Kind thanks to Maggie Alderson for today's guest post, originally published as "The rules: wear navy and black together," in which she examine the iconoclastic style of Carine Roitfeld. Read more of Maggie's thoughts at Style Notes.
Carine Roitfeld: Rule Breaker
By Maggie Alderson
Those of you who don't have your noses pressed up against the window of high fashion may not immediately recognize this week's subject. You may even wonder why I've chosen someone who looks a little like Iggy Pop in drag as my style paragon.
Well, this is Carine Roitfeld, former editor of Vogue Paris, Tom Ford bestie, super stylist and all-round fashion goddess legend. To give you a benchmark — she's the stylist for the Chanel advertising campaigns and it doesn't get any more elite than that in fashion. Or any more fabulously French for July 14.
She was always one of the people I was most obsessed with perving at when I used to cover the Paris fashion shows and, while she may not appear classically beautiful in this picture, in the flesh she absolutely radiates sex appeal — the kind that comes from pure self-confidence. Although tight skirts and very high heels also help.
Plus she has the most excellent rock-chick hair and one of those lived-in French faces that lights up with a smile. She always looks as though she'd just heard a really good (dirty) joke. Above all, she's cool.
Note how, in this shot — taken at Fashion Week in Germany recently — she's not carrying a handbag. She doesn't need to be parading the giant "It" bag of the season to give her fashion credibility. She doesn't even need it to carry her possessions. She leaves her ciggies and phone in the car with her driver.
But while her manner is laid-back, she always totters around in the highest of heels, walking the walk. What a gal.
This outfit is classic Roitfeld. A narrow cut is her signature — she's the patron saint of the pencil skirt — and she has the kind of narrow body rarely seen on grown women outside Paris, so it's a good look. Accentuating that line, she stands with her shoulders back and her hips forward, toes slightly turned in. It's the kind of pose that recalls a model from the 1950s.
Simplicity is another of her hallmarks. Occasionally, she'll wear a rich print — snakeskin is a favorite — but mostly it's black, white, grey, with a penchant for satiny fabrics. She's at the opposite end of the taste spectrum from Anna Dello Russo — the human Christmas tree — and her outfits are pared down, unembellished and barely accessorized. Her life force is adornment enough.
She doesn't even seem to wear blusher or lipstick. Her face is dominated by her fabulous eyebrows — Cara Delevingne is her Mini-Me — and she whacks on the eyeliner with rock 'n' roll panache. The most enormous IMAX screen sunnies hold no fear for her.
Did I mention she's a grandmother?
I think we can all learn a lot from Madame Roitfeld. Even those of us who can't perform her invisible-when-seen-from-the-side trick. Keeping it super simple with a knockout pair of shoes as the outfit feature is a sophisticated way to look chic — with minimum effort.
The key to making this work is that the individual simple items have to be of the very best quality you can't afford. But the upside of that is, being free of fashion gimmicks, they will last for years and you'll be able to mix and match them into oodles of different outfits while having great fun in the shoe department.
Another top tip to take from this picture is mixing black and navy pieces in the same outfit.
It used to be the ultimate no-no — now, Carine shows us, it's absolutely oui, oui, oui.
Navy softens black, reducing the Sicilian widow effect without losing the streamlining sophistication.
Vive la France.
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Carine Roitfeld photograph © 2013 Getty Images. All Rights Reserved.