Daphne Guinness

Her father is Jonathan Guinness, 3rd Baron Moyne, the eldest son of Diana Mitford and Bryan Guinness. Diana Mitford was the daughter of David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale, the father of the Mitford sisters. Mitford divorced Guinness and married the leader of the British Union of Fascists, Sir Oswald Mosley, 6th Baronet of Ancoats. Daphne Guinness has said she did not know of Mosley's political affiliations, before she heard in 1980 on the BBC News that he had died.[1]

As a child, Guinness grew up moving between the country houses owned by her family in England and Ireland, and a villa in Spain, where Salvador Dalí was a family friend.[2] She later lived in New York with her half-sister, Catherine Guinness, who was working as a Personal Assistant to Andy Warhol.[3]

Guinness has been a fashion model,[4] a curator,[5] and fashion writer.[6] Christian Allaire of Vogue referred to her as a "street style icon, producer, musician, and muse of Alexander McQueen and Karl Lagerfeld".[7] Guinness has been described as a "performance artist" by The New York Times for her use of and experimentation with fashion.[8] She has appeared on the covers of multiple international editions of Vogue,[4][9] Harper's Bazaar,[10] Tatler, Zoo Magazine, and other fashion magazines.[11][12]

Guinness has written numerous pieces on the topic of fashion,[6] including columns published in Vogue,[13] the Financial Times,[14] The Times of London,[15] and Harper's Bazaar.[16][17] She also wrote the foreword to Alexander McQueen: Fashion Visionary,[18] contributed to Dressed to Kill: Jazz Age Fashion,[19] and co-authored Art/Fashion in the 21st Century.[20] As a designer, Guinness has designed a collection of shirts with Comme des Garçons for Dover Street Market,[21][22] and created an estimated 100 pieces for herself in 2010 alone with no intention of selling them.[23][24] She designed Contra Mundum, an 18-carat white gold glove encrusted with diamonds, with British jeweler Shaun Leane and Alexander McQueen.[25][26] The glove was worn in McQueen's shows, and was auctioned at Sotheby's in 2017.[27]

She was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1994.[28][29] Guinness has styled photo shoots for photographers Steven Klein and David LaChappelle.[21]

Following a divorce in 1999, Guinness became more involved in the avant-garde fashion movement,[5] establishing relationships within the fashion industry.[30] Guinness was a close friend of the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen[5][31] and, according to Vogue, she "nurtured" his career.[25]

In 2004, she was brought on as a fashion consultant for Gucci by François-Henri Pinault.[32]

Following the 2007 death of magazine editor Isabella Blow, Guinness purchased Blow's entire fashion collection, months before it was scheduled to be auctioned by Christie's in 2010.[33] In 2014, Guinness exhibited more than 100 pieces of Blow's collection at Somerset House.[25]

In 2009, she created a scent named Daphne for Comme des Garçons.[21] Guinness collaborated with NARS Cosmetics as the model for the fall 2010 campaign, which included an eyeshadow named after her.[23][34] In 2011, she released a 21-product makeup line with MAC Cosmetics that included blushes, lipsticks and nail polishes.[35]

She curated an exhibition at the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2011 that featured more than 100 contemporary pieces by various designers, including Alexander McQueen, Chanel, Valentino, and others, all from her personal couture collection.[5] The exhibit also featured The Phenomenology of Body, a short film Guinness directed focused on costumes through the ages.[4]

As a tribute to the deaths of Isabella Blow and Alexander McQueen, in 2011 Guinness dressed in public for the Met Gala in a Barneys window; she wore a feathered McQueen dress and other pieces from Blow's collection.[36]

David Bowie encouraged Guinness to pursue music, introducing her to Tony Visconti,[41] who had produced three of her albums as of August 2020.[25]

Guinness has walked in two of Naomi Campbell's Fashion for Relief shows to raise funds for disaster victims.[59] In April 2008, she auctioned off part of her wardrobe, with the proceeds going to a British charity called Womankind Worldwide, which deals with issues such as domestic violence.[60]

In June 2010, Guinness purchased at auction the entire wardrobe of Isabella Blow, her friend who died by suicide in 2007. The lot was purchased prior to an auction, which was arranged at Christie's.[61] She later announced that she would be displaying the wardrobe at Central Saint Martins and online, as well as starting a foundation to help with mental illness.[62] The official show, entitled "Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore," was displayed in November 2013 at Somerset House in London.[63]

In February 2013, Guinness, along with Baroness Monica von Neumann and Lynn Ban, donated a collection of her shoes to the Museum at Fashion Institute of Technology's Shoe Obsession exhibit.[64]

In 1987, she married Spyros Niarchos, the second son of Stavros Niarchos.[65] The couple had three children. Her $39 million settlement, obtained at the time of her 1999 divorce, was added to her Guinness inheritance.[66]

She lives in London and Manhattan with her three children: Nicolas Stavros Niarchos (born 1989), Alexis "Lex" Spyros Niarchos (born 1991), and Ines Sophia Niarchos (born 1995).[1]

She has been romantically involved with French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy for a number of years. In the February 2011 issue of Harper's Bazaar, Guinness confirmed to journalist Derek Blasberg: "He is obviously the love of my life".[23][67]

• Daphne Guinness on Twitter
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