5 things you can only find on Carine Roitfeld's Instagram profile

Vogue France, the perpetually smudged black pencil along the edges of the eyes, well-defined eyebrows, and a rather dark wardrobe: Carine Roitfeld invented indie sleaze before the Olsen sisters. More than 10 years at the helm of the French edition of the Condé Nast giant, such a disruptive aesthetic that we had to give it a name to legitimize it outside the scorching pages of the editorials signed with photographer Mario Testino: porn chic, one of Roitfeld's most hated appellations. Try to look at one of her works and ask yourself why her images are so controversial—Eva Herzigova shot by Mario Testino in The Face wearing a Margiela tank top while reaching out a hand to a meat grinder and holding a Maltese puppy in the other hand during the mad cow disease outbreak in Britain. Move on to Vogue Paris: in the February 2005 issue, she portrayed, alongside Testino, Gemma Ward simulating a clean cut to her lashes with a pair of golden scissors (all little girls cut their Barbie dolls' hair, don't they?). In 2010, in the October issue, Terry Richardson captures model Crystal Renn with a squid suspended between her hands and her mouth, as if about to be swallowed, evoking imagery from one of Roitfeld's favorite films, La Grande Bouffe (1973). In December of the same year came the most controversial editorial ever: Cadeaux, under the creative direction of Tom Ford as guest editor and photographed by Sharif Hamza, depicts girls in suggestive poses wearing Saint Laurent, Valentino, Versace clothes, and Bulgari jewelry. On December 17 of the same year, Roitfeld resigned—Emmanuelle Alt will take her place.

Today Carine Roitfeld has her own magazine, her own line of perfumes, and continues to work as a consultant for international luxury brands. Here are 5 things you can only find on her Instagram profile.

Michel Lamy's shots for CR Fashion Book

After announcing her resignation in December 2010, Carine Roitfeld founded her eponymous magazine in 2012. «I like older women. I like less petite girls. I like black women. I did everything before. But people forget, because people forget everything. I feel totally comfortable with everyone. My strength is having an open mind, always,» she told The Guardian a few years ago. One of the latest issues of CR Fashion Book, not surprisingly, reflects on audacity and leverages on the pointed shoulders of Michel Lamy: seated on a damask armchair, enveloped in the smoke of her lit cigarette and her inevitable personal jewels, Lamy is just one of the key figures within Carine Roitfeld's universe. The others are all consultable and "reduced" in editorial format.

Tips for Vestiaire Collective

Roitfeld loves vintage and boasts a series of archive pieces that would make even the most avid archivists envious. Perhaps this is why Vestiaire Collective chose her as a curator in a collaboration that sees her as an integral part in selecting 300 vintage pieces for the French platform. Directly from her apartment in Paris, the editor in chief of CR Fashion Book showcases her favorite items: a lace and muslin skirt from Saint Laurent by Tom Ford, a Chanel jacket directly gifted to her by Karl Lagerfeld himself, a Tom Ford faux crocodile leather jacket with matching bag, the Carine bag.

The first party with her daughter, both in leopard fur

In 2003, at the Great Hall of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Roberto Cavalli organized a preview gala for the exhibition Wild Fashion Untamed, and Carine Roitfeld arrived with her daughter Julia Roitfeld. «The first night out with Julia, in New York, 25 years ago. Irreverently matching the décor, wrapped from head to toe in leopard print (the fur is fake» Roitfeld recalls on Instagram. Did someone say indie sleaze?

A photo with the Porn Hub tee

When asked by journalists to explain the cornerstones of her aesthetic imagery, porn chic, Roitfeld always suggested that she at least opted for erotic chic. The key, probably, lies in this shot taken by Argentine photographer Sebastian Faena, which shows her with her back turned and a cigarette lit, wearing a Porn Hub logo t-shirt. Yet another provocation? «A lot of people say I'm the queen of porn chic. 'Chic' is fine, but 'porn' is not,» she told Vogue in 2012. «I am very happy to use the word 'erotic', but not 'pornographic'. Maybe I look crazy because of my pictures; it's probably just my art, what I need to express.»

A photo with Karl Lagerfeld and Valentino Garavani

In 2011, Roitfeld celebrated the publication of his book Irreverent by throwing a party at Raspoutine in Paris. "Bal des vampires, Irreverent" sketches the copy accompanying a photo posted on his Ig account in 2016, together with Karl Lagerfeld and Valentino Garavani. Of the former he still laments the absence: «He was the undisputed king of big bouquets and handwritten letters. Nobody else does that. [...] I am aware that I won't get my flowers from him with the card that says you are a great stylist and a great mother. Mother's Day has a different date in each country, how could he know it was Mother's Day [in France]?»