Carmen Dell'Orefice: Best and Oldest Runway Model

Carmen Dell'Orefice was born before Fashion Week even existed. The 81-year-old, who walked the runway for both Marimekko and Norisol Ferrari at NYFW on Monday, is the oldest working supermodel in the industry and proud of it.

"It's what I enjoy doing, and I'm able to do it," she told the Today Show before stepping on to the runway in a mocha-colored floor-length gown.

Discovered at 13, while riding a New York City bus with her mom, she landed the cover of Vogue only three years later. That was back in 1947, when $7.50 an hour was the going rate for the gig.

"It meant nothing to me," she recalls of seeing her first cover, "except that I thought I looked like a little boy."
The octogenarian beauty has long shed any hint of tomboyish-ness. Her iconic white hair, which she's left dye-free for decades, has set the highest bar for aging gracefully.

She's had a little help, according to Today show correspondent and interviewer Jenna Bush Hager (yes that, Jenna). Dell'Orefice admits to using fillers for "cracks in the ceiling," but it takes a lot more than an injection to be one of the most in-demand models after 66 years in the business. Her shoulders thrust back in triumph, projecting a couture-worthy regality uncommon on the runway these days. It's the kind of peacocking pride only a veteran of the business can pull off. It's also a throwback to the days before slump-shouldered models, minimalism and Kate Moss made high fashion more bone-dry.

That may be why Dell'Orefice still works so much. When a designer or advertiser wants to convey true luxury, they call Dell'Orefice. In recent years, she's been the face of Rolex and Issac Mizrahi's Target line, between runway shows for Heart Truth, Adrienne Vittadini and Qasimi, among others. "I think America may be growing up and accepting the fact that the bulk of life exists beyond 50. Because demographically ... the vast population is over 50," says Dell'Orefice.

She's onto something: Older women with cash to spare have become a coveted demographic for marketers of luxury products. As a result, fashion has started is taking cues from women once considered past their prime. 

At 71, supermodel Veruschka stole the spotlight at Giles' runway show during London Fashion Week in 2010. That same year 45-year-old model Kristen McMenamy let her long hair go totally gray, and nubile style commentators like Tavi Gevinson and Kelly Osbourne followed suit (with the help of gray hair dye.)

Even outside fashion's tiny bubble, women, not girls, have taken the reigns of style. The most powerful cross-generational trendsetter in America today is a 48-year-old mother of two. That would be Michelle Obama, as if you couldn't guess.

Still in the world of modeling, youth is remains the beauty standard. While models as young as teenagers still share the stage with the likes of Dell'Orefice, there isn't much competition. She's already been the teen model and done the 'it' girl thing. She's also posed for Salvador Dali, married and divorced multiple times, had a child, quit modeling, raked in millions, and lost it all to Ponzi con-man Bernie Madoff, her ex-boyfriend's best friend. Dell'Orefice has personally intersected with some of modern history's most famous and infamous cultural touchstones, and she isn't slowing down at 81. 

At a Fashion Week event last Friday she was photographed linking arms with 28-year-old Olympian Ryan Lochte, looking every bit the model of the moment.

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Vera Wang and her Alice in Wonderland Inspired Collection

A native New Yorker, Vera Wang grew up surrounded by fashion, often accompanying her mother to the world's most stylish boutiques. After a career in competitive skating and studies at Chapin and Sarah Lawrence, Vera discovered her own love for design while at the Sorbonne in Paris. She joined Vogue and at age 23, became the youngest fashion editor ever. After 16 years, Vera moved on to Design Director of women's accessories for Ralph Lauren. 

In 1990, she ventured out on her own, opening a luxury salon at the esteemed Carlyle Hotel in New York City to showcase her bridal collection. The Vera Wang label quickly took off, earning praise from the fashion elite for its luxurious fabrics, exquisite detailing and modern interpretation of classic lines.

Inspired this season by Alice in Wonderland, iconic New York designer Vera Wang held true to her psychedelic fairytale muse with a collection of youthful, cutting-edge designs for spring, that betrayed not a hint of the show-stopping gowns and bridal wear she’s become synonymous with.

While Wang’s latest wares may have been more aspirational than usual (in particular the tulle and organza super-pique meringue-like mini-skirts that might easily have originated from a psychedelic dream), the majority of the collection was original and keenly wearable. 

