Karl Lagerfeld's Muse To Get the Légion d'honneur

Inès de La Fressange, one-time muse to Karl Lagerfeld, occasional designer and now spokesperson for Roger Vivier, will be receiving the Légion d'honneur in Paris next week. The award was instituted in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte as the highest honour the Republic could bestow. Who else but France would choose a style icon as its most worthy recipient?

You have to love de la Fressange, who at 50 takes an endearing and refreshing view on older women's obsesssion with looking 30. As told to Lisa Armstrong of Times Online: “A lot of women stick with that because it was their favourite age for some reason. I don't really think like that. I mean, when a man tells you you look good, it's not because you don't have any wrinkles.” I think that's true. But women do that to themselves not to impress men so much as other women, non? Hence the importance of being comfortable in your own skin, which she obviously is - she's not competing with any woman.

And only an icon so deserving of her status could dispense such sensible fashion advice (she knows exactly what she's doing):

Keep an element of punk in your wardrobe - always. Even Chanel was a bit punk; the way she wore jersey and fake jewellery was a rebellion in her day.

Don't be afraid to make mistakes. If you have never put a foot wrong, you're probably too set in your ways.

Look for alternative ways of expressing what you feel: you may not want to wear a fluorescent dress, but how about a pair of tangerine patent shoes?

Dressing head-to-toe in expensive clothes can be as big a mistake as always wearing cheap ones. At every age it's far more effective to mix things up. I like it best when it's not obvious where my clothes come from.

Be open-minded about new labels. It's great to have tried-and-tested ones, but thanks to my two daughters I'm also a regular at H&M, Gap, Isabel Marant, Aspesi and Vanessa Bruno.

Can I be so bold as to add one? Smile. Inès has the most infectious smile - it's not at all 'modelly', it's from the inside out, through her eyes. And thanks to that, she'll endure indefinitely.

Ines