01 / Career record
Early life
Carine Roitfeld was born on 19 September 1954 in Paris, the daughter of the Russian-born film producer Jacques Roitfeld, who had emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1923. At eighteen she began modelling after being discovered on a Paris street, working mainly for junior magazines; she has described herself as "not a star." She moved from modelling into writing and styling for French Elle, where she worked as a freelance stylist for roughly fifteen years.
02 / Career record
A partnership that changed her career
A 1990 children’s fashion shoot for Vogue Bambini, photographed by Mario Testino and featuring Roitfeld’s daughter Julia, began a long creative partnership with Testino across advertising and editorial work for American and French Vogue. During this period she also worked as a consultant and muse to Tom Ford through his six-year tenure at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, and contributed to campaigns for Missoni, Versace and Calvin Klein.
03 / Career record
A decade at Vogue Paris
In 2001, Condé Nast International chairman Jonathan Newhouse appointed Roitfeld editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris, a role she held for a decade and one that made her one of fashion’s most closely watched editors. She resigned in December 2010, departing officially at the end of January 2011 and handing the role to Emmanuelle Alt.
04 / Career record
Post-Vogue career
After leaving Vogue Paris, Roitfeld returned to freelance styling, including Chanel’s Fall 2011 and Spring 2012 campaigns, and published the book Irreverent with Rizzoli in 2011. In 2012 she became global fashion director of Harper’s Bazaar and, the same year, founded CR Fashion Book, a biannual New York–based title she continues to edit — a launch documented in the 2013 film Mademoiselle C.
05 / At a glance
Quick facts.
- —Discovered as a model on a Paris street at eighteen; later spent roughly fifteen years as a freelance stylist for French Elle
- —Long-running creative partnership with photographer Mario Testino, from 1990
- —Consultant and muse to Tom Ford during his six-year tenure at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent
- —Editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris, 2001–2011
- —Global fashion director of Harper’s Bazaar from 2012
- —Founder and editor-in-chief of CR Fashion Book, launched 2012 in New York