Linda Rodin

To age is a beautiful thing, yet it requires a certain form of substance, a certain form of detachment from the ideals of beauty and a serious up yours to society’s imposition on women as a whole.

It’s now easier than ever to “turn back the clock” (what clock?) and botox, fillers, lasers, facelifts are now more available, and more accessible then ever. The capital gains from our respective insecurities too great to not make it ubiquitous and satiatingly appealing to all.

But you see, Linda Rodin, she’s iconic because she she doesn’t buy into all that bullshit. She calls a spade a spade and she doesn’t subscribe to popularised beauty “standards” that inform women what they should or shouldn’t look like. And you could say that comes from working in the industry for decades as a renowned stylist, being an absolute trailblazer by opening the first fashion boutique in Soho in 1979 over forty years ago, or becoming a beauty entrepreneur at 59 and later selling her eponymous brand to Estée Lauder for an undisclosed sum. But it’s actually none of that.

Her gumption is innate, her ability to sniff out truth and serve it up on a cold hard platter no matter how it lands is inseparable to how she appears to the world.

And what’s great about Linda is she is a living billboard for flaunting a different kind of age. One where you still wake up in the morning at seventy seven and throw on a pair of vintage Levis that you’ve been wearing for two decades,  style it back with a leather coat, apply a bright and bold pink lipstick and grab your Courrèges tote on the way out. She literally defies every single stereotype of what age is supposed to look like and we’re totally here for it.

And when it comes to ageing, she doesn’t shy away from communicating the truth: it’s hard, it’s not for the faint hearted and yes it can suck at times. But in Linda’s eyes, it’s a hell of a lot better than being a slave to the machine.

And if seeing older generations of women age – despite the perpetual and incessant force against it – is an inspiration, then Linda Rodin is a one of the greatest role models there is.

Well, ageing can be challenging. It’s nice to be older and healthy, You know the famous Betty Davis saying is that ageing is not for sissies, and it’s not

Yes, and that is really sad.  When I was growing up, it was a different time. Even when I started my brand, I was 59, almost 60, i was totally focused on my products and not on my appearance.

Yes, we do. When we were growing up, we didn’t have this pressure and that’s where the internet comes in and makes everyone crazy. I mean if I were a 16 year old girl looking at the social media crowd, I don’t know how I would feel.

I remember reading Seventeen Magazine and it was just, oh, I want those bell bottom pants. We didn’t study and critique anybody’s face or know about wrinkles or creams to prevent them . It’s quite liberating to think how in those days there wasn’t so much pressure on young women. Today , we are just bombarded with so many products and medical procedures to look youthful.

Growing up we were competitive in high school and junior high school, but it was just your little crowd and we didn’t feel like everybody in the world had the perfect nose, or ‘why aren’t my eyes that big?’ We never had this big world to compare ourselves to. It was just your friends, we would share tips or little things, but we didn’t have any pressure like that.

I see women who are 50 and I think, wow they look great, but they’re probably thinking; oh god, I’m not looking that good. Personally, I didn’t think I looked old until I was 70, believe it or not. I felt perfectly fine until that age and then I started really noticing things that I didn’t like. Now I accept them, knowing the alternative is not for me.

When I started in the beauty business, I wasn’t young and I was wrinkled, but I never thought about it. I never even looked at myself in that way. And that’s why I think it was attractive to people. I wasn’t selling any lies. I never made a false claim. So many products claim to take away fine line and wrinkles. Nothing will take away wrinkles except good health and hydration and a healthy diet does help.

We used to put henna in our hair, so it would make it this deep red. And I noticed one day I was walking down the street and I looked at my reflection in a store window and I thought, wow, my hair’s pink. And I got home and I looked in the mirror and the henna had turned all the grey hairs pink. And that’s when I stopped putting henna in my hair.

Once I started going grey, so many people asked me why I didn’t dye it. Saying I would look so much younger ! If I had a nickel for everybody who told me to dye my hair, I’d be a millionaire . And I thought, why would I dye it? I like it. So going grey wasn’t something that swayed me to change my natural hair colour.