Some people light up a room when they enter. Christie Brinkley brings the sunshine in with her, beaming her famous smile so that it is impossible not to smile right back. Her endless optimism and gratitude shape how she looks at life, and she wants us all to feel that joy right along with her.
This year’s Fashion Meets Art event on Wednesday, February 19 features the timeless beauty as presenter. To call Brinkley a supermodel is to sell her short; yes, she has numerous magazine covers, including three consecutive covers of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, but Brinkley is much more than that. She represents a lifestyle, proving that a sunny attitude can make for a happy existence. The author and entrepreneur is one of a group of gorgeous women not satisfied with just being fashion plates. In the decades that have passed since her renowned magazine covers, she has marshaled her creativity, inspired by her windswept Hamptons estate, to reach new goals.
Brinkley’s home, Tower Hill, has a fascinating history. In 1639, English engineer Lion Gardiner was granted by royal decree a 5-square-mile island that today is part of the town of East Hampton. “Tower Hill was built nearby in 1891 by the Gardiner family to keep an eye on their private island,” Brinkley explains. “It has a staircase that winds its way to the tower and the most incredible 360-degree views.” Her lush, free-form garden and grounds are her happy place, where she will often go out in a big, floppy sun hat just to cut a few flowers and end up spending several hours drinking in the sea breeze.
Brinkley has embarked on a clothing design project, a first for her, of affordable yet luxe-looking dresses, tops, and pants. She calls it TWRHLL, inspired by her historic home. “Hamptons style is pretty much anything goes these days; you see it all here, but I think the quintessential Hamptons look is relaxed and beachy, effortlessly casual and chic,” she notes. Her dresses are easy yet flattering, with classic colors, stripes, and fun details that pop. The button-down swingy shirt dress is mid-calf length, shown closed with a belt or without, or totally open as a duster over pants and a top.
“When I’m designing with my team, we try to give women a versatile wardrobe that she will really wear in her day-to-day so she feels and looks great,” says Brinkley. “A woman should be able to run through the many things that she juggles in a day, and maybe with just the change of a shoe and adding an earring, she looks ready to meet friends for an impromptu dinner.”
Brinkley has designed with a woman’s figure in mind and has some little secrets that give shape without being constricting. “We have some pieces that are your workhorses,” she explains. “These are wardrobe staples like simple T-shirts and sweaters constructed with figure finders, which are clever little seams that take out the excess fabric right under the bust to find your figure in the most flattering way.”
The Fashion Meets Art crowd at this year’s sold-out event will be treated to Brinkley’s tips for non-fussy dressing with style. “I love long dresses, especially when they float comfortably around your body and feel light and feminine,” she says. “I have been loving high-waisted jeans, too. When they have a wider leg, I usually balance that with something that defines the waist, such as a shirt with a great belt or a cropped boxy sweater. With narrower jeans, I might do a chunkier sweater or blazer or add movement with a long cardigan.”
For event committee chair Gregory Allan Ness, securing Christie Brinkley for this year’s event was a coup. “She has been on our wish list from the beginning,” he says. “For our selection process, we look for someone in the fashion industry who has many accomplishments and stories to tell. Christie’s sunny energy will be commensurate with the mood at the event, which is always upbeat.”
“Almost as soon as the day after the event, we will start planning for the next year and selecting that presenter,” Ness adds. “Oftentimes the fashion celebrity will have a new project, like Christie’s new TWRHLL line inspired by her Tower Hill Hamptons estate.”
There will be two ongoing exhibitions at the Vero Beach Museum of Art that will coincide with the Fashion Meets Art event. One is called “Timeless” and will feature works by internationally recognized fashion photographer and artist Robert Farber, who now lives in Vero Beach. “Well-Dressed” will show a variety of paintings, sculpture, photography, and other pieces from VBMA’s permanent collection.
“Fashion and art have influenced each other from the inception of time,” says Ness. “Fashion designers are artists; they are just painting on a different canvas.”
The funds raised from this event will help support important educational and outreach programs all year long. “That’s what keeps me coming back every year to do all the hard work that it takes to put on an event like this,” Ness says. “As the event grows each year and becomes more successful, it also grows our educational outreach, and the commitments from our sponsors and underwriters feed these popular programs.”
Of all Brinkley’s accomplishments, perhaps her most outstanding is the ability to inspire women to think differently about aging. “I think women over 50 today see themselves in a new way. We are the generation that embraced healthy diets and exercise. Olivia Newton-John sang, ‘Let’s Get Physical,’ and we did,” she laughs.
When Brinkley started modeling at age 19, she was told that she would be lucky to have 10 years in the business. “I think in the past there was the rare model who stays in the business past the industry shelf life, like the stunningly beautiful Carmen, who at 93 continues to work to this day,” she says. “Today, there’s a whole generation of models who are reshaping the numbers that used to set the expiration date on women. I was told I would be chewed up and spit out at 30, but I was doing a photo shoot for Sports Illustrated in a bikini at 63. Martha Stewart did it at 80 and she was a knockout.”
Brinkley’s contemporaries, such as models and style icons Paulina Porizkova, Kim Alexis, and Carol Alt, encourage women through social media posts and appearances. “I think women want to see other women their own age so we can all inspire each other to face the inevitable wrinkles and sagging—if we’re lucky, with gratitude and humor and joy and love.”
Story Credits:
Photography: Andrew Egan
Styling: Kristen Ingersoll
HMU: Bruce Dean
Ac Magazine: accessoriescouncil.org/magazine creative director
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