Lauren Hutton has always loved to travel and she moved to New York to be able to get to Africa. She eventually became a model (she still remains the model who has graced the most American Vogue covers, 26) and that’s how she could fund her adventures. Her passion for travel has also fueled her dressing choices and the safari look became one of her signature styles. I never get enough of her photographs in khaki and beige linens. Lauren bought her first safari jacket on one of her annual trips to Kenya. “I thought the policemen’s uniforms were so chic,” she says, “so I would go to the store where they got their uniforms and get measured for my own. I went back each year for 28 years and got a new one every trip back.” But it’s not just the practicality of the garments that make her safari looks timeless, but her entire attitude and exuberance. It’s her style, and nobody else’s, and that’s why it stands the test of time so well.
I can’t talk about Lauren Hutton’s summer style without talking about her beach look. A swimsuit, a denim shirt as cover-up, and probably bare feet? What can be more classic than that? Or simple t-shirt, denim cut-offs and sneakers? Nothing less than classic American style, and Lauren is its best ambassador. She is the first one who describes herself as a tomboy. I’ve said it before, and I will say it again. One of the things I admire the most about a woman is how gracefully she ages. With age, Lauren’s shorts’ hem has gotten longer, and now she wears her wrinkles with the same pride she’s always worn her teeth gap: these are, I believe, some of the best style lessons we can learn from her.
photos: 1-Fred Seidman, from the book Influence, by Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen | 2-Rex Features | 3-Rex USA, 1976, via Wall Street Journal | 4,5-Fred Seidman, Mexico, mid-1970’s, Town and Country | 6-Fred Seidman | 7-Big Magazine | 8-Mark Boster | 9-via InStyle, 1987
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