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LE- LUTION As she counts down to a milestone birthday, Elle Macpherson shares the secrets to her age-defying, rule-breaking life and career Words Siobhan Duck ot every day in Elle Macpherson’s career has been picture perfect. Once, as a teen, she remembers putting hair lightener on in readiness for a Sports lustrated shoot, with disastrous consequences. “It turned my hair orange. | was mortified,” she says with a laugh. Of course, the incidents barely a blemish on remarkable career now into its fifth decade; and besides, Elle strongly believes beauty isn’t skin deep but soul deep. Charisma, confidence and magnetism” are the kind of qualities that make someone attractive, rather than their physical appearance, the Aussie supermodel has always believed. And this philosophy, along with a passion for health and wellbeing, is the reason Elle feels {and looks) better than ever as she gets ready to celebrate her 60th birthday next March. “Five decades in the industry has meant P’ve become acutely aware that looks are temporary,” she says. “Real beauty is much deeper, and it lasts. Your real beauty emerges when you're well and it radiates into the world around you.” of beauty. “Body positivity and diversity is more of a conscious priority than when | was coming through? Elle notes. “Different body types, sizes and ethnicities are all embraced now, and I like to think my generation was the start of that. “ve also seen models have more and more agency. Their voices are powerful and as meaningful as anyone else’s. It’s nice to have reached this point in which stereotypes are less dominant.” On this front, Elle has been a pioneer. The style icon — famous for her beachy hair, bronzed skin and classic silhouettes — became the poster girl for blending beauty with business savvy long before Kylie Jenner was born, let alone launched her lip kits. {started licensing my name and image in 1989. to enrich my brand and it became my business model, excuse the pun,” she says with a laugh. That approach has evolved, and now, rather than lending her star power to other people's brands, Elle heads her own company, WelleCo. WelleCo was born out of Elle’s own wellness journey. Realising she felt rundown, was struggling to sleep and her hair and skin were dry and dull, “REAL BEAUTY IS MUCH DEEPER, AND ITLASTS. YOUR REAL BEAUTY EMERGES WHEN YOU’RE WELL AND IT RADIATES INTO THE WORLD AROUND YOU” ‘As ayoung girl growing up on Sydney’s North Shore — “dirt between my toes and salty sea in my hair” — Elle didn’t dream of seeing her face on the cover of magazines. For the prospective university law student, modelling was only ever intended to be a side job to help pay for textbooks. “Modelling wasn’t an obvious choice for me. | wanted a sustainable career,” she says. “But | loved what modelling brought me. | loved the creative side to it — love seeing magic come to life. “But ultimately, it’s been a beautiful means to an end for me because I travel, I'm independent and Pve had a very large scope of career, Thanks to it, ve met amazing people, | speak different languages” ‘Along with Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer, Elle was among the original supermodels who dominated magazine covers, catwalks and music videos in the 1990s. But at the time, Elle always felt very different to the other women. “Taller, more athletic, broader, more ‘Australian’? she recalls. Today, difference is an asset and there is no longer a cookie-cutter ideal she sought the help of a clinical naturopath. ‘The naturopath created a custom-blend super- greens powder for Elle, which not only left her feeling more energised but planted the seed for what would become WelleCo’s collection of wellbeing elixirs. “Ten years ago, no one had heard of ‘ingestible beauty’ but now there are entire awards categories and beauty aisles devoted to it,” Elle says. She credits her “quintessentially Australian Give-it-a-go attitude” for her enduring success. “Having the dexterity to pivot, to try and to fail has to be up there with the most courageous of acts. For me it has always opened the most interesting doors.” Some of those doors have included producing and hosting television shows, starring in films such as Sirens, Jane Eyre and Batman & Robin and, of course, WelleCo. And yet, of all her many accomplishments, parenting sons Flynn, 25, and Cy, 20, has proved to be Elle’s “most rewarding joy”. Juggling a high-powered career with motherhood wasn’t without compromise, though. WT avast 43 MATTERS Slow and steady is Elle ‘Macpherson’s approach to wellbeing today. While once she would follow up a late night (often drinking and smoking) with along run, today she rises with the sun before embarking on some yoga or ahike. “Generally, so long as ’m under the morning sun and in the elements, I’m happy and so is my body,” she says. Elle says the turning point came when she became a mother and realised that wellbeing comes from within. “I became acutely aware that with wellness, you can achieve much more in life,” she says. “So nowadays, | aim to inspire everyone to appreciate and express their own unique natural beauty — their inner essence — which emerges through wellness and to make that as easy and simple as possible for them.” “| remember being girlfriend, Janine Lecroix, on Friends with my two-year-old in tow,” she says. “Admittedly their upbringing has probably not been the usual, but we made it work. My boys also had a solid support system around them growing up, so they were always well cared for when | was travelling or working on set.” Now that her sons are adults and have moved out, Elle gets plenty more opportunities for some well- earned “me time”. But her favourite moments are those spent with her loved ones, laughing over a shared meal. “Me time, for me, is family time,” she explains. “I love family time to relax and get recentred in love and laughter.” That, for Elle, is beautiful. THE HOUSE OF WELLNESS 5
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