Meet Daphne Selfe, The World's Oldest Supermodel

This is Daphne Selfe. She has worked with a roster of names, including Dolce & Gabbana, Mario Testino and Rankin, and has been in ads for Nivea and Olay, in addition to starring in a Will Young video. And at age 83, Selfe is considered to be the world's oldest supermodel.


On the shot of her recreating the most iconic Madonna moment of conical bra and corset (made by Jean Paul Gaultier for the singer’s Blonde Ambition tour in 1990), Selfe describes it as ‘terribly unforgiving. I thought they might have done a bit of airbrushing!’ she says, jokingly. 'But, hey, what the hell, it was all for a good cause.’

The cause is Oxfam’s Big Bra Hunt. Apparently, the average woman in the UK owns nine bras, three of which she never wears. Oxfam hopes the photograph of Selfe, taken by legendary fashion photographer Perou (everyone on the shoot worked for no fee) will encourage women to donate bras, along with their clothes as women in developing countries also require undergarments.
Oxfam is sending its first batches of bras to Senegal, West Africa, where, traditionally, women ‘just flop around’, according to Sarah Farquhar, head of Oxfam Trading. ‘A good bra makes them feel more elegant.’

‘I’ve never had anything done to my face,’ Selfe confesses, pulling it this way and that. ‘Not that poison, not a facelift. I think it’s a waste of money. Anyway, I couldn’t afford it!’

Surely this sensational shot will see more models 'above a certain age' appearing on the front covers of mainstream magazines? Selfe says: ‘I met Nicholas Coleridge not long ago (Coleridge is the publisher of Vogue, Vanity Fair, Tatler and Easy Living). I asked him, “Will I ever get on the cover of Vogue?” And he said: “Darling, you just won’t sell.” ’

If this is the case, it's an incredible shame. Here we have a woman in her (early) eighties, looking just as supreme and sexy as the younger woman whose pose she was recreating. We think Selfe looks stellar; no wonder there was no need for airbrushing! There may be lines on her face and brown speckles on her arms, yet tall she stands because she has earned her stripes, as well as the title of 'world's oldest supermodel'.

And don't all supermodels get to appear on Vogue? Tell us what you think in the 'comments' below.

Read the full interview with Daphne Selfe here.
For details of Oxfam’s Big Bra Hunt, visit oxfam.org.uk/bra. You can also take your bras to Sainsbury’s clothes banks.