Carine Roitfeld

Carine Roitfeld – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Dive into the life of Carine Roitfeld — the French fashion editor and tastemaker who shaped Vogue Paris, founded CR Fashion Book, and became a style legend. Explore her biography, influence, philosophy, and most memorable quotes.

Introduction

Carine Roitfeld is one of the most iconic and provocative figures in modern fashion editorial. Known for her dark-smoky eyes, daring styling, and uncompromising aesthetic, she has shaped how the world thinks about style, beauty, and the power of the fashion image. Though she is often called a “French editor,” her influence transcends borders, inspiring editors, photographers, stylists, and creatives worldwide. Her journey from model to stylist to the helm of Vogue Paris, and later founder of CR Fashion Book, illustrates her restless ambition and uncompromising vision.

Early Life and Family

Carine Roitfeld was born on 19 September 1954 in Paris, France. Her father, Jacques Roitfeld (originally Yakov Motelevich Roitfeld), was of Russian origin — born in Bessarabia (now in Ukraine/Moldova region) — and later emigrated to France. Her mother is often described by Carine as a “classic Frenchwoman.”

Carine grew up in Paris’s affluent 16th arrondissement, in a bourgeois environment, though she has sometimes described it as more comfortable than glamorous. Her father was important to her—to Carine, he was an “idol” figure even when often absent due to his own professional engagements.

She later partnered with Christian Restoin (not married), and they have two children: Julia Restoin Roitfeld (b. 1980) and Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld (b. 1984). Julia is a creative director/designer; Vladimir leads the business side of CR Fashion Book and various creative ventures.

Youth and Education

Carine did not follow the typical path into journalism or fashion school. Instead, she began her entrée into the world of fashion quite organically:

• At age 18, she was discovered on a Paris street by an assistant to a British photographer, launching her into modeling in smaller magazines.

• Over time, she transitioned into styling and writing, working for Elle in France as a stylist and fashion contributor.

• During her early career she built relationships with photographers, designers, and editors — particularly Mario Testino — which became pivotal to her ascent.

Thus, her education in fashion was largely experiential, built on collaboration, visual experimentation, and intuition rather than formal credentialing.

Career and Achievements

Styling, Collaborations & Pre-Vogue Era

Before taking on editorial leadership, Carine honed her voice by working with top photographers and luxury houses. She served as a stylist, creative collaborator, and muse for brands including Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Tom Ford, Missoni, Versace, and Calvin Klein. Her working relationship with Mario Testino, in particular, opened doors in editorial and advertising spheres.

Vogue Paris Era (2001–2011)

In 2001, Condé Nast’s Jonathan Newhouse invited Carine to become or-in-Chief of Vogue Paris. During her decade at the helm, she reshaped the magazine’s identity: more provocative, sensual, edgy — pushing boundaries in imagery, styling, and fashion narrative. She became known for favoring strong visual storytelling, bold beauty, and often controversial editorials.

On 17 December 2010, Carine announced her resignation from Vogue Paris, and she formally stepped down at the end of January 2011. She was succeeded by Emmanuelle Alt.

Post-Vogue: CR Fashion Book & Other Ventures

After leaving Vogue Paris, Carine returned to freelance styling and direction. In 2012, she launched CR Fashion Book, a biannual magazine based in New York, which gives her full editorial freedom. She also joined Harper’s Bazaar as Global Fashion Director. Her activities have spanned styling, creating campaigns, window installations (e.g. Barneys), large-format books (e.g. Irreverent in 2011), and more. The documentary Mademoiselle C (2013) chronicles her transition from Vogue to CR Fashion Book and highlights her behind-the-scenes creative process. In recent years, she has also begun developing her own brand projects, including fragrances, collaborating more closely with her children in business and creative launches.

Historical & Cultural Context

Carine Roitfeld’s trajectory must be seen in light of shifting power structures in fashion media:

• She emerged during a time when fashion editors and image-makers became as influential as designers or brands, becoming cultural arbiters.

• Roitfeld capitalized on the rise of street style photography and the growing visibility of editors outside the pages of magazines — her own style became part of the visual language of fashion week.

• She sat at the intersection of fashion and sensuality, bridging glamour and edge at a moment when visual sexuality in editorial was undergoing renewed exploration.

