Carine Roitfeld by Karl Lagerfeld

Carine Roitfeld photograph © 2003 Karl Lagerfeld. All Rights Reserved.

How to Get the Carine Roitfeld Look

The Guardian published a delicious little piece of journalism today on a few points where we mere mortals can attain some semblance of the Roitfeld chic. Yes, collectively we may know all these tidbits already but it's pleasant to read them at once as a sort of checklist. For example, I began growing out my poker straight, honey-brown bangs a year ago so that I could peer out from them, so check that one off the list... now for glossy...

Here are the highlights:

The hair
Every editor-in-chief needs a signature hairstyle. Roitfeld's is poker straight, glossy, honey-brown, and falls to her shoulders from an odd centre parting. To emulate, cover part of your face with hair to mysteriously peer out from in that sexy French way.

The makeup
It's all about "le smoky eye" so invest in a good khôl eyeliner. Carine prefers YSL Dessin du Regard Haute Tenue Long-Lasting Eye Pencil in Mink Touch and YSL Eyebrow Pencil. The key to her look lies in the strong, dark brows, which must be perfectly groomed. Leave off the lipstick. And the foundation. Simply moisturize.

The handbag
There is no handbag, silly. She famously hates them, preferring to keep her hands in her pockets. Not for her the lure of the It bag carried in the crook of her arm. At a pinch she might carry a tiny snakeskin clutch.

The jacket
Her preferred styles are edgy, tailored, and chic with a strong biker/rock element. She is always, but always, in black. Roitfeld likes to mix the masculine with the feminine and favours designers such as Balmain, Balenciaga, and YSL, who excel at this.

The skirt
Jeans are for her assistants and holidays, although she's not averse to a denim skirt, providing it meets her sharp-tailored standards. Think sexy body-con dresses and pencil skirts cut to the knee—classic and chic.

The shoes
High, high, high heels. Killer stilettos are by far the fashionistas most flattering and feminine choice. Look for a hidden platform and straps, laces, or buckles aka "bondage light". She hates Uggs and forbids them in the Vogue Paris office. Her favorites include the YSL Tribute and Alaïa (note the belle bells above, sigh).

The legs
Always bare. Even in winter. They must be tanned, lean, and ready for action year-round. The only other option is black opaques. Or covering the entire leg via a thigh high boot.

Bonus: The Guardian also has an in-depth interview with Carine Roitfeld by Jess Cartner-Morley

Interview © 2009 Guardian News and Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Alaïa shoes with bells photo © 2009 KarenCooper.com All Rights Reserved.

Somesing A Leedle Osé

Just wanted to share with you one of my favorite impersonations. Did you see the April issue of Vogue Paris?! Did you note Carine's biting wit in the editorial "No Smoking" featuring none other than her son's girlfriend, Lily Donaldson, as a bad pregnant woman/mommy?!

Jezebel nailed it in writing:

"You just know Patrick Demarchelier was snapping away when Carine said, in her smoky French Barbara Walters diction, 'Leelee? Now we do somesing a leedle osé. Shoot up widt zee bottul. Pretend shoot up. Peuhfect. Yes.'."

Girl with a Satchel offers an equally intriguing commentary on the April Vogue Paris.

Lily Donaldson image © 2009 Condé Nast. All Rights Reserved.

Acne Paper Interviews Carine Roitfeld

Carine Roitfeld warms that jeans and mini skirts are aging:
I only wear jeans and flat shoes when I am on holiday, never for work. Jeans suit me very well but it’s not for me anymore. It’s horrible to say but it has something to do with age. I have good legs, so I prefer my skirt lengths and my high heels. It’s like my uniform. I never wear jeans. Jeans are for my assistants... I wear knee-length denim skirts. I never wear miniskirts because they make me look older.

