Jane Birkin, 69, the British-born Paris-based style icon, has been recruited by Hedi Slimane, creative Director at Yves St Laurent, to be the face of the new YSL campaign.
This is yet another demonstration, ladies, that big brands are beginning to wake up to us – women over 50 (in Cyndy and Jan’s case, over 60).
As we have previously observed several major designer houses including Armani and Balmain have used former top models now in their 50s and 60s for their S/S16 advertising campaigns, showing that the idea is slowly dawning that women over 50 haven’t fallen off the planet. Even the Daily Telegraph has acknowledged the idea in a report about Birkin and YSL.
Birkin left the UK for Paris in the late 1960s. There, she met the French film director Serge Gainsbourg and the couple recorded the hit single Je T’Aime Moi Non Plus. The record, consisting mostly of heavy breathing and the repeated words, Je T’Aime, was considered deeply shocking at the time and was banned by the BBC. How times change, eh?
She and Gainsbourg had a daughter, the actress Charlotte Gainsbourg. Jane Birkin had previously been married to the film composer John Barry and they also had a daughter, Kate, who died in 2013.
Despite a tangled and somewhat tragic life, Birkin is deemed incredibly chic, blending Gallic style with a very Upper-Class British “don’t give a f*** about fashion” attitude, which with her naturally gamine appearance, combine to make her a style icon. In case you have any doubts about her elevated style-icon status, just be aware that Birkin’s personal specifications for her Hermes Kelly handbag, led to the creation of a new Hermes bag which was named The Birkin in her honour.
Steal her style by cultivating that androgynous vibe, for both daytime casual and when you need to be more spruced up. It’s not a hard look to carry off – the key element is a really great haircut that is very unstructured (i.e. no hint of helmet hair). Birkin appears to be a make-up free zone, but don’t you believe it! A chic French woman of 69 (and despite being born in the UK, Birkin is now thoroughly French) would not step out in the morning sans maquillage. Though a Frenchwoman’s idea of make-up is rather different to a British woman’s, as Kristen Scott Thomas tried to tell the world earlier this year and mired herself in controversy. The trick with French women and make-up is that they use it to enhance as invisibly as possible. Thus they use as much make up as we Brits are accused by Ms Scott-Thomas of wearing, but because their aim is to look as natural as possible and as good as possible, we don’t see the make-up. So here’s how to copy: step 1: judicious use of concealer to hide under-eye shadows and to even out skin tone; step 2: possibly a dab of foundation or BB Crème in a colour as close as possible to your natural skin-tone and applied with a light touch, please; step 3: a hint of blusher in a subtle shade – nothing too pink or too orange (remember invisible enhancement is the aim). Now for eyes, they need to be emphasised but no Amy Winehouse-type eye-liner – think tightlining using dark or muted liner, with possibly some shading in the eye-socket – again, only dark or muted shadows; then black, brown or dark-navy mascara… As for lipstick, do you see any on Ms Birkin? No, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t wearing any. She is, in a very natural shade (so no Reds or hot pinks) with a hint of gloss, but so little it looks like her lips are naturally healthy and shiny – again, that’s the point! We are not saying colour can’t be your friend, but French women believe in subtile…
Do you like Jane Birkin’s monochrome style?
[su_button url=”http://www.sosensational.co.uk/celebrity-style-steal/” target=”blank” background=”#6c20b1″ size=”7″ center=”yes” radius=”0″ icon=”icon: arrow-right”]See our other Celeb Style Steals[/su_button]
Leave A Reply