FASHION feature - True Confidence

Curious, optimistic and experienced, Daphne Selfe is the answer to your everyday inspiration.

Spanning sixty-seven years in the modelling industry, Daphne Selfe is a self-built wonder woman who has – and continues to – share her bright-eyed outlook. The supermodel, author and influencer has been photographed for various publications over the years making it to cover girl for CURVA, 125 and Drapers – to name a few. Daphne is the woman who aims to inspire people by imparting wisdom and life experience, and her story is the story of being “a happy, cheerful person” who is “always curious about the next adventure”.

Raised from a strong background, Daphne oozes a certain tranquillity and humbleness that only adds to her beauty. Her head strong nature, she tells us, is a result of being “blessed with good parents, genes and a loving yet strict upbringing” and “I had to make the best of everything as I was brought up in the war and I had to ‘get on with it’”. With a lifetime of adventures already under the belt, Daphne travels and locks down exciting projects whilst still owning the runway – her most recent success being her book ‘The Way We Wore: A Life in Clothes’and many more projects to be revealed soon that are in the pipeline.

“I was just propelled into the fashion industry by circumstances”

Daphne’s modelling career kicked off when she was at the age of twenty-one as a result of winning a local magazine cover girl competition – post Second World War. Contrary to Daphne’s idea of beauty existing irrespective to physical attributes, she has excelled in the industry and is now rewarded the title of ‘The Oldest Supermodel in the World’ admitting “I was just propelled into the fashion industry by circumstances” she continues “It was my love of clothes and dressing up, and meeting lots of interesting people like artists and designers”.

“age in my case has been an advantage… Younger people seem to want to be like me when they grow old!”

With age just being a number, Daphne stands tall and proud, and continues to blossom as she takes the fashion industry by storm quipping “age in my case has been an advantage… Younger people seem to want to be like me when they grow old!”. The role-model promotes a sense of positive mental well-being and encourages her fans in various ways to regain confidence and maintain faith – that’s more than often lost. Her creed for keeping herself in check and balanced is by engaging in hobbies that stimulate calming effects such as gardening, painting, knitting, cooking and being around her friends.

In current society, there’s an obvious contrast to everyday life in comparison to the ‘60s with the presence of technology being so dominant. And Daphne, having lived through a war and existing pre-Facebook era, has seen both sides of the spectrum. In terms of Social media, we asked Daphne if the existence of platforms – say Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc – have been pivotal in reshaping our mind-sets and mental stability: “social media must shrink confidence in people” adding “as people do not communicate with each other enough now except through the internet”.

PIBE: In tune with this issue’s theme ‘MENTALLY STRONG’, if you could define mentally strong in one word what would it be?
DAPHNE: Resilient.

Words / JESSIE PINK

PIBE #Issue 2

Photography / Iakovos Kalaitzakis
Styling / Sara Dunn
Make up / Jo Frost @CLM
Hair / Maki Tanaka
Model / Daphne Selfe @Models1