She thinks people in Russia, China, and Eastern Europe don’t have a culture of clothes:
If people ask me to describe my look I always say: quite classic with an edge. Look at my dress. It doesn’t look like I have on anything special, it’s more the way you mix the clothes and how you move, how you open your bag, how you cross your legs — just little things that make a difference. With French women you first see the woman and then you see the clothes. Imagine other countries like Russia or China, even Eastern Europe. They don’t have the culture of clothes so they want to show that they can afford to buy a Dolce & Gabbana bag, they want to show labels. In France you cannot see what labels we are wearing. It is very snobby.

She loves the Yves Saint Laurent woman:
You know the idea of the Saint Laurent woman. What a dream she was: wearing trousers, hand in the pocket, no handbag, transparent shirt. I love that woman. It is exactly who I would have loved to be if I could choose. So I would have to go blonde because he loved the blondes, and I would have to have bigger breasts. But it’s the idea of the woman I love, and I try to repeat this in my magazine.

And Cartier too:
Do you know why? Because Cartier is the jewelry you give to your mistress. It is not the jewelry you buy for your wife. I heard that and it might be totally wrong, but it is this idea and I love Cartier because of that.

She has the power of making a model a supermodel:
It’s great to have the power. I understood some years ago that we have a lot of power. I never thought I would get power before. The power to make everyone you want successful. You have the power to make a photographer a big photographer. You have the power to make a designer a top designer. You have the power to make a model a supermodel. It is great this power, so you have to use this power in a good way.

But feels unrecognized:
It’s funny, because I never get awards for fashion. I’ve got an award for being the best-dressed person. I got an award for amfAR. I was on the Time Magazine list of the most influential people last year. But I never got an award for my fashion pictures.

She talks about her old Gucci days:
Now we have to put the foot on the pedal [with sexually charged images]. We can’t go as strong as [Helmut Newton and Guy Bourdin] did back then. When I started doing all the Gucci campaigns with Tom Ford and Mario Testino we pushed so much and after that everyone copied it. Everyone tried to be this Gucci girl that we created. So I am sure we were part of this tendency. It was good at the time because we were the first ones to do these kinds of images to sell a product, and after that everyone kept on doing it. I think now it’s too much. It’s no fun. It’s not chic. We always had a chic eye on everything, even when we shaved the G on the girl. A lot of girls started shaving in different ways after that so it really became a trend. Many artists played with the pictures too, so it was fun.

The Roitfelds in Cannes

With Carine Roitfeld co-chairing the Cannes Film Festival this year, the Roitfeld dresses are sure to be incroyable. Since they rocked the Balmain and the Lanvin so royally last year, we're sure to see more of these designers.

Look at how beautifully Julia Restoin-Roitfeld has done so of late, not in the black on black we crave, but in glistening emerald Balmain at the Museum of Natural History's Winter Dance...

Then of course she looked amazing in sizzling hot pink Balmain to fête the David Lynch/Christian Louboutin Opening at The Garage in Moscow.

All this goodness aside, I'd like to see the Roitfelds spend Cannes clad head to toe in Alaïa. Though Carine is sublime in the Alaïa shoes in the first photo, I vote for all-Alaïa ensembles for both to help sooth the insults he received from some people with regard to the Met charity. I don't even want to add to it by voicing the actual rudeness displayed by some people, but Julia and Carine are lovely in Alaïa and j'adore the sentiment.

Carine Roitfeld and Juila Restoin-Roitfeld mother/daughter photograph © 2009 Sugar, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Juila Restoin-Roitfeld in pink Balmain photograph © 2009 Condé Nast Digital. All Rights Reserved.
Juila Restoin-Roitfeld in green Balmain photograph © 2009 New York Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Update on vendredi 22 mai 2009 by kellina

Carine chose a Givenchy gown paired with Alaïa shoes for the sixteenth annual amfAR Cinema Against AIDS gala event so I was partially right. Best of all, they are the same shoes as last year at Cannes! Carine Roitfeld is the best thing that ever happened to fashion.