Carmen Dell 'Orefiche: "I plan to live up to 100 years"

FOUNDER OF MERCEDES-BENZ KIEV FASHION DAYS and Nowfashion.com video director Daria Shapovalova continues to talk with fashion industry professionals. In the new material - a model listed in the Guinness Book of Records for the longest career: at age 14 she made her first shooting for Vogue with Diana Vreeland, and in her 82 years she still walks on the catwalk at a Paris show and poses for Rolex advertising. In an interview with Wonderzine, Carmen talks about how Russian ballet helped her, why the first shoot for Vogue disappointed her and what she sees herself at 100 years old.

Carmen, we met through my friend, the world famous illustrator David Downton. Tell us about your first meeting with him.

For some reason he wanted to paint a portrait of me. Then I said: "No, no, I do not pose for artists. It is very exhausting, I will need to sit in one pose without moving." I know this because I once posed for Salvador Dali. You can’t go dry, your neck is numb, everything hurts. Posing is very difficult.

So you want to say that you do not like the work of the model?

It does not matter what model you work: no matter how wonderful it may seem from the outside, it is hard work. The spiritual discipline, which you must maintain, despite the uncomfortable heels on the podium, the inconvenience when posing to artists, when you need to stand still for half an hour, and you are numb and it seems to you that you will faint now - on this side of the modeling business are silent. All the fun is in front of the camera, because there you feel more relaxed, you are not in the same position to help the artist to do his job, which is to give birth to a beautiful image. To become a professional model, you need to train like an athlete, have immense discipline and motivation, and absolutely love your job!

Do you prefer a camera or a podium?

The camera, of course, the camera, I bow to her! I was coached by Vyacheslav Svoboda, a great choreographer who taught girls in Ballet Russe. So it was there that I developed inner discipline and the ability to control my body. Because of health problems, I had to leave the ballet. But thanks to him and other areas of art, I received an incredible education. I had no other education.

Which life lesson was the main one for you?

You look at him. In my 82 years, I lived for many decades, being a self-sufficient woman, feeling that life is a fun adventure and I am able to cope with all its vicissitudes. I learned to balance in order to understand this world. Without this, it is impossible to get the recognition I came to.

How did your first cover of Vogue in 1946 evoke feelings?

I was 14 years old, I was inspired by Hollywood photographs of the 30s, charming images, and I thought: I will never become so. I got off the bus, heading to the ballet school, I saw a stack of Vogue magazines on the corner of the street where the newsstand was, they were tied up with a rope. I knew that the number with me had to go out, and I was looking for it. I looked down and froze in horror: it seemed to me that in the photo I looked like a little boy. My hair was pulled back in a bun — just like in a ballet. Erwin Blumenfeld, a photographer, knew that I was doing ballet and decided to put my hair back. I had Van Cleef & Arpels jewelery on me, and I supposedly looked at myself in the mirror. Already as an adult, I realize how beautiful it was, but then, as a child, I was terribly disappointed. I asked the seller to untie the rope: I was sure that the cover of the second magazine, located under the one I was looking at, would be better. And then I realized that they were all the same. I almost burst into tears of frustration. Isn't it fun?

Tell us about your childhood.

I grew up during the First Depression. I was born in 1931, my parents were artists: my mother was a dancer, my father played the violin in a symphony orchestra, and we starved. We were so poor that we had no money to go to the movies. I had no friends, my father did not live with my mother, and every time we moved, our things were thrown through the window because we could not pay the rent anymore. Then I met Vyacheslav Svoboda, who at our first meeting threw a glance at me and said: "I will give her lessons for free." Having the opportunity to come to one place all the time, three or four times a week, stand at the railing and perform the tasks correctly was a real holiday for me. Ballet helped me understand the meaning of my existence. At the same time, I developed pneumonic fever. I came down more than a year. When I finally got out of bed, my bones were too weak to do na. This was my first death. At that moment I was 13. If I had known what suicide was then!

We are all producers for ourselves: we are directors, we are writers, we are costumers of our lives. In life, it is important to become "timeless" as early as possible.

Photo: Peter Alexander PJs advertising campaign

But so began your modeling career!

Yes, it happened quite by accident. A modeling career was probably the only thing that was close to ballet. I was wearing fine fur coats, hats, and over time I learned how to pretend.

Tell us about your acquaintance with Diana Vreeland.

I met one of her sons. Knowing this, she invited me to her office. Diana wanted me to work with Richard Avedon: he didn’t want to take pictures of me, because at that moment everyone was shooting me - Beaton, Hearst ... The photographers had a strong competition. Diana insisted that Avedon work with me. Subsequently, we very sincerely fell in love with each other, but it all began with a forced shooting. When I came to her, Diana sat me in a chair, came up behind me - she had a huge mirror in the office - I sat, looking down, not even knowing that she was standing behind my back. At that moment, she took me by the neck with the words: "Assistant, bring me a centimeter! If by the next week your neck grows an inch, I will send you to Paris!"

What is the biggest change that fashion had to endure in the 20th century?

Mass production. Population growth. It is a miracle that the fashion world has adapted to this.

What is the secret of your beauty?

Lots of sleep and proper food. What should I eat, do not need to eat you. Learning to think is a necessity of life. Do not do what the other person does without thinking. There are a lot of tips, good advice, but you need to think about whether it suits you. We are all producers for ourselves: we are directors, we are writers, we are costumers of our lives. In life, it is important to become "timeless" as early as possible.

How is this possible?

It is to take everything, to see everything, all at the same time. To believe in yourself, to know that the whole world can be wrong, and you are right, but this knowledge should remain with you, because you also need to respect the opinions of other people. After all, no one develops the same way. If you don’t work with your heart, if you don’t understand where to direct your passion, you can just sleep through your whole life and end it with an ordinary old man. But you will not become so, if you were previously courageous enough. Now I plan to live to 100 years. I think maybe at 100 I will retire after all. May be.

Why do you need to retire at all? This is an unnecessary convention.

When they interview me, they certainly ask: "Do you think about retirement?", "When do you think about retirement?" I answer: "I retire every night, so I use this word when I fall asleep." To stop living is not the option that I consider. Because when my life stops, I hope to be in high heels, and then I will not notice the difference. I hope I changed the world. What they think about me after does not matter to me.