BEST OF 2022

Paulina Porizkova: the supermodel who dared to look her age

Porizkova was once the world’s highest paid model, but as she hit her fifties she says she was suddenly invisible. Now 56, she’s leading a new wave of older women taking their place in the spotlight and on the catwalk – and flaunting it on Instagram in her bikini

Paulina Porizkova. ‘Do I feel sexier? Oh my God, yes. But I am not a fluttery, vulnerable creature’
Paulina Porizkova. ‘Do I feel sexier? Oh my God, yes. But I am not a fluttery, vulnerable creature’
JILL GREENBERG
The Times

Everyone knows that walking into a party beside a supermodel is a terrible idea, but Paulina Porizkova is inviting me to do just that. She has a point to prove.

“You have to come with me,” she insists. “Nobody believes me unless they see it. My girlfriends thought I was joking at first. Now they’ve all witnessed it.”

What is this party trick of which the 56-year-old, Sports Illustrated swimsuit-clad two-time cover star is so proud? What new skill has the once highest paid model in the industry, named by Harper’s Bazaar in 1992 as one of America’s ten most beautiful women, added to her repertoire?

“I am now completely invisible,” Porizkova explains. “I walk into a party, I try to flirt with guys and