Blazer, The Row. Pants, Louis Vuitton. Shoes, Balenciaga.
Fashion can’t function without the gorgeous creatures we call models. There’s the showroom model, the glamour girl, the Instamodel, the workhorse, the supermodel and then there’s Christie Brinkley.
Dress, Mr Crazy & Lady Sexy from Flying Solo.
Decades ago, Christie Brinkley swept onto the national stage, quickly emerged as a successful working model, and sucked up all the oxygen as she came to embody not one but two archetypes. Though there were other blue-eyed women with thick, blond hair, Brinkley ruled as the quintessential California Girl and later, she represented what the stush uptown girl was supposed to be.
Blazer, The Row. Pants, Louis Vuitton. Shoes, Balenciaga.
Since then, Brinkley’s never really gone out of style.
Her latest ventures are a new clothing collection for HSN which debuted earlier this year, and the release of her highly anticipated memoir, called, understandably, Uptown Girl. In it, Christie Brinkley documents her supersonic journey to global stardom, her four marriages (including her most famous to Billy Joel), her three children and the challenges she overcame growing up in California.
Coat, Sergio Hudson.
As a twenty-something model, Brinkley scored an unprecedented three consecutive Sports Illustrated Swimsuit covers. Last year, Sports Illustrated celebrated her and other groundbreakers on the 60th anniversary cover.
Uptown Girl, published by HarperCollins, debuts April 29th in time for Mother’s Day “so people can buy it for their mothers,” said Brinkley. It showcases more than 100 images including Brinkley’s original artwork.
Dress, Mr Crazy & Lady Sexy from Flying Solo.
Brinkley on Uptown Girl:“My mom always said to me “if you can’t say something good don’t say it”. She didn’t approve of ever complaining in print or anything. Just always be grateful for what you have, she would say. But I do actually have to tell a little bit more of the full stories to certain parts of my life that do reveal things that I wouldn’t have said to a woman’s magazine doing a profile of me in the earlier days”. |
Recently, I caught up with the iconic supermodel, mom, entrepreneur and pet parent to talk about her storied life and her latest big ventures.
Christie Brinkley, 71, looked radiant, her trademark twinkly eyes and long, blond hair cascading over the cream-colored, cozy, Fair Isle-style sweater she wears from her collection. As we spoke, she cooed into her dog’s ear while he nuzzled in her lap.
Trench, Alexander McQueen. Necklace, Pluma.
The clothing line, called TWRHLL (pronounced Tower Hill after her Hamptons, New York home) boasts easy, stylish sportswear pieces priced under $100.
This is only the second time Brinkley’s created a clothing line. Back in the Eighties, she sold an eponymous brand in department stores nationwide before closing it. TWRHLL is quite di fferent. One of its main inspirations are Brinkley’s adult daughters Alexa Ray Joel (who resembles her dad Billy Joel) and Sailor Brinkley-Cook (who resembles her mom).
Trench, Alaia. Shoes, Manolo Blahnik.
“My daughters have always raided my closet”, said Brinkley. “And they’re very different. Alexa is very intellectual. She loves all my old stuff. She loves vintage. Sailor’s very sporty. She looks for more of the classic kind of pieces. They take the pieces and make it their own”.
That experience guided the designs she chose to include in the collection. “Women can take them home and mix and match the pieces with their own jeans or skirts and so on”, said Brinkley.
Swimwear is an obvious next step that Brinkley hopes to wade into. She’s also working on building some environmental safeguards into the collection, she said.
Shirt, Balenciaga. Shoes, Saint Laurent
Interested in sustainability since childhood, Brinkley became a vegetarian at age 12 or 13 and convinced her parents and brother to join her, after she read Miami and The Siege Of Chicago where author Norman Mailer describes in the book, gruesome slaughterhouse scenes.
“When you eat healthy, you feel good”, said Brinkley, who recently gave up mozzarella cheese and fish “because we’re overfishing our oceans. I stopped cold turkey”.
Shirt, Balenciaga. Shoes, Saint Laurent
Born in Monroe, Michigan, Brinkley moved to California when she was just six months old. After her parents divorced, and her mother remarried, she and her brother were adopted by their stepfather and took his last name.
Brinkley began modeling at 19, after an American photographer Errol Sawyer spotted her in Paris where she was studying art. Signed to Elite Model Management and then Ford, it wasn’t long before Brinkley was booked to Sports Illustrated and signed to one of the longest running beauty contracts ever with Cover Girl.
