Fashion icon sacrifices everything for her love of haute couture

Sep 21, 2011 18:51 GMT  ·  By
Daphne Guinness says she can’t afford to eat if she wants to work in the fashion industry
   Daphne Guinness says she can’t afford to eat if she wants to work in the fashion industry

To have a body that can fit into sample sizes from some of the biggest designers out there doesn’t come with sacrifice, but fashion icon Daphne Guinness is more than happy to make it, saying she’ll eat when she’s dead.

The 43-year-old artist, born into the legendary Irish Guinness family as the Honorable Daphne Diana Joan Suzannah Guinness, is staying in model shape by cutting out almost all food from her diet, the New Yorker writes, as cited by the Daily Mail.

As per the publication, during a recent photo shoot, Daphne was offered a plate of pasta by one of her many assistant, but she turned it down, saying she couldn’t possibly afford to eat.

“I’ll eat when I’m dead. If I eat, I can’t work,” she reportedly told the assistant.

To fit into all the haute couture pieces she loves so much, Daphne mostly survives on Red Bull and Ensure nutrition shakes, the Mail further reports.

Given how she’s the owner of a large and valuable fashion collection, perhaps she believes the sacrifice well worth making.

“The magazine also revealed that her couture wardrobe comprises 2,500 garments in total, as well as 450 pairs of shoes, 70 hats, and 200 handbags,” the Mail says of Daphne’s collection.

“The vast collection is stored at her homes in London and New York, but around 100 of her most important pieces are currently on display at the Museum at FIT in New York,” adds the same publication.

Guinness is not the only model to speak of the sacrifices they must make in order to still have a job in the industry.

Just the other day, androgynous male model Andrej Pejic did the same, saying semi-starvation was the only reason he was able to model both men and women’s clothes.

“Let’s be honest. You can’t eat much if you want to do this. To do womenswear I have to be disciplined. My waist has gone from 29 to 25 inches, my hips are 35 inches,” he said, as we also reported.