How Dame Helen Mirren looks so good at 80
Outside of her roles on stage and screen, Dame Helen is known for having an undeniable joie de vivre and devil-may-care attitude towards beauty standards and ageing. She wears stripper heels on the red carpet, has co-opted the ' blue rinse ', and refuses to cut her hair just because she's over the age of 60.
Her fashion choices are consistently both timeless and bold, and she's shown a love of playing dress-up that many others in her age bracket have long since lost. And perhaps most refreshingly of all, her style has hardly changed in her 50-plus years in the spotlight.
With undeniable sex appeal and charisma, here's how Dame Helen is breaking all the rules of ageing appropriately to age amazingly instead.
Be confident with your fashion choices
According to Dame Helen's stylist of 20 years, Rachel Fanconi, her look has always been informed by confidence. 'Her style is classic but always has a bit of edge – there's always something a little punk or gothic about it,' she explains.
'Often, when I show her a wild-card look, that's the one she'll choose to wear. It's so nice to work with someone who is happy to take risks.' A long term fan of designers including Dolce & Gabbana, Suzannah London and Victoria Beckham, and with a penchant for high street brands such as Me+Em, Dame Helen's style is typified by glamorous dresses on the red carpet and trouser suits for more low-key moments.
In terms of her go-tos, Fanconi explains that Dame Helen is unafraid of colour or prints, and there's pretty much nothing she wouldn't wear, though she does stick to a waist-defining silhouette more often than not.
In terms of the sartorial lessons we can learn from Dame Helen, Fanconi says: 'Approach fashion with a lack of fear. I think doing things that feel contemporary and modern keep you looking super relevant.'
Do wear super-high heels you can walk in
Crocs, trainers and Uggs have become a frequent sight on the red carpet in recent years, but one celebrity you're not likely to catch even in flats is Dame Helen. In fact, the 80-year-old has become known for her love of platform heels, and specifically those made by the affordable independent British brand Sole Bliss, which crucially are super comfortable too.
'It's a tremendous privilege to count Dame Helen Mirren as a customer,' says Lisa Kay, the founder and chief executive of Sole Bliss. 'We launched Sole Bliss in 2017 and within a few months, her wonderful stylist Rachel Fanconi had introduced her to our shoes. Eight years later, Sole Bliss has accompanied Helen Mirren around the world at airports in our trainers and red carpets in our platform heels. I couldn't be more thrilled.'
Don't be afraid to break beauty rules
Unsurprisingly, Dame Helen isn't one to toe the line when it comes to society's beauty standards – particularly where they concern ageing. Case in point: her refusal to cut her long hair short, or to dye her greys. 'I quite like the fact that it was sort of against the rules for women of my age to have long hair,' she told British Vogue in 2023.
'There's an unspoken rule that you're not supposed to have long hair. Or if you do have long hair, you're supposed to have it all neatly up in a bun… Accepting who you are, finding confidence in it and not resisting it is the best beauty advice.'
And who could forget that famous blue rinse for the Cannes 2023 red carpet?
Dame Helen's hair stylist, Stephane Lancien, used L'Oreal's £10 temporary Colorista Spray in Pastel Blue to create her headline-grabbing look, while her make-up artist, Val Garland, added bright blue contact lenses to amplify the look.
Accentuate your best features
As with her preference for waist-defining silhouettes, Dame Helen also knows how to enhance her best features – and in particular, her smile.
'I once asked Helen why she always looks so great on the red carpet,' says make-up artist Garland. 'And she told me it's because she always smiles – and it's true. When you smile, it lifts up your whole face and you glow from within.' While the pair used to focus on a red lip, in recent years they have switched to a softer pink shade.
One top tip Dame Helen once shared with Garland is to line the lips with a light brow pencil first. 'It not only accentuates the lips but prevents lipstick bleeding,' Garland explains. Meanwhile, for her eyes, Garland focuses on a soft smoky eye, with lots of mascara to boost the slightly sparser lashes associated with getting older.
Always focus on glowing skin
Ahead of any red carpet appearance, Dame Helen's make-up artist will always prepare her skin, either with a combination of facial massage or an LED mask if there is time.
'I keep my tools in an ice-cold bucket of water, so they are really nice and cool,' says Garland. 'Then I'll mix an illuminator – I love Trinny London BFF for mature skin – with moisturiser. It's got a great, serum-like texture.'
For Garland, the key to Dame Helen's look is that she isn't too shiny or too matte, but instead looks lit from within, with a little cream blush and powder on the T-zone.
Find an exercise regime you like and stick to it
Dame Helen is not one to follow a faddy workout trend or hire a celebrity personal trainer. In fact, she revealed in 2014 that she has more or less stuck to one incredibly simple 12-minute exercise routine for years.
Devised by the Royal Canadian Air Force, it involves toe touches, arm circles, chest and leg raises and partial sit-ups, with its beauty being its simplicity. 'It is the exercise I have done off and on my whole life. It just very gently gets you fit,' she has said of it.
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