At 78, Veruschka Just Stole Resort Season as the Face of Acne Studios

After a season where 70-plus-year-olds dominated both on and off the runways—Lauren Hutton, 73, has not only walked side by side with Gigi Hadid as of late, but also stolen the show from Kendall Jenner as Calvin Klein’s latest underwear model—it was about time that Veruschka, the single-named, 6’3″ German supermodel of ’60s and ’70s yore, stepped back into the spotlight. Which is exactly what she did this week when, hair slicked back, and outfitted in leather trousers and a floor-length vest that skimmed the ground even on her towering frame, she showed up starring in the Resort 2018 look book for Acne Studios—at the ripe old age of 78.

It’s been decades, of course, since Richard Avedon called Veruschka “the most beautiful woman in the world,” not to mention since she famously writhed around in Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up, but Veruschka seems just as home as ever in the camera, which this time found her in what Acne Studios creative director Jonny Johansson said was a mix of her favorite pieces from the collection, from a boxy, cropped denim jacket to elbow-length gloves to patterned leggings. (Standard fare for a near octogenarian.)

Not that things were always so smooth for Veruschka von Lehndorff, as she was known before she achieved icon status. Before the praise from Avedon came critiques from her agent of her towering height and size 13 feet. But, as the story usually goes with models, it’s those distinctive features that ended up making Veruschka so popular with not just Avedon, but also Helmut Newton and Irving Penn—and helped launch an industry-wide fascination with impossibly long and lean frames.

Indeed, Veruschka’s once odd appearance has become so mainstream that even into her seventies, she’s kept up commercial jobs, too: A few years ago, she also starred in what is, indisputably, Target’s most high fashion ad of all time.

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