (now called Vogue France), she shifted her look to knee-length pencil skirts and heels. “Before I was often in pants, in jeans, like the other editors. I wanted to have a uniform at Vogue, not to be taken more seriously, but to be more Parisienne.” So, what can we learn from that? Dress for the job you want, to convey who you are, and what you represent. She happens to represent the world’s most fashionable city, and country. But we can take the idea and whittle it down.
Here’s a tidbit. Roitfeld often wears shades. Hers are oversized and often wrap the face, which is a great trick. “I’ve always worn mask sunglasses,” she says, “because they protect you when you are really shy.”
MAKE IT YOUR OWN
Fashion, Roitfeld believes, should not be too precious. Most designers, she explains, want you to wear their concepts complete, head-to-toe, as styled on the runway. Roitfeld, as a stylist and editor, resisted that. She gives (an admittedly lofty) example: when accompanying Lagerfeld to a Met Gala, she took two pieces from his collection that didn’t go together and mixed them up. “There is always this thing I do,” she says. “We are not going to say destroy the look a bit, but it’s almost like that. Instead of having the blouse perfectly tied, with a perfectly made bow, it’s a bit undone, creating a slightly sexy neckline, a bit less demure.”
This is what makes a look your own. There is no law against wearing your suit jacket backward, or wearing an artfully half-tucked shirt. Just do it. “The way I dress is classic, with a little something wrong with it.” (Just to note, she sounds better saying this in French.)
REWEAR THROUGH THE DECADES
Roitfeld repeats a version of this refrain three times in 30 minutes on camera. “I often wear the same clothes, the same shoes.” She can still fit into all the couture in her closet, yes, there is that. Not. Relatable. But, in making investment choices, there is a lot to be said for being able to wear pieces for years, as you intended when you splurged. If you shop well, buy quality things that feel and look like “you,” then they are timeless.
She gives the example of a Saint Laurent skirt she has from the era when Tom Ford designed the brand (1999 to 2004). It is very revealing on the sides, with flesh-baring lace panels. She goes on to recount three different ways she wore the skirt with three different Saint Laurent designers’ tops: one blouse by the actual late Yves Saint Laurent; a blazer from Ford; and a fitted, ruched Victorian blouse by Stefano Pilati (who designed the label from 2004 to 2012). When Roitfeld likes something, she makes it work with a lot of different things in her closet. It’s a lesson to us all to get into our cupboards, and plan.
KNOW THYSELF
“When you know yourself well, you have to know what is pretty inside of you,” says Roitfeld, as she talks about why she only wears black and khaki. She once had a famous oversized beige fuzzy teddy coat, by Max Mara, named for her. She only wore it once, as it was a cold day. But it went viral, and everyone wanted one. “I never wore it because beige doesn’t suit me.” Oh, to have that certainty!
She is equally emphatic about prints. As in no prints, except polka dots and leopard. “They are not prints, they are classic.” And yet, there is still a little of that mussing-upinstinct at play. “You can get it very vulgar if you don’t get it right,” she says. Not that Roitfeld thinks being vulgar is always a bad thing. She delights, for instance, in pairing thigh-high lace-up boots with leopard, pushing the boundary and venturing into dangerous territory. This is expert stuff; don’t try this at home, kids.
How to sum up the Roitfeld lessons in fashion? She actually has a simple formula: Hew to the classics, in terms of the clothing base: a structured blazer, a pencil skirt, jeans for off-duty. Keep the colours and patterns to a minimum. Then add in a punk element, like a slashed T-shirt, or a tie askew, or fishnets. Know what your best features are, and dress around them. “I have good legs and good ankles, so I show them,” says Roitfeld. And when you want to throw out the rule book, do so with confidence.
STICK TO THE RIGHT BEAUTY LOOK
One of the most remarkable things about Roitfeld is that she never looks “done.” She embodies the French woman’s approach to beauty: effortless, uncontrived, unaffected – choose your adjective – because yes, this is an illusion. To break it down: her hair is always the same, but different, as in the length and layers are similar, but the unifying factor is that it never looks blown out, even though it is. She hates showers and washing her hair, so she has it done at Jean Claude Beguine at the end of her street, as a treat. Roitfeld adds a frisson of punk defiance via her hairstyle, which she often cuts herself.
Her makeup is really just eyeliner: Chanel black kohl with a bit of sparkle, to be precise, to make it look wet. She never wears lipstick, and if she wears foundation or blush or eyeshadow? Well, then they are invisible. Instead, she is devoted to her facialist, Hervé Herau, who she has been seeing for 10 years, and only uses his products. She plays to her best features; as she says in the video, she doesn’t like her lips and thinks they are thin, so she ignores them. Excellent advice. A stylish person will draw the eye to where they want you to look, and away from where they do not. She is consistent, wearing the same beauty look for day or evening, or for being a grandmother. Being consistent with a look is reassuring to people, and allows you to be more edgy, funnily enough. It is the look of a confident person, and we all want to look more confident, don’t we?
Always asking questions,
—Leanne Delap