• Her move from Vogue to her own publication mirrors broader trends of media fragmentation, niche branding, and the desire for editorial autonomy.

• She pushed forward inclusive casting — featuring transgender models, black models, curvy women — earlier than many peers, even when met with resistance.

• Her status as a style icon also underscores how editors can themselves become brand personalities, shaping public perception beyond the pages they curate.

Legacy & Influence

Carine Roitfeld’s legacy is rich and layered:

• She redefined what Vogue Paris could be — not just a fashion authority but a provocative cultural manifesto.

• Many editors, stylists, and creatives cite her boldness, visual daring, and aesthetic fearlessness as inspiration.

• She helped redetermine the role of fashion editor from gatekeeper to auteur.

• CR Fashion Book stands as a model of editorial independence in an era of media consolidation.

• Her empowered visual language — smoky, moody, sensual, dark — influenced beauty and styling trends globally.

• Her embrace of a personal aesthetic (the “Roitfeld look”) showed how one’s own image can become part of one’s creative voice.

• For women in fashion and media, she remains an emblem of persistence, reinvention, and creative sovereignty.

Personality, Vision & Aesthetic Philosophy

Carine is widely regarded as charismatic, enigmatic, bold, and deeply opinionated. Her style is often described as androgynous-chic meets sensual edge: black clothing, smoky eyes, high heels, hair obscuring the face. She speaks of fashion in psychological, emotional, and almost mystical terms — the image is not superficial, it is an imprint of fantasy. She has said repeatedly that she doesn’t see fashion and art as separate; their boundary is porous. Her aesthetic is grounded in contrast: the balance of beauty and edge, the tension between perfection and imperfection, the interplay of light and shadow.
She often emphasizes personality over mere garments, believing that “you must see the person behind the clothes.” Her tendency toward provocation, taboo, and disruption is always tempered by an insistence on elegance and visual intelligence.

Famous Quotes by Carine Roitfeld

Here are several striking quotes that reflect her worldview, sensibility, and philosophy:

“I think you are born chic. You cannot be chic. It is something you cannot learn.” “Always wear high heels. Yes, they give you power. You move differently, sit differently and even speak differently.” “In fashion, it’s always better to be an interesting person than a beautiful one. Character is much more fascinating than pure good looks.” “You can’t learn how to be elegant; you can only learn how to avoid mistakes. The rest is instinct. Elegance is about the way you cross your legs, not the label or the newest clothes from the latest collection.” “Each morning you dress to become a different woman. Fashion helps.” “I think that when you’re taking pictures with my principles, you can try anything. Dare to do a lot of things — dare with sexuality, dare to break taboos as long as it remains photogenic.” “Maybe people have no idea how much work is behind a picture. It can seem very effortless, but there is a lot of work. It’s exactly like doing ballet… hours and hours.” “I love black lingerie and white shoes, and I love knives.”

These quotes capture her belief in instinct, elegance, risk, and the emotional weight behind visual creation.

Lessons from Carine Roitfeld

1. Own your voice
   Carine’s aesthetic is unapologetically hers — she didn’t chase trends, she cultivated a distinct visual grammar.

2. Image is narrative
   For her, a photo, styling, or layout isn’t decorative — it must tell something deeper about identity, power, sensuality.

3. Risk is essential
   She repeatedly embraced controversy or taboo — pushing boundaries is intrinsic to progress in creative fields.

4. Personality over perfection
   She values character, presence, and emotion more than flawless technique.

5. Autonomy matters
   Her decision to leave Vogue and launch her own publication reflects that creative control can be worth the risk.

6. Collaboration empowers
   Her alliances with photographers, designers, artists, and her own children show that partnership can elevate vision.

7. Hard work hides behind ease
   The simplest, most natural-looking image often has the most labor, iteration, and editing behind it.

Conclusion

Carine Roitfeld is far more than a fashion editor — she is a visual philosopher, a provocateur, and a living emblem of the power of image. From her modest start in modeling to redefining Vogue Paris, to founding CR Fashion Book, her life has been about pushing fashion toward deeper, darker, more psychologically rich terrain.

Her influence lives on in the pages of fashion magazines, the works of photographers and stylists she inspired, and in the countless creatives who see in her path a model of integrity, risk, and aesthetic courage. Her quotes, her visuals, and her editorial decisions continue to echo.