I don’t know how it happens that a face can be so expressive, so beautiful and so radiant… it is as if a miracle has occurred… but some faces are extraordinary and Isabella Rossellini has one of those faces. A good gene pool helps… undoubtedly… but surely it is more than that…. a combination effect… inner beauty, confidence, spirituality, contentment… expressiveness… all blended together with a little magic.
I saw Isabella Rossellini recently in Paris… and truthfully, her face is so much more engaging in reality. Together with Sande, I met the wonderful Carol Fertig, the creator behind Object-Lesson, at the Martin Margiela designed hotel, The Maison des Champs Élysées in the 8th arrondissement… We met for a drink… stayed for dinner… and watched the restaurant pack up… It was that kind of night… great chat, much in common and so much to say… and as embarrassing as it is to admit, a celebrity only adds to the buzz… especially when it is a woman ‘of a certain age’ that I have long admired.
Isabella Rossellini sat quietly, she knew that she had been recognised… she couldn’t help it… we were the only guests. Yet there was no sign of impatience or annoyance from her… she enjoyed her dinner and we enjoyed ours. We liked to think that she would have joined in our girl talk if she could… we saw her looking over from time to time… As she left the room she winked at our table…as if to say, ‘have fun you three… it looks like a fabulous time you are having’… We were.
I have already said that she is beautiful and truthfully that is an understatement. Isabella Rossellini is 60 and I think she is more lovely now than in her younger years. She was dressed simply… all in black… her hair cropped very short… boy style… Her face was un-made up… or if so, artfully so… with a slash of lipstick to define her mouth. She needed no decoration.. no fashion statement to mark her presence… For Isabella Rossellini, less was so much more.
I re-learned many things that night. Beauty is not reserved for the young… beauty is for us all, whatever age we may be. Beauty is all about personal style and the conviction to go forth and shine. I realise that the women I find most attractive, most fashionable and most interesting… the ones that I wish to emulate are generally older than me. I find this peculiar considering we live in a youth obsessed culture, but I don’t want to look like a ‘red carpet wannabe’… I want to be elegant, I wish to feel beautiful and I want to do this with my own signature… and most of all I want to find the confidence to age gracefully.
We can’t all have this face but we can have the same grace and style. xv
