There's no time like the present for breaking down barriers in the modeling industry.
From Robyn Lawley, the first plus-size model to be featured in Sports Illustrated, to Jamie Brewer, an actress with Down Syndrome who will soon walk the runway at New York Fashion Week, society's standard of beauty is seemingly changing—with supermodel Carmen Dell'Orefice's most recent cover serving as evidence of the industry makeover.
The 83-year-old beauty, who is known as the "world's oldest working" supermodel, graces the cover of New You magazine, opening up about her sex life, her lengthy career and what it takes to maintain a model figure after nearly seven (!) decades in the business.
"I eat to my appetite and don't count calories," Dell'Orefice, who first appeared on the cover of Vogue at just 15 years old, shared. "I want to enjoy food passionately. If you don't like watery spinach learn to braise it yourself or eat it raw. That is the creativity of living. I could have gotten into trouble with food in my lifetime because I love to eat but I was given a free pass because I metabolize food well."
In spite of her healthy habits, Dell'Orefice admits she always keeps ice cream in her house, as something of a security blanket. "I've had my issues with ice cream when I was younger. Friends will open my freezer today and say, "My God, who eats all this ice-cream?" It stays frozen just in case," she reveals. "That is my money in the bank. It gives me a feeling of security. One would think clothes would do it for me—but no, it's ice cream."
Dell'Orefice, whose third marriage in the mid-1960s lasted for nine years, also opens up about her sex life, which she still very much enjoys.
"Of course [I still have a sex life], why would I give that up? Do I love to breathe?" she says, "If you have a Rolls Royce and it is up on wheels, you go in with the key and every now and then turn on the motor to make sure the motor is running. So when you want to drive the car, it is all oiled and ready."
Asked she keeps herself "oiled" and ready she replied, "I know how to pleasure myself. I can go for a low romantic love, and that's fine but I am conditioned to the whole meal."
Dell'Orefice, who says she maintained her career by standing up for age, reveals she has actually received more work since turning 50.
"I have had more magazine covers in the last 25 years than I have had in my whole elongated career," she shares. "Today I am in a territory that business considers unmarketable: age and white hair. Slowly, however, I started to own that territory little by little because I stood up for age."