Thirty years on one pair of jeans: Claudia Schiffer demolishes the one thing fashion lives on

The fashion industry lives on the idea that every season has to catch you out with something new. Claudia Schiffer, at 56, demolishes that idea with the most ordinary act imaginable: she still wears her Chanel jeans from 1993. The same pair appeared on the cover of Elle in 2020. That is thirty years on one pair of jeans - a number no advertisement will ever put in a campaign.

The lesson came from Karl Lagerfeld, and it is one sentence: do not follow anyone else's style. The designer who turned her into a Chanel icon actually preferred to see her in her own clothes mixed with pieces from the house, rather than in a complete look from a single brand. Schiffer condensed her philosophy even further: good taste is overrated, personal expression is what counts.

Before the cameras: Fiorucci, blue eyeshadow and hairspray

The wardrobe before fame was nothing special. High-waisted washed denim jeans, oversized Fiorucci sweatshirts, blue eyeshadow and hairspray - a teenage uniform anyone in the Balkans would have recognised at the same time. She was discovered at 17 in a Düsseldorf nightclub, did her first shoot with Ellen von Unwerth in Paris, and then came the Guess campaigns.

Today she wears Chanel, Versace, Valentino, Alaïa and Dolce & Gabbana professionally, and her everyday formula is almost boringly simple: denim with cashmere jumpers and blouses, plus statement accessories. She builds looks around pieces that do not date, so the same outfit takes her from the school run to a meeting to an evening event, with no changing in between.

An archive most people would keep behind glass

Her wardrobe holds objects with history: hand-painted Chanel bags, a gift from Lagerfeld, metal Versace skirts, Chanel jewellery, a Valentino Garavani wedding dress and pieces by Alaïa and Dolce & Gabbana. Lagerfeld elevated the 1993 jeans into luxury by adding house details, at a time when denim still looked surprising in high fashion.

Her logic is always the same: the special piece is paired with the ordinary one. A striking dress with practical boots. An archive piece with current denim. A plain white t-shirt that becomes evening wear purely by changing accessories. She rarely wears a full single-brand look outside work.

Which women she was watching

Her references are Jane Birkin, Lauren Hutton, Sylvie Vartan and Iman - women with a recognisable look that did not change with the seasonal calendar. That is the same logic: to be recognised for yourself, not for what happens to be current that month.

In the nineties Schiffer and her contemporaries had an influence models no longer have, because fashion then was crossed with music and art. Gianni Versace's shows resembled rock concerts - Prince on the soundtrack, hundreds of photographers, Versace himself in the front row. She took an active part in building her own career, aware that a model can have her own voice.

The most interesting thing is what is missing when you compare her looks from then and now. No reversal, no reinvention, no new phase. The denim stays, the cashmere stays, the boots and accessories stay. What disappeared is only the need for every look to be new. If the endurance of her influence has an explanation, it is Lagerfeld's lesson: find what works for you and have the nerve to stay there.