Trench, Alaia.
Ironically, Christie Brinkley never set out to be a model.
“I was definitely a very reluctant model”, she told HBVT recently. She was drawn to art, acting and oceanography. “I loved Jacques Cousteau”, she said.
She still loves spending time near the water, relaxing at her home in Turks and Caicos Islands.
“I always envisioned myself as an artist in Paris –with a beret of course”, said Brinkley. “I used to imagine myself, an art director in the magazine world. I used to deconstruct magazines and put them back together, how I thought they looked better. I never considered myself model material; to this day, I’m always surprised when I get another job”.
Dress, Dolce&Gabbana. Skirt, Simone Rocha. Shoes, Brian Atwood.
And yet, the jobs came rolling in. By one estimate, Brinkley’s appeared on more than 500 covers.
Like many models, she branched out into acting making a small but memorable appearance in the movie National Lampoon’s Vacation, followed by a turn on Broadway in Chicago, and several guest spots in TV shows – Mad About You, The Goldbergs and Parks and Recreation – among them.
Blazer, Stella McCartney. Skirt, Plan C.
In 1985, she married hitmaker Billy Joel, starring in his music videos, like, well, Uptown Girl. Later that same year, the power couple welcomed baby Alexa. Christie Brinkley has a third child, actor Jack Paris Brinkley Cook, by her third husband Richard Taubman.
Her relationships have been as dramatic as any of these TV shows – though hardly comedic. Her divorce from Joel and from her fourth husband, architect and former model Peter Cook were fodder for media and Brinkley fans.
Christie Brikley’s always a headturnerThe supermodel and entrepreneur’s tied the knot four times and is now single. We turned to her for her tips on relationships. “I don’t know if I’m the best person to ask about relationships”, she laughs. She doesn’t know that she’ll marry again. “I’m pretty cautious now adays – where perhaps I wasn’t cautious enough before”, she says, laughing. Know when to get out. It can be a form of torture when people are doing that back and forth thing. A relationship is supposed to make both of you feel like your best self. It shouldn’t be that hard. It does take work. Life isn’t always a bowl of cherries Don’t rush in. Take your time. Get to know each other. |
Dress, Dolce&Gabbana.
Surveying the sweep of Brinkley’s eventful life it’s easy to see that this book will be packed with juicy morsels. “I’ve been around for a long time”, said Christie Brinkley. “People know me. But there’s definitely a lot in there that people have never heard about and don’t know”.
The book, says Brinkley, is “exciting, adventurous, happy and sad. It’s not a beauty book, it’s not a cookbook. It’s really a story book”. She hopes that the stories encourage people “to just want to get out and fill up their day with an adventure or some beauty or some laughter”.
Coat, Sergio Hudson. Glasses, Saint Laurent.
*** Team Credit***
Talent: Christie Brinkley.
Producer/Photographer: Tom Marvel.
Creative Director: Cannon at Ray Brown.
Lighting Director: Pierre Bonnet.
Director of Video: James Webber.
Set Producer: Winnie Noan.
Hair: Mitch Barry at Bryan Bantry Agency, using Oribe Hair Care, Oribe Hair Alchemy Heatless Styling Balm, Imperial Blowour Transformative Styling Crème, Foundation Mist, Royal Blowout Heat Styling Spray.
Makeup: Sandy Linter at Bryan Bantry Agency using Chanel Beauty, Chanel Sublimage foundation and moisturizer, Chanel Eclat de Nuit Eyeshadow Palette, Chanel Baume Essentiel Mermaid Glow
on cheeks, Chanel Blush Les Beiges Medium Rose Gold and Chanel Rouge Coco Flash in ‘beat’ and ‘emotion’.
Nails: Casey at The Wall Group.
Hair Assistant: Emily Knapton.
Makeup Assistant: Heidi Soto.
Stand-in for Christie Brinkley: Ashley Strohlein.
Digital Tech: Olivia Wohlers.
Photographer Assistants: Sarah Schneider, Michele Swain.
Video Assistant: Andre Hemmit Jr.
Grip: George Pepe.
Fashion Team: Maksim Mizgirev, Gabi Jagodzinska, Madison Wen Gu, Sydney Lynch.
Digital Artist: Marilynn Hawkridge.
Special Thanks to: Claire at Claire Mercuri Public Relations.
Shot at: Hudson Yards Loft.
Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam
