INTERVIEW: TIMOTHY HARRISON. LACHLAN BAILEY/ART PARTNER; DAVID BAILEY; GETTY IMAGESYou went to Paris in 1968 and met Serge
Gainsbourg soon after. What’s the most useful
phrase to know if you don’t speak French?
“Pourquoi pas?”
You started out modelling in Swinging
London. How was it working with David Bailey
in the 1960s?
I wish I’d let him use one of his pictures of me as
a poster. He asked me and I said no because I
was nude, and I thought, “That’s all I’ll go down
for.” Now I’d rather go down for a David Bailey
photograph than for a Birkin bag!
What should I always keep in my
Hermès Birkin?
Not just one thing – that’s why it’s so big.
So what’s in yours?
A silk scarf and my agenda, without which I’d
be lost. I suppose one should add the mobile
phone and the string that goes into the wall.
Is it true you’re a bit of a kleptomaniac? What
do you swipe from your hotel room?
An ashtray, face flannels. I never take a
dressing gown or anything enormous.
Whose closet would you raid?
My father’s: his jerseys, his trousers, his shoes.What wouldJane Birkin do?Advice on love, life and beauty from
the actor, musician and style museYou prefer men’s trousers?
Yes, I like fiddling about in the pockets. My last
pair, I took from my agent. I like it when they’ve
been worn by somebody else for a long time.
So you never buy new clothes?
I buy things often, but I sleep in them for two
weeks, and then they really look quite rough.
Do your daughters [Charlotte Gainsbourg and
Lou Doillon] ever call you for style advice?
I wouldn’t have thought that either of them
had to ask me. I ask them.
Who was your beauty icon when you were in
your twenties?
Jean Shrimpton.
What’s your most vivid memory as an activist?
Getting into Sarajevo in a tank. It was to take
literature to a lycŽe, so we went loaded with books.
What’s the secret to confidence on the
dancefloor?
Hug your partner.
If I want to go off the beaten track for my
summer holiday, where should I go?
L’Aber Wrac’h in Brittany.
And why?
Because I’ll be there! nDescribe your
beauty routine.
“I use Sisley
Phyto-Teint Eclat
foundation for nose
and blemishes, a
Mac Soar lip pencil
on lips and cheeks,
and Nars Bengali
eyeshadow – and,
at night, a little
mascara. I take
off my make-up
with Embryolisse
Lait-Crème
Concentré.”What’s the best
advice you’ve
received from your
children? “Lou
[above, with Jane]
recently told me
I should write what
I want to write,
and feel I can be
myself and not keep
thanking Serge
[right, with Jane in
1970] or someone
else. She thinks it’s
time to say what
I want to say.”What’s your
favourite
summer scent?
“Miller Harris
L’Air de Rien
by Jane Birkin
eau de parfum
[£105].”Birkin by
Bailey,
Vogue, June
1965VOGUE ASKSFrom top: Nars Single
Eyeshadow in Bengali,
£17. Mac Cosmetics
Lip Pencil in Soar, £14.
Embryolisse Lait-
Crème Concentré, £13.
Below: Sisley
Phyto-Teint Eclat Fluid
Foundation, £8008-19-Backpage.indd 200 03/06/2019 12:54