In true David Jones style, the unveiling of this year’s Best In Beauty at the 2023 Beauty Awards event was nothing short of spectacular with decades of expertise in the room and several famous faces.
A celebration of the innovative, creative and iconic, our team was on the ground at our Elizabeth St Flagship store to capture the highly-anticipated announcement of which beauty products would be taking home the crown for 2023.
Hosted in the magnificent 8th Floor Gallery, the event was attended by some of the leading names in the beauty game.
After nearly 20,000 votes, and many a test and trial from our expert panel of judges, the winning products were the highlight of the event. Until, of course, a very special guest appeared onstage and stole the show: legendary supermodel and former David Jones ambassador, Lauren Hutton.
As the woman who defined the word “supermodel”, Lauren has been at the top of her game for the past six decades. Even now, at 79 years old, she’s showing no signs of slowing down, returning to Australia to celebrate the David Jones 2023 Beauty Awards.
Since signing with Ford Modelling Agency in her early adulthood, Lauren has graced the cover of Vogue 40+ times, fronted countless luxury fashion houses and inspired some of the photographic master Richard Avedon’s best work.
Now, she’s challenging ageism in fashion and beauty. Lauren continues to break boundaries and records in her career, with a return to modelling in her seventies. Lauren is now part of a cohort of models who, in their 60s and 70s, are as much at home on catwalks and in campaigns now as they were decades ago.
Eleanor Pendleton sat down with Lauren onstage at our Beauty Awards event to discuss her legacy, her thoughts on beauty and what advice she’d give to her younger self.
Eleanor: Lauren, how does it feel to be back in Australia?
Well, I love it here. You guys are so lucky to live here…we don’t have 600-year-old trees in New York, LA or anywhere in America that I know except up north with sequoias and redwoods. Yesterday I had a second off and I went running into the Botanical Gardens, which are a miracle in the middle of the city. Sydney is, I think, the best city in the world.
Eleanor: Given that we are here today at the Beauty Awards. I have to ask, what does beauty mean to you?
It’s everywhere, and it’s different to everyone…it really is what’s inside…that is the real beauty. It’s all around us, beauty, especially in this place…it’s a beautiful world.
Eleanor: I understand that your Revlon contract was the highest-paid media contract. Could you tell us about that?
Yes…that’s where I learned to read the front page of The New York Times.
I was 30 years old and it took me that long to learn how to read the front page. On the front page, it said [the name] Catfish Hunter, he was the first athlete who started the whole turnover of athletes making [a] great deal of money…and it was a scandal. He was quoted as saying, “I’m going to use this age-oriented business”.
I was turning 31…and I was the last pig at the fair. So, I called Eileen Ford (the co-founder of Ford Models) and said, I’m not going to do another job unless I get a contract…it worked out, and that’s what I [am] proud of.
Eleanor: You really did change the game, you were undoubtedly a pioneer. How does it feel to actually know that you align with individual champions that change within the industry?
I’m proudest of coming back at 47…I elbowed my way back into a business. I just called every editor in the Western world, and nobody laughed at me. [It was] German Vogue who did it first, and then it kept rolling and it was fun.
Of course, [at 47] we’re really just getting to our prime around them. We’re just getting to know who we really are. I’m not sure about 80-year-olds, but I am willing to learn.
“It really is what’s inside…that is the real beauty.”
Eleanor: With 40+ Vogue covers and countless iconic photo shoots, can you tell us if there are any images that you are particularly fond of?
Well, it’s only 27 American Vogue covers and the other votes are from other countries. But I remember one when I was like 24 or 26, and I had only been in business a few years because I started very late. [For that shoot] I had daisies in my hair…that was a good one.
But you know, I was really lucky. I had Irving Penn and Richard Avedon taking pictures.
Eleanor: My final question to you, Lauren: if you could go back and give some advice to your younger self, what would that be?
I’d say learn to read the New York Times 10 years earlier and 20 instead of 30. And I would say subscribe immediately to the post and Washington Post post and see if you get through the Economist without shivering in your bed shaking because you understood what it was saying.