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Johan Ku: Impressive Fashion Designer of Asia

Johan Ku, the award-winning designer, started his career as a graphic designer, since he was 17 years old. He established his own design studio in 2005, and he had participated Hong Kong Fashion Week twice in 2007.

For Spring/Summer 2012, Johan Ku presented a collection at Mercedes Benz Tokyo Fashion Week called "The Two Faces." The pieces look a certain way in the light but change as they glow in the dark. Lights flashed as the show began and a model paraded to the middle of the floor where she turned in a circle to let the audience have a good look as the lights dimmed and her garment took on a whole new appearance.

WWD Japan ranked his 2012 Spring/Summer collection “The two faces” as one of the top seven collections in the Mercedes-Benz Tokyo fashion week. His work appeared in many renowned magazines (Marie-Claire, GQ, Vogue, Elle…) and his “Emotional Sculpture” collection won Gen Art’s Design Vision Avant-Garde award in New York in December 2009. Indeed, the former graphic designer from Taipei, Johan Ku, has already found his place in the fashion industry. He is now established in London, after studying fashion at the prestigious Central Saint Martins College.

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Anna Molinari: Blumarine's Queen of Roses

Anna Molinari is the designer behind the label Blumarine which she founded in 1977 with her husband Gianpaolo Tarabini. At that time, she opened a house which produced knitwear, a selection of which remains in her collections in the form of sweater-girl shapes, sometimes trimmed with diamante. Later, with the help of Italian fashion designer Franco Moschino, the fledging label Blumarine developed its own look and style.

Her nickname sums her up perfectly: the queen of roses, on account of   her fondness for these magical and sensual flowers which represent the   image of the Blumarine label and symbolically embody its ideal of   femininity. Anna Molinari’s world is one of seduction and   charm, great vitality and a spontaneous sense of fun.  

Anna Molinari was recently featured at Milan Fashion Week Spring 2012. Anna Molinari’s Spring collection featured fur, sheer, fringes, flowers, ruffles and neon brights. Gorgeous and feminine flower print dresses in bright colors were the main highlights of fashion show. Check out this video from FashionTV:

This runway show is beautiful in the sense of showing the result of art on clothes, in a very lady like fashion, but taking inspiration from many styles without overdoing it and staying mostly true to dresses and two pieces.

For  Anna  Molinari fashion is a mix of sensations  and cultural influences, a   return to the past and a vision of the  future, for a modern, sexy,   feminine and joyful woman.

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Sarah Burton: Successor of Alexander McQueen

Sarah Burton is the creative director of Alexander McQueen. She took over the reins of the famous British label in May 2010, following Alexander McQueen's death in February the same year.

Burton joined McQueen in 1996 as an intern, and subsequently returned after her graduation. She was appointed head of womenswear in 2000 and acted as McQueen's aide up until his death in February 2010.

In September 2010, she presented her first womenswear collection ( see it here) in Paris. It paid homage to McQueen's dramatic aesthetic but added her own more feminine take. She credits McQueen for teaching her all she knows about design.

For the Spring/Summer 2012 Alexander McQueen collection, (which held recently)Sarah Burton's source of inspiration was 'woman as an object of desire'. As she described it, "This is a collection about excess - an exploration of ideals of beauty at their most extreme."

Here are the feedbacks of those who had watch the Spring/Summer 2012 Alexander McQueen Collection by Sarah Burton.

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Rocco Barocco: Brilliant Italian Fashion Designer

Rocco Barocco, one of Italy's most beloved and successful fashion designers, offers a fine taste of Italian beauty in fashion wear, high-end accessories, and perfumes for women, men, and children. An inspirational and highly creative designer, Rocco Barocco spares nothing when designing clothing for the rich and famous. His clothing creations range from casual ready-to-wear to elite evening-wear.

Rocco Barocco delights in using black, black and white, and optical effects in his line of fashion wear. In fact, Rocco exults in repeating his creative patterns throughout fashion lines, creating somewhat of a defining moment for himself. Moreover, Barocco pays exceptional attention to the detailing and design of each of his creations, and this has made him deservedly famous.


Rocco Barocco was featured at Milan Fashion Week Spring 2012. The collection turns subtle and the designer sends out an array of cream and beige looks that look nothing like what he had previously on the runway. Check out this video:





Rocco Barocco's Fashion House, providing high fashion clothing for influential people throughout the world, is located at Piazza di Spagna 81, Rome, Italy. 

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